Home Sweet Home!

I’m back in Sweden! After a very long flight I’m finally back home in beautiful Stockholm. I’m walking around just enjoying the surroundings and feeling the atmosphere. There are so many things that I will appreciate much more now when I’ve seen so much more, such as SL (the local transportation service). I never thought I would miss Roslagsbanan or the Stockholm subway, but now I realize that they are awesome J

I won’t have much time to enjoy Stockholm though. Transition is starting for real and I have one month of intense work in front of me. I can’t wait to get started!!

At the same time I’ve started to realize that I will miss a lot of things from San Francisco. I already miss some friends and the liberal atmosphere. It is for sure one of the most awesome cities in the world!

Yosemite – Get Golden!

I’m just back from the most awesome hiking trip in Yosemite National Park, California. We were about 50 AIESECers from all over the world who came together for a long weekend of hiking, water sports and bond fires. I met so many interesting people! It turned out that most people there knew someone who I knew and so on.. The AIESEC network is not that big after all J This was a really nice last event for me before I head back to Sweden and get thrown in to reality again.

In two days I climbed two REALLY high mountains, ate about 42 hot dogs, walked 20 miles, froze my butt of in a tent and had 100 interesting conversations with people from all over the world. What a great weekend!

Why I’m passionate about CR

“So the question is, do corporate executives, provided they stay within the law, have responsibilities in their business activities other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible? And my answer to that is, no they do not” – Milton Friedman

When you talk to people about Corporate Responsibility this is usually the first counter argument you hear. Companies should do nothing else than stay within the law and generate as much money to the shareholders as possible. In fact, they are required to do so by law! Generating a profit might be the most responsible thing a company can do.

To me this implies an enormous faith in the government. It implies that the government is the only one responsible for distributing wealth and making a contribution for making the world a better place. It implies that the role of business is to do business and the role of government is to spread social justice and environmental protection. Can we trust the government to do this? My answer is no.

In a world that is desperately calling for environmental leadership and social reform we can’t put all our faith into government. If we want to make the world a better place we need to include as many actors as possible to make this change possible. People put too much faith into government. As a believer in capitalism I have to believe that companies and individual entrepreneurs can make this change possible. In a world full of business who could make things happen but business? We need to move away from the perception that “the only business for a business is to do business”.

This is also one of the reasons I prefer not to use the term CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and rather talk about CR. I’m passionate about the environmental part of Corporate Responsibility and this is somewhat forgotten in SCR.

As a true AIESECer I believe in the power of the individual to drive change and make a difference. This is what Corporate Responsibility is all about for me; Social Entrepreneurs, people who have realized that the government’s ability to drive positive change is limited. So, the biggest impact has to come from the civil society, business and other organizations.

Looking at what some businesses are doing to improve the environment and promote social justice really blows my mind. It is incredible to see the impact a business can have, while at the same time generating profits to its stockholders – which I agree – is one of the most socially responsible things a company can do.

If truly believe that if we want to see a better world – healthier ecosystems, social justice and long term sustainability – we need to include business. We need business to go beyond compliance and be in the front of positive change.

You can be sure to read much more on this subject from now on :)

Learning Experience

This semester I’ve got academic credits for being the president of AIESEC in San Francisco. I had to attend a seminar once a week and talk about my experience and share knowledge with people doing similar things. Below you can find parts of my final report about my semester and what I’ve learned;

This semester has been full of challenges and learning experiences. I entered my position as President of AIESEC San Francisco with enthusiasm and eagerness to perform. I was confident in my own abilities and I had a clear vision about what I wanted to accomplish before my term was over. I wanted to build a strong local community and dramatically increase the results of our committee, which during the last couple of years had been quite poor. I wanted to develop leadership within people and make them take on more responsibility to make them realize their own potential to run the committee in a successful way. This is what AIESEC is all about. To make individuals develop themselves so that they can have a positive impact on society in the field they are most passionate about. I wanted to take San Francisco Local Community to a level where it had never been before

After I had stared my term as president I soon realized that my vision would not be realized. I had set the expectations too high on both myself and on the organization. I had taken my previous experience from AIESEC in Sweden and applied it to AIESEC here in San Francisco. This was a big mistake. I thought people in AIESEC here were the same and I thought things were functioning in the same way. I thought I could take all the good things I had learned in Sweden and just apply it here and it would be a success. I couldn’t be more wrong.

I was working like a dog to make things work the way I wanted them to. I organized trainings, brought in external speakers, alumnus, recruited new students and pushed people as much as I could. I was trying to force fit my model of doing AIESEC into a different reality.

It turned out that this model was based on certain assumptions which did not at all apply to the American reality. First, my model of doing AIESEC was based on a strong and committed leadership team in the local community. To me this is the base of a successful community, to have people around you that you can trust, delegate work to and make decisions with. There was no such culture in San Francisco. The leadership team had been loosely selected and almost “convinced” to take the position in the Executive Board. They liked AIESEC, and wanted to do a good job, but there was a clear lack of commitment, organizational understanding and team work.

Second, my model was based on strong team work. In Sweden we did most of our work in teams. We supported each other, we celebrated successes together and we worked as one – towards one vision and toward one set of goals - rather than different individuals with different goals. Here there was no such tradition of working in teams. People were more individualistic and their own performance was seen as more important than the performance of the team. Teambuilding and such activities were viewed as unnecessary and time consuming.

Third, I was used to have AIESEC as my social network. In Sweden, I had most of my best friends in AIESEC and it was natural for me to spend time with them even when we didn’t do AIESEC activities. In this way we felt more ownership and accountability over the things we did and being involved in AIESEC was also an important social activity. Here AIESEC is more separate from your social network. There is a clear distinction between what school is, what AIESEC is and what your social life is. Bringing these elements together have been very difficult and there is still a long way to go before AIESEC becomes a natural touch point in a members every day life.

Fourth, the educational system in Europe and Sweden is very different from the system here in USA. In Sweden we only have one class per semester and we focus only one subject. This allows us to go more in depth rather than taking five classes at the same time. This means that your schedule is much more flexible. You have the same amount to study but it is more up to you when and how you do it. So, most AIESEC members could be flexible and spend time on AIESEC during day time and when it was most needed. Here everyone has a tight schedule during the days which makes it very difficult to coordinate meetings and get a steady activity up and running. Just to get a meeting where everyone could meet was virtually impossible. Some people always had class or job, even during night.

Fifth, I’m used to a structure where the local communities are autonomous and have the power to make decisions concerning their own reality. Decisions are being made as close to the stakeholder involved as possible. This is not always the case here in the US. Here the national office in New York has much more power and influence over our activities. Many processes and activities are being centralized which means less autonomy and self determination for the local communities. I’m also used to get a lot of support and coaching from the national office which makes my job as president much easier. Here no such structured support was offered and the national staff has no organized way of offering the Local Communities coaching and there is a clear absence of accountability and reporting structures.

Lastly, I’m used to work in an international environment where international cooperation and transparency are being emphasized. I’m used to stay updated on global initiatives in the organization and drive these initiatives on a local level. Globally, there is a “principle” of openness and best case sharing among local communities. Here this international feeling is somewhat lost since more US specific strategies are being more emphasized. Global strategies are not being communicated and there is a feeling, just like in the US foreign policy, that US is trying to go its own way without really looking at the rest of the world or what implications such strategies might have in the long run.

All these factors made my way of doing AIESEC really difficult. I had to rethink my whole way of doing things and how to work with people. It turned out to be the biggest challenge I’ve ever had. When looking back on the experience afterwards I realize that I could have done so much more and acted in a different way in many situations but it is always easy to be wise afterwards. During the circumstances I honestly have to say that I’m satisfied with the results this year. I think I have developed as a person and definitely as a leader. It is difficult to see your own progress when you are in the middle of something. It’s much easier when you can take a step back and really see your own development. This is really something I have learned in AIESEC, to monitor your own progress and develop yourself in the direction you want to be developed in.

There are a lot of things I will remember from this semester. Looking back on my experience I’m pretty torn. There have been a lot of good things and nice memories, at the same time I have struggled as a leader and role model for the rest of the organization. Some of the good things I will remember are working together with other people in AIESEC that are very talented and competent. To me this might be the main reason why I continue doing AIESEC, the people in the organization. At the same time I have had more challenges than I expected. I have questioned my own abilities as a leader and role model and I have spend a lot of time reflecting on what I can do different. Since it has been a big challenge I think I have learned more than I expected. If everything goes your way it is easy to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Now I had to really focus and analyse myself and see what I could do different in order to take myself and the organization forward.

One of my biggest learning points for this semester is the importance of trust. This might be the most important issue when you are a leader, to build trust with the people you are working with. This has been very difficult for me. It is easy to just do things yourself and not put enough trust in the people around you. It’s easy to think – if you want to get things done you better do it yourself. I really had to learn how to trust people and how to delegate. If people let you down you get tempted to go back to your old behaviour and start doing things yourself again. This is what makes it difficult, to continue to put trust in people over and over and let it take time.

So, to summarize my experience; this past year might have been the most challenging and at the same time developing year in my life. I’ve been exposed to a complete new culture, new people, new ways of working and new ways of thinking. It really required me to step outside my comfort zone and stretch myself in every direction possible. I’ve been unmotivated from time to time and I’ve been determined to make success other times. In the end, it’s definitely been worth the effort! When I hear all the encouraging comments and when people tell me how much I have done for AIESEC San Francisco I feel proud of myself and the people I have been working with. It makes me feel proud of being part of the most wonderful organization in the world. We say that we want to develop people that have the ability to change things for the better in society. Now I know we can!

USA hit- and shit-list:

I have experiences many things here in the United Stated and I’m getting really torn about my overall experience. It is the land of big contrasts so you run into a lot of pro’s and con’s. It really goes in periods, some weeks you are really negative and think all things here suck, and some weeks you are just positive and see all the opportunities that exist. I have tried to sum up all the pro’s and con’s of the American society in a big hit- and shit-list. I’ve tried to avoid politics, culture and other sensitive issues so these are all more shallow and tangible things I experience in my every day life. Please note that these things are all very subjective.

Infrastructure

- Terrible roads

- Old busses

- Bad public transportation – takes way too long, no information

- Really bad mobile phones – poorly designed and bad functions

- No coverage on your mobile phone, can’t here what people are saying

- You have to pay for incoming calls

- Everything is privatized, you have to buy three different tickets just to travel around the bay

- Carpets on the floor in the subway!! Smells..

- Too many SUV’s and unnecessarily big cars

- Really slow internet everywhere

- You can’t take the train to LA!

Home

- Bad vacuum cleaners, sounds like jet planes

- Only one sink in the kitchen = difficult to do the dishes

- Carpets everywhere

- Bad insulation = cold during night

- No heating system = really cold during night

- One glass windows = F##ing freezing during night

- Expensive electricity bills = since I have to use a fan all the time J

- Rent too expensive = No money for travelling

School

- Ugly buildings, poorly designed

- No scientific methods, just like high school

- All about quantity, nothing about quality

- Too many classes at the same time, nothing in depth

- Too many quizzes, this does not measure knowledge, just your ability to know things by heart

- Professors with PhD’s not knowing anything

- You get extra credit if you have a nice front page on your papers!!

Clothes and fashion

- Too much shinos and sneakers

- Fashion is 5-10 years behind Europe! Seriously!

- Jeans are too big! Or I might just don’t like bagger jeans..

- Guys can’t dress, only gay guys can dress properly here J

TV

- Too much comercials!

- Sexist and stereotypical commercials, playing on gender roles all the time!

- Court TV, give me a break!

Food

- Sugar in everything! = fat people

- Expensive to buy natural and organic food

- Poor nutritional information

- Tax not included in the price

- You have to tip 20%!

- No “lösviktsgodis” available, scandalous

Hit list:

- Cheap to eat out

- Lot’s of food when you eat out- School is easy! But takes time..

- Cheap shoes and clothing

- Nice nature

- Google (the head quarter is awesome)

- Cheap protein powder

- Ronnie Coleman

- Cliff bars

- Freedom, liberty and democracy J

Sunny days before finals

My friend Jonas from Sweden is here to visit me for a couple of days. For once the weather has been really good. I burned my self pretty bad today out in the sun. We went for a walk over the Golden Gate Bridge into the Golden Gate National Recreational Area, which is really beautiful. It’s nice to be able to enjoy my last couple of weeks here in San Francisco, especially with dear friends.

Yesterday we went to a really cool bar down town. It might have been the most awesome club I’ve been to here in SF. The girls were almost too nice for being in America, and it turned out that I was right. When we talked to some girls it turned out they were all from Sweden J So the best club in San Francisco was half full of Swedish people. Nice. It was almost like stepping in to club at Stureplan.

Some pictures of my dear friend Emil who visited me a couple of weeks ago.

It's getting closer!

Only three more weeks! My stay here in San Francisco is slowly coming to an end. How do I feel? Well, I must say that I’m pretty torn. I’ve been really homesick lately and I have so many things starting when I get home. I’m super exited about working in the Swedish MC and I can’t wait for transition to start for real.

At the same time I know that I’m going to miss things around here, friends and AIESEC. Throughout my year I’ve met so many interesting people, mostly AIESECers, who have really made my stay worth while.

One thing that I won’t miss though is school. My academic experience has been very disappointing and the educational system here is a big joke to me. It’s been just like moving backwards to high school. Homework, quizzes, papers etc, nothing like science or scientific methodology. USA has a long way to go before they can compete with European schools! Sure, they’ve got some decent schools in the Ivy League, but the other 99% is really lagging behind.

But when it all comes to an end my experience here will really be worth it. I’ve had a challenging year with a lot of obstacles along the way but this is maybe why I think it’s all worth it. I’ve learned so much. Not only about Americans and the American culture but foremost about my own values and personal beliefs.

It is really easy to understand why AIESEC puts such emphasis on the exchange stage of your AIESEC Experience J