Good Bye China!

"At the end you remember the begining" a friend wrote on his blog more than one year ago.

Today I remember his words.

On Sunday, I will fly to Rotterdam to start my new term as Director of AIESEC International.

Yesterday I had dinner with LC UIBE, the LC I was coaching, and I have to say that it is hard to let your babies go :)

Today they are in the top of the AIESEC network, some of them don't even realize the size of their achievements but that's ok... One day they will.

The cat caught the mice.

Independently of what is coming on the future Balance is what I will be looking for.

Good bye little funny chinese people. I will miss you.

Starbucks and Costa Rica

Costa Rica has tried for several years to create a difference in the coffee market offering high quality and responsible production.

Today I was reading the newspaper and I found out that our coffee has won three times, including this year, the "Black Apron Exclusives" to the best supplier of the firm.

But the cooperation goes beyond the supply of coffee. It also includes production management, forecast, loans and diversification of products.

For example, some of the handcraft you can buy there are made in Costa Rica and the suppliers are very much satisfied for the remuneration they receive.

Pick your battles

The Art of War refers to the importance of picking each battle carefully.

The main idea is that fighting is the worst case scenario.

But if you find yourself in war times, then it is important to pick the battles that you can win and that will set you in most strategical position.

Other times, it is better to delay a battle until a proper field is found.

Pick your battles.

Also in your personal life.

Music

In the last days, I have been really connected with the music from home.

Here you can find a list of Costa Rican and some other Latin music - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=962ED6F96262B6C8

I wonder if somebody has a complete version of Contramarea (Mal País)

I also found this song..., I think it is really really nice. What I like the best is that, even if it is Mexican, it looks like my memories of Costa Rica...

Today was a great day in China :)

Interesting

I knew something wasn't going that good :)

Thanks Peep

Sometimes it seems like we failed

Some of us are always trying to reach our dreams.

Sometimes it seems like we failed..., but maybe we didn't.

When Eistein finished College he wanted to start his PhD or to work as researcher for the University. He was not accepted in any of them.

Instead, he started working at the Patents Office.

During those days, he did four relevant activities:

1. Showed that light could be conceived as particles as well as waves.
2. Proved the existence of atoms and molecules.
3. Conceived the special theory of relativity, said that there was no such thing as absolute time or space.
4. Noted an equivalence between energy and mass described by the most famous equation in all of physics, E=mc2.

Sometimes it seems like we failed..., but maybe we didn't.

Transition in China!

I need to be in Rotterdam on June 1st, therefore I must start transition with my succesor in China asap.

My successor is Nina Rociakova from Czech Republic. She is currently the MCVP Exchange in her country.

She will arrived to Beijing in the first days of June, so we will handle the transition virtually.

We met in Belgrade, Serbia. Here is a memory :) :

Belbin test?

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Something is in my mind

Mi tierra

I talked today with my family for the second time since I am in China.

It was so nice to hear my parents' voice and the noises of Costa Rica in the back.

A couples of days ago, some norwegians asked me to tell them three interesting facts about Costa Rica...

The first was very reactionary... "Countries like yours pay us to keep the Earth clean" :)

But then, I told them about the Peace and the Economy.

The thing is..., they would have never understand if I tell them about the smell of the forrest, or the noise of the rain in the roof, or the sing of the yiguirros...

Something I really miss is how close and blue is the sky... It feels like if you put your hand up you will touch it... Maybe that's why we don't like tall building - not earthqueakes related :)

Well, this is week is Semana U...

I guess some ppl will have some stories to tell in the future :)

Impossible???? What???

Shape-full readings

I am not the best reader.

As a matter of fact, I find must readings redundant and long.

Nevetheless, I like the main idea some books try to transmit.

Some of them are:

• Focus on results: The Goal - E. Goldratt
• Take care of the whole: The Fifth Discipline -P. Senge
• Manage teams: Gung Ho! - K. Blanchard
• Compete to win: The Art of War - Sun Tzu (http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html)

This is a quote from the Art of War:

By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat.

(1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law?
(2) Which of the two generals has most ability?
(3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?
(4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?
(5) Which army is stronger?
(6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained?
(7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?

Barrilete cósmico!!!

Espectacular!

Make things happen, make things simple!

The truth is... time is limited.

We can not do everything we want in the time we have.

Defining a clear goal focuses our energies. Keeping things simple increases our impact.


For example,

In MoChina, we are clear that Exchange is the most impactful experience for our members.

More Exchange means more management, therefore more Leadership positions.

More issues and markets means more Exchange, more Leadership Positions and more IBXPs.

....

Eistein has two quotes related to this topic:

"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."

"Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage-to move in the opposite direction."

SSGN Board 07-08!!!

SSGN is the name of the region I was appointed to, It covers: Spain, USA and Latin America.

The Board is a group is individuals who are responsible to support the delivery regional commitments.

During the past week, I was waking up earlier or going to to bed late in order to have an acceptable understanding of the candidates applying for the Board.

The process was very interesting. Getting to know different people finding out about their passions, competencies and strenghts...

But a decision has to be made and I was aiming for a balanced team.

The reason is simple, due to the current situation of SSGN more than direction change, we need speed. A balanced team has the characteristic to "keep things on track" which precisly the risk of speeding up :)

SSGN Board 2007-2008

Congratulations!!!

What should I write about?

This life is so cool
Or at least, the days when I write in this blog :)
Here are some views from Expro (Serbia) and Austria:

Euro Expro 2007, Serbia

Bad Ausse, Austria (Future 2007)

Find the hard worker

The Exciting Moment

Selecting the team for the next year

The team will have 2 Project Managers (PM) and Non Corporate Manager (NCM) person.

The PMs will be in Sao Paulo, Brasil. The NCM will be in Madrid, Spain.

We will meet for transition and planning in Rotterdam, NL and the kick-off will be in Istambul, Turkey :)

We are going 100% to release SSGN potential!!!

Soon... the results!!!!

World | Too much!!!

What if I tell you that today we brought 12 Chinese students to meet with and chat about CSR with Anglo America?

What if I tell you that yesterday we had lunch with the global CSR team of NIKE, including the VP CSR?

What if I tell you that I will be in Belgrade tomorrow?

And in Vienna on March 27th?

What if I tell you that I bought 3 shirt and 3 t-shirts for 12 Euros and people think I paid too much? :)

This is AIESEC, this is my life now... :)

Costa Rica | Campeón UNCAF

China | MC Team Day

In the last 24 hours, the team was in a spa...

We jumpp from the saune to the swimming pool and then to the dinner room, watch movies, play pin-pong... chill all day :)

Next week will be tough

I have meeting with Anglo America and also we are hosting a lunch with the Nike CSR Global Team :)

So many things to be done...

And then on Wednesday I am flying to Serbia!!!

I love Serbia, it will be my second time there. The first was on summer 2004, I went on holidays. Belgrade really surprized me. It was very hot, very clean and the rivers were amazing... Besides I met some really nice ppl there...

I will stop in Austria and maybe stay a couple of days..., not sure yet...

Well, that's it from now...

Back on-line!

I am very happy that my blog is back. As you see I changed some aspects of it in order to make it work again. I am not sure what the problem was...

Anyways, the last two months were really exciting.

At the begining of January, Caio from Brazil came to work with us in the MC. He brought a lot of passion, action and structure to the work of the team. Right now he is sort of the MCVP CSR in Mainland of China... :)

During this time, we also had January National Conference where I finally had an acceptable number of delegates in the CSR track :) Besides we elected new President: Vincent Li!

In February, we started to work with two big projects: (1) Sustainable Development Education at High Schools; (2) HIV/AIDS Peer to Peer Education in Universities.

This brought to us, Asia from Poland. She is in charge of the HIV/AIDS Project.

Later on, I went to Egypt for the AIESEC's International Presidents Meeting where I applied for AIESEC International and was happily selected!!!! :)

Next year, I will be AIESEC Director for Latin America, Spain and the US. Although, I will be travelling a lot within the region, I will live in Rotterdam, NL.

My speech was about the need of increasing the amount of cool opportunities we offer to students and I supported it with a 4:30 min video about my experience:

If I manage to solve some technical issues, next week I will be travelling to Belgrade to facilitate in a Conference for European AIESECers :)

Life is eXciting!

China | The year coming...

The time to reflect and decide has come.

In China, New Year's is just another day..., which makes me wonder why is it so important for Westerners.

I have been working on myself :)

Thinking a lot, writing facts and partying hard.

I have an idea, we'll see if it works.

Here is a message from a good friend

"When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a great man, it always first frustrates his spirit and will, exhausts his muscles and bones, exposes him to starvation and poverty, harasses him by troubles and setbacks so as to stimulate his spirit, toughen his nature and enhance his abilities." - Chinese Wisdom