Why I do what I do...

A new job

Just two weeks ago, I began in a new job. To me, however, this job is not just a job - it's the beginning of the fulfillment of my life purpose.

I will work as an Outreach Officer at the International Organization for Migration in Norway. In practice, it means that I will work with providing on IOM's Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration programme to irregular migrants. It is usually people who sacrificed everything, left behind home and family, and who have applied for asylum status in Norway, but subsequently have their application refused. In this case, these people face impossibly tough choices. IOM provides an Assisted Voluntary Return Programme, which gives the possibility to travel with dignity and humanity, get travel covered as well as some financial support to rebuild lives back home. For most, this "option", is cruel and meaningless - nobody migrated to Europe overcoming the most difficult of journies, to be given the option to "return voluntarily". Legally, however, they are required to return home (leaving Schengen), the alternative to which is often deportation by police. Faced with this tough choice at he programme offers a chance to take control of parts of the uncontrollable.

It is not difficult to find strong opinions on Europe's migration policy, whether it comes to the lack of human policies on saving migrants drowning in the mediterranean, the wall that the continent has built around itself towards the rest of the world, the lack of generosity and humanity amongst citizens of Europe towards people from different cultures and background, or the impossibility to migrate here for most of the world who wishes to do so. I share both an outrage and a strong opinion on this. More importantly, however, I have decided that I will dedicate my life to do something about it. Therefore, much of this blog will start talking a lot about these issues over next few months, years and decades. I hope you will enjoy the ride with me.

How to find your life purpose?

I find it curious to reflect upon how I became so clear that this is what I want to dedicate my life to. I guess Steve Jobs taught us that we can only connect the dots looking backwards, and I know that is the case for me. Here is an extract I wrote on the morning of my very first day at my new job, because I wanted to make sure I entered it with purpose and dedication.

Why I do what I do?

I am the son of a father who migrated to Norway so that my mother and him could build a better life for me once I was born. I still remember growing up being insulted on the bus home from school for being a 'German Nazi pig' - I was 7 years old. I spent my life growing up between cultures and have lived in 6 countries. But at the age of 22, I ended up living on a park benc, cold, along and desperate, after emigrating to Italy in search of a dream. I am a child of Europe, who could overcome all this because I had equal opportunities for education, because I had freedom to grow and fail, and because time and time again a brotherhood of friends, family and strangers supported me and picked me up when I had fallen. I believe in the Europe that empowered me to become who I am.

But this Europe does not believe in migrants who come here in search of a dream. It does not provide freedom at its borders or rights within it. It does not provide opportunities for equality through education and growth for fellow humans. And we have long ago forgotten about providing a brotherhood of man to those who need it and seek it amongst us. This Europe lives against itself, against its own values, against it own dreams.We live in fear.

I want to change the story of migration in Europe because it is what I was meant to do, it is who I am meant to be.This is why I do what I do.

While I can connect the dots going backwards, I also know that from all the experiences and learnings I had in AIESEC, this is the greatest debt I have to the organisation. In particular there is one failproof way to discover your purpose in life. Spend a whole year of your life asking the question to yourself and just sit and think about it. What do I mean?

Delivering a session 50 times...

When I was President of AIESEC International, on every trip I went, and in every conference and interaction I took part in, I delivered a session we named BIG AIESEC. It was an integration of the purpose of AIESEC itself in developing leadership in young people, with what kind of organisation would be able to deliver such youth leadership on a massive scale. In the beginning of the session, I would ask the participants to reflect upon their own world, their city or country, and what were the issues they cared about. I would then ask them to imagine that same world in 50 years from now, which I defined "more or less" as our scope of impact from young adulthood to the day we are old.

On each of the two reflection questions, music would play (typically Beyonce's I was here) and (Some die Young by Laleh). This 10 minutes of reflection may not be much. But when you yourself are delivering it around twice a week for 9 months, it adds up. Each time I would be sitting in the front (waiting for the participants while they were taking notes), and my mind would wander. Gradually I started bringing my notebook with me to the front when delivering the session, because every time there were so many thoughts running through my head. Things I cared about, the world I saw, and the world I dreamed about. Every time I was asking "what will you do with your life" that question reflected back to me. And the notes kept coming.

To me, the dots started connecting. Both as a result of the most purposeful year of my life and because I took time after the year to reflect upon it.

As I said, I just started a new job. But, yeah. It's not really a job. It's the beginning of the fulfillment of my purpose in life.

Detention of Asylum Seekers

Last week I attended a presentation by NOAS (Norwegian Association of Asylum Seekers, www.noas.no/en ), regarding the detention of asylum seekers. The presentation was of a report, Freedom First (Frihet først) which was looking into to what extent detention was being used as a method for asylum seekers in Norway. There were many interesting findings of the report itself an I will not spend time to go through all of them. There were, however, some that stuck with me.

The first was that detention is primarily used in relation to forced return (tvungen retur) of asylum seekers after their application for asylum has been first rejected and they have then not followed the instruction of the government to leave the country within a certain period of time voluntarily. Here, the report highlighted that one of the key reasons for that is because many Asylum seekers perceive that the "real fight" to stay in Norway only starts after their application has been rejected, whereas in a legalistic country like Norway the "real fight" is the one that goes until your application is rejected. In fact, statistics show that very few asylum seekers have any chance of staying in Norway after the rejection of their application, and the majority will be returned to their country of origin, either voluntarily of through force.

This reminded me a lot about challenges regarding both expectation setting, cultural and systemic understanding, and channels of influence I learned about and discovered while in AIESEC. The very concept at the basis of this process is the "rule of law", where a society like Norway is principally based upon the idea that the law is the primary and only basis of the use of force by government, and therefore the neutral an objective treatment of all subjects according to that. For most parts of the world, while this may be something people subscribe to principally on individual level, most people have just never experienced what this means in practice. It means there is no or almost no room for individual wriggle room, subjective influence through people, back channels of this process etc. This is in stark contrast to how 90% of the world works, and for sure in contrast to how the world works in countries and areas where asylum seekers come from, where the very lack of "rule of law" is often the primary reason for the esacape in the first place. So while the "rules of the game" may be very clear to Norwegians, these rules are almost impossible to understand for someone who has never experienced it. This is a very difficult paradox, because it means that Norway seeks to treat asylum seekers according to a system they have no basis to understand in practice. And the approach to explain through that same language and process only leaves the asylum seeker more alienated to his own process of applying for asylum.

This goes back to the very challenges of culture and background ,whether in business interactions or misunderstandings.

The second thing struck me in the presentation was the question and input of one of the audience. She worked for the Foreigner Section of the police and described herself as a "practitioner" of the system that was being described. She was genuinely in disagreement with some of the conclusions, because as she described the forced detention (typically 24 to 48 hours before forced return - which practically means people are forcefully put on a plane home with police escort), often is less traumatic and stressful, than a pickup at 4 am in the morning, 2 hours to pack, and direct accompanying of the rejected asylum seeker (+family) to the airport. This became particularly difficult in the case of children (usually applying with their parents), where the children too are detained for the 24h- 48h. (The report also goes into the unacceptable detention of children for longer periods than this, which I will not go into in this blog post, but talk about at a later point).

How do you solve this problem? The report was talking about the need for children to be treated as independent legal subjects, as according to the UN Convention of Children's rights, but here we run into real complications, both related to culture, and what is the "child's best". Picture the moral dilemma

1. A family of asylum seekers (f. ex. two parents and two children) have had their application rejected and have been told to go home.
2. They have chosen "to fight" (see the first point), and stay in the country.
3. After a period of time, government decides that they will be forcefully deported as they are not following the rule of law that has been applied. The police make the assessment that they cannot tell the family exactly "when" they will send them abroad, as typically asylum seekers who have decided to stay of course do not want to return home. If they know they will be picked up, the police fears, they will disappear and go underground. (and yeah, wouldnt you?)
4. Based on this the police have to decide whether to
1. Turn up at 4 am, pick up the family, tell them to pack, escort them straight to the airport and airplane

(the problem being according to the police woman, that this is extremely traumatic and brutal for the family and the kids)

2. Turn up the day before, give the family some hours to pack and call without a "departing plane waiting", and then take the family to a detention center (in practice a prison, although never described as such) for 24-48 hours until the plane is booked. This includes detaining children and people who have not committed any other crime than to seek asylum and then to not accept that their application has been rejected

In either case, the solution is brutal and heart wrenching. I don't know the answer. And again, somehow how do we end up as a society where we have to chose between two solutions which we don't want to? It's like the "given a gun and asked to choose between shooting your mother and father".

There are many points of entry, politically and policy wise

• Politicians are looking to limit the numbers that enter in the first place. If we never see them, then we don't have to make difficult choices at home politically. This is clearly immoral and unacceptable - Norway proudly announced we are taking a few thousand more Syrian refugees this year - out of 13 million (!) who have escaped, of which more than 1 million are in Lebanon. Clap, clap, clap Norway. Yet, such is the political reality, that a problem not seen is a problem solved, right?
• Build asylum centres in the countries of origin or transit country- if they apply there, get rejected, they never have to be returned FROM Norway. This is an advanced version of the same absurdity. Lets keep "their problems" over there
• Change the number of refugees we take by a little bit - this is a bit like the "temporary opening of the Berlin Wall" on the night of the 9th of November 1989..
• Change the processing rules, application process, way we detain etc. This is treating symptoms, definitely not causes. It might make some things less painful, and hopefully more humane, but morally it doesn't address the issue

My main thinking is that we are in the wrong place of discussion in the first place. There are some principles that have to be challenged.

• Our way of life and culture cannot be maintained/will die if we accept many people from other cultures & countries into our country
• It is not our problem / responsibility / fault
• Immigrants and asylum seekers come to exploit and destroy our societies

I have some concrete ideas regarding these, but I will not go into them now. To start, just with the challenge, that these premises, which are at the very basis of why we end up with these horrendous moral choices, must be challenged.

Why must either my mother or father die, the kid may ask you? Do you have a good answer?

Je suis Charlie. I am Ahmed. Enlightenment and its traps. And the folly of confrontation.

On January 7th liberal Europe liberals had its own 9/11 moment. And since we have had our own version of G.W. Bush famous"With us or against us" rhetoric. And the world is becoming a darker place by the minute.

"Do you agree that I offend you or do you hate my democratic society?"

"There was no recoil or blood on the shooting of the police man - it's a hoax - did you see the dust?."

"The only way Muslims will ever understand European ideals is if they have their own 30-year religious war like we did 400 years ago."

"Insulting is terrorism on the same line as killing is terrorism. They provoked it - what comes around goes around"

"We call white mean psychos and muslims terrorists. The rest of the world is against Islam, and this is just another proof of it"

"Only at the limits of what I can say, can I feel true freedom of speech. True freedom of speech means I must use it to insult to prove I can. If not, what is freedom?"

 

"If muslims are not protesting in their thousands on the street against this terrorism then it means they don't really understand the values of the societies they live in"

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Believe it or not, all of the above statement are real statements. I have paraphrased to make the point clear, but I have not made them up. And these are not stated by right wing radical racist friends of mine, of which - of course - I have lots. Nor by all my Al-Qaeda sleeper cell terrorist network brotherhood that I keep on speed dial.

In all seriousness. Some of the most intelligent, culturally sensitive, caring human beings, many of whom I would trust my life to without blinking have said or written this over the past 48 hours.

I wonder if I am living in some parallel universe, where human beings have chosen to see how far we can play this game until our world, as fragile as it already is, will simply implode. I wonder if we really think that once we are immersed in the greatest catastrophic socially constructed conflict, by arms, words, economic or other, we can just "press pause" and say "Hahahaha. I was just kidding! Yeah? You too! Yeah, of course I didn't mean that. We knew all along right? Who would ever behave so stupidly?"

I find it difficult to observe and see this world in front of me today. I thought last summer, that the "pretty little Cold War" that we thought it was a good idea to reconstruct between Russia and Western nations was the top of tension. How naive I was. How naive I have become.

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Let's play a strategy game for a second. Let's pretend we are fundamentalists (for the sake of this game, let's be Islamists, f. ex. Al-Qaeda because it fits the narrative of the day). Ok, let's look at our overall global objectives for this Monday Morning Strategy Meeting.

Primary strategic objective

1. A fundamentalist interpretation of our beliefs to be implemented in absolute terms across the world

Primary barriers to success

1. Muslims around the world striving for peace, harmony and practicing of Islam alongside other religions and beliefs.

2. Liberal societies that accept multiple religions and ways of life to love alongside and love each other

Opportunities for tactical advancement

1. Latent fear and misunderstanding amongst western countries due to segregation (language, culture, religion) of people of muslim faith in parts of Western countries and cities

2. Lack of opportunities for young muslims in western countries for education and to embrace both a western AND a muslim identity because it is not "possible" according to the western beliefs/culture which has become largely secular

3. Dictatorships with lack of education, language, economic opportunities, dividing neighbourhoods and people along sectarian lines within muslim and other religious groups in the Middle east and North Africa for political purposes.

4. Weak western societies that preach one set of values (freedom of speech, liberty of beliefs, equal opportunities, equality for the law, brotherhood of man) but has constructed a society completely different, with disillusioned youth on all sides.

Potential Allies

1. Extremist parties in Europe that see the world as a confrontation of civilizations, just as us.

Follow up: Does somebody have the emails of Molotov and Ribbentrop available so we can email them for how they did the Best Case Practice in 1939?

2. Unemployed and insulted youth who rebel against their parents decision to emigrate to Europe 30 years ago, as the proof of daily discrimination and lack of opportunity surely shows them that there is no "western future" for them

Minutes

- Anyone have any ideas how we can reach our objective for "a fundamentalist interpretation of our beliefs to be implemented in absolute terms across the world"

- Well, what if we tried to exploit the misunderstandings between groups and people? Make them feel like they are fighting each other?
- That sounds like a good idea, but why in the world would people who share these same "tolerant" values start fighting?
- Well, the key is not to make them disagree. But to make them think they disagree. And by the time they understand they don't it will be too late!

- And what do you propose?

- Well, we really just need to light a spark. How can we provoke these so-called liberal Europeans so they will react against the muslim population?

- Hmmm. Perhaps we should attack something that they feel is their values.

- Yeah, but how can they feel it's from muslims in Europe? People living amongst them?

- Ah, that's the brilliance! We have all these young, unemployed, undereducated people - they anyway don't see a future. Let's give them one in martyrdom!

- That's brilliant. Nothings seeds fear like suspicion towards everyone!

- Yeah, but even if the liberals will feel attacked, the muslims will surely explain that it wasn't them, no?

- Not if they feel under attack too! We need to create an action that will create a reaction so fast that people quickly feel squeezed between their set of values. Where there is no compromise or dialogue and people HAVE to chose sides.

- But what action could possibly achieve all this at once?

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How peaceful it will be when we have proven the other side wrong. Right?

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"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it"

"Pull up the ladder and let them drown..."

That seems to be the policy decision made by the UK government, announcing that they will not prolong their support for the Mare Nostrum search and rescue operations by the Italian navy in the Mediterranean.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/27/uk-mediterranean-migrant-rescue-plan

For humanitarians it is a pleasure to see the humane Italian response, despite the country being in severe Economic difficulties

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/28/italian-navy-refugee-rescue-mission-mare-nostrum

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But let's rewind a bit. What is this, and what is going on here? Let's summarise (and oversimplify) centuries of history, geography, current events etc.

1. The dream of a better life (economic opportunities, safety from persecution etc.) continues to draw migrants, especially from Africa, but also from the Middle East, South America and Asia to Europe, and the EU in particular.

2. Over the past half century, coinciding with the building of the welfare state and decolonisation in (initially Western) Europe, European countries have increased restrictions and closed borders on migration from the rest of the world, while increasing to open and expect open borders for trade and investments.

3. Gradually the only real migrants to Europe from outside the continent fall into 4 broad categories

• Asylum seekers according to the UN refugee convention
• Family reunions (children or parents of asylum seekers or people marrying European citizens etc)
• Highly skilled migrants (doctors, PHD professors, nurses, Engineers etc)
• "Illegal" immigrants (often referred to as economic migrants)

Common for most of the immigration is that they seek a better life, because of lack of opportunities, persecution, insecurity or other reasons.

Ok, let's turn it around - what is this leading to?

• Asylum seekers, by definition, are humans who have gone through some of the worst things we can imagine for fellow humans. War, genocide, persecution. People who have seen family die, who have been subject to famines, who have been child soldiers themselves, who have been raped and enslaved. In other words, people who come as asylum seekers need all the opportunities, safety, support and help they can possible receive. I image myself as a refugee, and I am pretty sure I would be messed up, physically, mentally or probably both.
  
  However, for many "Europeans" (whatever that may mean in our messed up Continent where we have spent most of history trying to kill each other) , what we see is therefore that most people from "elsewhere (ie. those who look different than us) are "fucked up". And the conclusion becomes "people from elsewhere are fucked up". This lack of empathy, and jump to judgement is shocking, but yet perhaps very human. Reality is what we see and perceive.
• Family reunions, especially of people who are "from elsewhere", is an extension of this lack of empathy. "Why you need to build your life here? Can't all of you just go back where you came from?" It leads to a further lack of empathy and understanding. In fact, we see the family reunions as "proof" that it's "too easy to come to Europe, there are too many coming".
• Highly skilled migrants: Essentially the most brutal of destruction of the very countries where people should "go back". We need nurses? Let's bring them here from Burundi. We need Engineers? Let's get some Indians. Need some Engineers? Let's import half of the Philippines. And this is "fine", because after all, it is "these individuals choice to emigrate, and surely it would not be right to restrict their personal choices" (imagine ironic voice while reading)
• Illegal immigrants. Before we progress here, let's taste that word. Illegal immigrant. That we have even let such an expression enter our language is shocking. Let's be honest and call them what they really are. Humans in search for a better life. Imagine if your European ancestors getting on boats to the US where called illegal migrants? Or if in the large people wanderings that made you settle where you now live made your ancestor an illegal human being? Without rights, without dignity, without opportunity. Well, having already branded them as illegal (it's nice when you make laws that by definition can't be applied to yourself because you are born with a citizenship, right?) they are obviously criminals by definition. Without ability to work or live legally, to create a future within the parameters of our societies, their options are simple. Go underground, hide and work with whatever is hidden. And then we are shocked that they end up working in criminal organisations (most of which have their origins in the rest of our beautifully sarcastic legal society). "They come here illegally, commit crime. They deserve no sympathy, no rights, no support. There are legal ways of coming here" (which let's face it, there are not really at all for most of these people).

What actually happens is that the migration to Europe can only lead to one thing. More xenophobia, more crime, less society, more division, more fear and less social cohesion. Because honest people with the intention to come and build a future here cannot. Because we have no way of making our societies integrate and work for them.

So what's our solution?

Let them all drown in the Mediterranean Sea. After all, that'll teach them....

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In my short experience I learnt something about values and authenticity. One of the biggest problems Europe is facing is that Europe is not authentic to itself and its own values. Modern Europe is based upon the heritage of the Enlightenment, and more modernly upon the values of the French revolution.

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

Liberty, Equality (before the law originally), Brotherhood.

Freedom for who? And equality for whom? And what laws? And who are our brothers anyway?

A society that preaches one set of values, but acts against them, is a society doomed to failure. Immigration is difficult, and I don't preach a simple solution. But I do predict a simple death of the society based upon these principles and values that we love and treasure so much for ourselves and our families if we do not align our actions to our words.

First of all, not rescuing humans who are drowning, and not spending money on that is just not an option. (Thank you Italian Coast Guard, and no thank you Mr. Cameron, we will not be led by you)

Second of all, when are we going to figure out a long term solution on how we can build societies that not only can be admired from afar across a treacherous Mediterranean, but where both the values (the ones we love to talk so loudly about) and our systems (yes, we will have to change the way we run our countries, our welfare states, our immigration policies, our integration), to welcome every human on earth to be part of a European values system if they so choose. And we will welcome them and build this world together because we are proud of where we come from.

Let's find out how we can break down these walls that we have built.

Time to reshape habits

It's been three months since the end of my term as President of AIESEC International. It has been some of the best months of my life.

I made a decision last Christmas, that I would consciously not jump into anything straight away after my term. I have lived a life at full speed more or less since 2006 - last five of which in a full time leadership role in AIESEC.  I love and thrive with the adrenaline and thrills that come with such speed and intensity. And for sure I will seek such experiences throughout my life. However, sometimes we have to slow down to understand what is there, to understand who we have become and to prepare properly and start again.

Habits of life
One of the key things I realised during the past couple of years is that there were some life habits that I never built for myself which ultimately will make me unhappy and eventually kill me. I am serious. I am talking about three simple concepts - nutrition, exercise and relationships.

Nutrition
I have realised now that I have never eaten well. I found cooking too boring or time consuming, other times I was looking for a cheap and quick fix, and most importantly I didn't know a lot about nutrition. How does your body truly work? What lifestyle are you actually living and what are the facts and myths you "know" (or rather, have been told by your mum, your government and the media) about nutrition? Well, you don't know what you don't know, and I know know that I didn't know anything. I spent around 10 days in the beginning of September literally reading about nutrition, diet, metabolism and biology online the whole day. I was honestly amazed. I mean, it is kind of obvious, but I never really paid attention, but what you put into your mouth, translates into every other aspect of your life - physical, mental, psychological, stress etc. It translates into your ability to live and lead the way you want to as well. Right now I am actually amazed at the performance up until this point in my life given how I have been treating nutrition. After those ten days I decided to make a change for me (note: don't copy any nutrition approach of anyone without reading and understanding a holistic picture - trust me, it's very individual).

I have completely cut or heavily reduced all added sugar (including all sodas, juices, pastries etc. etc), high starch-high carb products (potatoes, rice, pasta, corn and bread), cut all processed food (that's basically more or less everything in the supermarket) and have converted to a low carbohydrate, high nutrition, vegetable and unprocessed meat based diet. I drink water (and tea). In 6 weeks I have lost around 10 kgs, but I don't care so much about that. Much more importantly I feel great. I have stable energy throughout the day and I feel great. I am cooking every single meal myself, from ground up, and the only thing I will basically eat out is salad. Overall, I was amazed to learn so much about food and nutrition, and I think I was shocked at how bad the food we eat actually is (I mean, we all know that fast food is bad, but basically almost all the food we eat is bad!). I am not prescribing for anyone else to do anything in particular, but if you want to know what you don't know which will directly impact your life - day to day and long term - start reading about nutrition.

Excercise
On AIESEC International we had this running joke, that while we were all members of a gym, for many of us (although to be fair, my last team had a lot of impressive peeps that worked out a lot!) it was more like a CSR project supporting Dutch employment through our monthly membership fees. In the past 18 months, converting membership fee to times at the gym, I literally spent more than 100 EUR on average per visit to the gym - wow. Anyway.

I have realised that I am probably never gonna enjoy going to fitness classes, lifting weights or running on a treadmill. That's just me. But I do enjoy playing sports, especially football, and even skiing. I have joined a football team here (no worries, I don't think I will be making any headlines in your local newspaper), meaning I am getting a good run for around 1,5h at least twice a week. Yeah, it's not "working out every day etc etc" but it's definitely a good nudge up from 1,5h per 6 months. I even prepared my skiing equipment and am so looking forward to the first snow falling here in Oslo so I can start skiing again. We used to do that a lot as kids, every winter - especially cross country skiing - but ever since I moved to the States at the age of 16 (and let's face it, that's half of my lifetime ago!) I haven't had a full winter of skiing. Also, I am taking the opportunity to go swimming, especially when I go to Sweden to see my girlfriend.

Relationships
That brings me onto the third "habit", and I will call it a habit. I think many people who have known me for some years will have realised that I haven't always been very good at maintaining relationships. There's probably some deep rooted psychological reason behind that, but if there is one thing I have learnt, it is that you have the power - 100% - to change yourself. I think one of the key learnings I had through AIESEC International, where you work with so many people from collectivistic cultures, is how you define yourself changes. From just an individual in the world, to a part of a group or a family. Literally, your whole outlook changes. And I have changed in this sense, because I now define myself very much through the relationships I am in. I am not investing more time with my parents, my friends, my girlfriend and my brother than I ever have. And it really is very simple- what are you consciously choosing to invest your time in?

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The reason I am talking about these three aspects - nutrition, exercise and relationships - is because over the past three months I have consciously prioritised them, not only half heartedly or in between, but actually and every day. I haven't prioritised "looking for jobs" or "figuring out what I want to do", because I believe that the best investment I can make in my life, is to build habits in these areas that last for the rest of my life. Three months is not forever, but it's a good start.

I have learnt to cook some meals  (and I can tell you, it is quick, and once you are used to it, not really boring), I look forward to playing football (just waiting for that snow!!!) and I am spending time with people I care about.

As a random side project, I have been renting out my apartment on Airbnb when I have been out of town. I am just in the beginning of that, but it's pretty cool. Firstly because you meet people, but also because you start setting really high standards (and habits!) for your own home, and you become the side - benefactor of that. F. ex. what you may consider "ok cleanliness" for yourself, is definitely not the same when you are renting it out for money, or what you consider practical or beautiful changes as well. So as a result I have invested money, and lots of time into my apartment, and I can honestly say I have never lived so well as I am right now.

Yeah, but what am I going to be doing?

Actually, finding balance and structure brings a lot - and I have just last week started my baby steps towards my next steps. I will let you know in due time, but for now - I am happy with reshaping my habits.

The world as a football match...

For the past 3 years I have been on AIESEC International and for the past year I had the privilege of being President of AIESEC International. For sure the most intense and amazing leadership journey I have been on. Still, I was unable to write about it while it was happening - really. Grateful to AIESEC I am now embracing "life after AIESEC" as they call it.

I am back in Oslo, in what is perhaps the warmest and sunniest summer in my memory. Yet this particular summer is not a very peaceful one in the world. Right now there are two conflicts that are dominating the news. One is the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, in particular the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The other is the conflict in Eastern Ukraine (civil war?) - which has rumbled on for months, but taking a bigger spotlight in the newspapers when a civilian airplane was shot down. Having just moved from the Netherlands (where most of the victims came from) a couple of days before it happened, I have gotten an extra close view to this event.

There are many thoughts I have about these conflicts and the world as a whole right now. In my year as President of AIESEC International, which is a truly global organisation, I had the ongoing and clear perception that the world is definitely not becoming a more peaceful place. It is getting worse. The level of frustration, conflict and violence, internally in countries and externally between countries, as well as people in general seems to me to be increasing - and quite rapidly. It is a big concern. Young people, unfortunately, rather than being part of the solution, seem to often be part of the stoking of the fires. Passionate, intensely so, we demand change.

I am a politically interested person, and I can for sure have many political opinions about what is happening. However, I think that is actually the least interesting, and least helpful contribution I (and frankly anyone) can make at this moment in time. Rather I would like to make some observations based on my leadership learnings in my year as President of AIESEC International.

1. It is very natural for us to focus on "other people"
   "The Russians are arming the rebels". "The Ukrainian government is provoking the rebels". "Hamas is attacking Israeli civilians with rockets". "The Israelis are killing children in Gaza". "The EU needs to change its policy to Russia".
   
   However, we tend not to focus on ourselves and our own behaviour. This is particularly interesting, as our real influence is over our own behaviour and say (actually 100%) whereas we cannot control at all how other people behave or what they say. By accusing others of XYZ what behaviour am I displaying? What is the best way that I can behave to help the world be more peaceful? What is the thing I can do that will actually contribute positively? This is the most powerful question - except we often answer it by "The best thing I can do is to do something to influence others", by which we have (again!) turned the shoe on its head again (ie. protest, speak out, demonstrate, write on facebook what I think, discuss etc.). But what can I do (focusing on the I - not on "them"?).
   
   Speaking of myself the best thing I can do is to spend more time to understand, read more - especially from sources that have different opinions than me - to understand others point of view better - to remain calm and empathetic - not to try to be right and prove my point of view - and in fact not to try to discuss or be right. Finally it is to demonstrate understanding, empathy and calm - because I can bring that, and it seems like it is needed.
   
2. We like to be fans - but the World Cup is over!
   
   Who do you support? Israel or the Palestinians? Russia or the rebels or Ukraine? US or Russia? Europe or Russia?
   
   I mean, this is absolutely absurd. It is not a football match. It is not a question of supporting one side. It is a question of supporting all sides. And to stop standing in the stadium shouting insults at the other fans, put away our flags and our banners, and walk away from the match. It's not a spectator sport.
   
   I support all humans. I support the end of violence. And I support dialogue and understanding. And it starts with me.

These two perspectives might seem very simple and straightforward. They are. And I do not intend them as an instruction to anyone but myself. Leadership is about understanding people, where they come from and why the world is as is it is. It is also about withholding judgement, and granting empathy, trust and love. And finally about focusing on my own behaviour and actions.

May the world calm down so we don't repeat the "July crisis" on the 100 year anniversary of the hottest and most devastating July the world ever saw.

Running for President of AIESEC International

My name is Rolf Schmachtenberg and I am running for President of AIESEC International. I am not here to talk only about the future of AIESEC but rather to talk about the future of youth leadership. As much as we love AIESEC, it belongs not only to us, but to this world. AIESEC promises to provide a platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential for positive impact in society. AIESEC promises to be the Youth Leadership provider of the world.

I discovered this organization only at the age of 25. My relationship with AIESEC was going to be that of an EP, seeing the value of a work abroad opportunity. At that time I was back in university studying, after having spent the previous 5 years first losing and then finding myself again.

I stepped out at Milan Central Station in Italy on Monday the 30th of August. My ticket to Italy was a one way ticket, and I was moving to a new country. There was no TN form or job description waiting for me, nobody picking me up at the train station, and no accommodation was provided. There had been no EP preparation or expectation setting before I went. But wait a minute. This was not an AIESEC internship. The year is 2004, I am 22 and have just moved to Italy. I would only discover AIESEC 3 years later.

Moving to Italy was a life changing decision. I was running away from the biggest disappointment of my life – failing my university degree. I had failed a promise to my parents, to my friends and to everyone I knew. But more importantly I had failed a promise to myself.

In Italy I went from hopeful to hopeless to homeless.

It is an experience that I wish for nobody, but that was the strongest of my life – to sleep outside on a bench in a sleeping bag in a park in Milan in November as the cold crept in and the rain starting pouring down.
It was also in that moment I truly discovered who I am and what I stand for. I am proud to say that I had the luck and the strength to turn this experience around. I found a job, then a flat, and then I built a life. I left Italy feeling like I could do anything.

My two years in Italy I still consider the proudest achievement of my life. I learnt that determination can bring even the weakest human being, as I felt I was at the time, to great heights of personal accomplishment.
My experience in Italy shaped me deeply.

Even today I am not afraid of dreaming big or of not succeeding. I believe that achievement is a conscious choice. I believe that growth is a conscious choice. I believe that acting according to principles and values is a conscious choice. In my experience, the biggest difference between success and failure is a clear purpose behind every action. In my experience, action translates dreams into reality. I believe it is a conscious choice.

When I found AIESEC at the age of 25, the stereotypes would tell me that it was too late. But actually that was my second year at university, fulfilling the promise made to myself 6 years earlier – of getting a university degree. Getting a university degree, the second time around, was a promise made to myself. Fulfilling that promise made all the difference to me.

I walked straight into a Local Committee without understanding what AIESEC was about. Immediately I was struck with AIESEC’s promise of peace and fulfilment of humankinds’ potential. I mean, what kind of organization makes that kind of promise?

It took my own AIESEC Experience to understand this promise fully.

I mentioned that I am not only here to talk only about the future of AIESEC but about the future of youth leadership.

• Our promise is to make this world a better place. It is a promise of youth leadership for the world.
• Our promise is to develop change agents. It is the promise of the AIESEC Experience.
• Our promise is be the organization that can provide 1 million Experiences. It is the promise of AIESEC 2015.
• Our promise is that each of this experiences will be a high quality AIESEC Experience. It is the promise to our customers.
• Our promise is that every young person taking this experience can develop leadership. I call it the promise of our generation.

I believe that to fulfil this promise, and every promise, we must choose to fulfil all of our promises. To our members, to our customers, to ourselves, to young people and to the world.

Perhaps you are wondering what is new? Isn’t this is what we are already doing? I don’t think we are. 86,000. How many unfulfilled leadership development promises did we make to our members in 2012? 10,500. Promises made to companies in 2012 for taking a GIP intern. 5,300. How of those promises we could not fulfil. 2 out of 3. 2 out of 3 students that raised their GIP internship form and never went on an internship. 1 out of 3. Students that their form for a GCDP internship and never had a life changing exchange experience, never lived an exchange experience. In 2012, did AIESEC fulfil its promise to the world?

These are tough questions and many promises. But that does not mean we should not make them.

Remember all the promises, not only in AIESEC – but in your life - that you ever made and for some reason you couldn’t fulfil. Imagine what kind of person you would be if you could fulfil all those promises. Imagine if AIESEC fulfils all the promises we make, what kind of AIESEC we would be. Imagine if we would match all our EPs, what impact we could have. Imagine if we would deliver to all our partners, how sustainable we would be. Imagine if the promise of leadership was inside every TMP, how beautiful our LCs would look. Imagine if every GCDP was a leadership development experience, how powerful AIESEC could become. Imagine when every number represents a life changed.

For me, this is the idea. The idea of fulfilling all of our promises would change AIESEC fundamentally.
The world is full of promises. It is time for us to fulfil ours - to be the youth leadership provider of the world.

And I know we can because I believe that achievement is a conscious choice. I believe that growth is a conscious choice. I believe that acting according to principles and values is a conscious choice. In my experience, the biggest difference between success and failure is a clear purpose behind every action. In my experience, action translates dreams into reality. I believe it is a conscious choice.

I am Rolf Schmachtenberg and I am running for President of AIESEC International.