Exegi monumentum aere perennius

Non omnis moriar

The news of yesterday’s passing of Steve Jobs still echo in my head. What a remarkable man! His company sold millions of gadgets worldwide yet... that’s not what really made him extraordinary. To me, rather, it were his unshakable beliefs and unfading spirit. For one thing, I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing now had it not been for his words of wisdom (“It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy” or “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”). Monumentum aere exegi perennius, Steve Jobs.

How Will You Lead the Future?

Together with my mate Andy Shannon we shot this video as part of the promo campaign for the 2011 edition of TEDxRotterdam. The theme of the event is “Future Leadership” and is made exclusively for students. So to film the video we chose to go directly to those most interested, shooting at three different higher education institutions, and approaching over a hundred students for participation. It was hard work but mostly it was just good fun. 

If you could be a leader in any discipline, who would you be?

Every student we approached we asked one question: "If you could be a leader in any discipline, who would you be?” The point was to inspire the viewers by showing them those who were busy working towards their passions. We also wanted to stimulate awareness among the students about letting go of what other people expect them to do and acknoledging their true dreams, the things they had always wanted to do but were either too shy or too afraid of pursuing. We concluded the video with a direct challenge to the viewers to do the same, by asking a simple question: how will you lead the future? 

TEDxRotterdam: official website

Year 2008

I have been contemplating what to say in my final post this year for a very long time. In every sense 2008 has been an extraordinary year, extremely rich in thought provoking experiences (the good, the bad and ugly) as well as in many fantastic people that I had a pleasure to meet on my way. Bringing it all to a close seemed like a gargantuan challenge, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it right. But in the end, following the words of Winston Churchill: “perfectionism spells paralysis”, I gave it a shot anyway.

The Good

2008 got a kick-start in Lycoming College (Williamsport, PA), where I had a great pleasure to study and work alongside American students. In the midst of the US Presidential Campaign, former President Bill Clinton as well as the then presidential candidate, now, President Elect Barack Obama came to the college and I had the privilege to personally greet both of them. It was absolutely brilliant! Around the same time I also won a business plan contest held in town, something that I regard as one of the most important personal achievements to date. Overall, these, and many other events opened my eyes of sorts and life after America will never be the same again. To put it into perspective, without this experience, I have serious doubts whether I would have anything to write on this blog at all.

Shaking hands with Obama

Back in London, I got possibly the best part time job on the planet – Specialist at Apple Regent Store. At the store I met some of the most talented people ever, and they all continue to have a tremendous impact on my personality. Through working there I became more open, more compassionate and eager to do something for and with others. I hope I became easier to get along with as well.

The Bad

I will always remember this year for the troubles in the relationship with my girlfriend. After almost two years we broke up in October and as much as I am still confused, I am ashamed to admit that I am responsible for what we have been through.

But as with all things in life, there was a good side to this – at last I realised how little I knew about partnership and life in general, and how immature and selfish I was compared to what my initial thoughts were. Without this insight I don’t know how long more it would have taken me to finally understand what I did wrong and begin my quest for self-improvement.

The Ugly

2008 also marks one of the most unlucky incidents I have had in my life. It all started when I missed my connecting flight from London to Amsterdam, subsequently missing the flight to America. The story is full of unlucky coincidences and I will not go in more detail but let’s just say, flying is not my cup of tea;)

Another ugly memory of the year was me getting sick all the time. In total, I caught a cold 7 times and as of writing this post I am still recovering from flu! Because this year I have been following a very well balanced diet, I would say that it was the continuing stress that took my body defences down, something to be seriously taken care of in future.

2009, here I come!

Looking back, 2008 has been an amazing year and I could hardly ask for more. I finally begun to understand myself and became happy about the man I am. Likewise, I started to realise what life is all about and begun to see how to properly function as a member of the society. I developed a genuine interest in other people, and feel great whenever I can meet someone new. I finally feel that I am headed in the right direction. I feel that I have the majority, if not all of the pieces of the puzzle called life and finally can start putting them together. It might be hard, and there is going to be a lot of challenges ahead, but you know what? I love it all! 2009, here I come!!!

Shaking Hands With Mr President!

For the past few months I was intensively following the primary presidential campaign in the US. It is a great source for learning about leadership, communication but also discipline and perhaps most of all commitment to hard work. I hoped for the presidential race to come to Williamsport. And guess what? Yesterday, the former president of the United States of America – Bill Clinton visited Lycoming College!

How was it? Well, of course - GREAT! What happened then?

Let’s start from the beginning. After coming to USA I was very sceptic about the country. A lot of things did not seem right. In general, it looked as if people were overwhelmingly focused on consumption, living without any consideration for the consequences of their actions. One recent example was in my marketing class. We were talking about product life cycles and the professor asked how many people in the class used energy efficient light bulbs in their houses. Only two out of almost forty people raised hands… It was very worrying. President’s Clinton speech made me realise there is still hope for a change, though.

Topics of the speech

During his 1,5 hour speech Mr Clinton addressed a number of issues. He talked about the war in Iraq, the housing bubble, international relations and global warming.

High performance leadership

Interestingly, global warming was the part of his speech that he put the most effort into. He said some pretty obvious stuff, but approached it from another angle. He basically said that countering global warming would create new jobs. First, infrastructure for increasing energy efficiency would have to be built, creating demand for electronic engineers. Second, somebody would have to lay this infrastructure down. This way new jobs would be created, but even more importantly, jobs that cannot be outsourced to another country (big deal in America right now). Anyway, what he said might not have been a revelation but it was definitely inspirational. It was good to hear directly from somebody in this position that these issues matter.

Rallying the crowd

In the end the crowd looked like hypnotised. I wondered how Mr. Clinton achieved that. A couple of things came to my mind. Most of all, he was a person like everybody else. He did not use a difficult language; he talked about people’s problems and not about superficial and unrelated matters. 

In person

Mr. Clinton used metaphors to explain complex issues to the crowd and also humour to brighten everybody up, constantly pointing at the future. He did say that America's bigges concerns were the economy and the country’s relations with the rest of the world. But rather than using complicated economic terms he said that the aim of this campaign was that when his wife leaves the office, people are better off, seeing a brighter future for their children and coming together rather than moving away from each other.

So in the end I learned two things. First, that there is still hope for America. Second, if you want your message to come across, keep it simple. It will save you time, energy, and it will work best!

UPDATE: video snapshot of the speech on YouTube — Bill Clinton at Lycoming College