Give a little ;)

I came across this movement while surfing around on ning.com - the 29-Day Giving Challenge sounds like a cool "pay it forward" campaign. Get inspired and start giving ;)


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Young Leadership Academy... work in progress

Honeymoon is over
So, I've worked for over a month at LSU. It's kinda crazy - feels so natural and yet it's still kinda new. My job is to coordinate and develop the area of leadership and organizational development within our 82 members of youth organizations in Sweden - amounting to a total membership of around 650,000 young people nation-wide. It is a great challenge and an amazing opportunity!

Making a difference
What I really want to do in this position is to inspire young people to make a difference, and to develop themselves and others in making a difference in society. I think that LSU as an umbrella organization has every opportunity to contribute to this process for a lot of young people. The youth organizations themselves are doing great things - from running their every day activities to starting new projects and organizing campaigns. I see LSU as contributing to their development by providing a network platform where they can look beyond their own contexts, be inspired by each other and get equiped with new tools for their leadership, activism and organizing.

Drawing synergies
This week I pulled together a couple of the colleagues to throw around ideas and put all the different ongoing processes out on the table to get a better view of what is being planned, how these things relate to each other and how we can create synergies.

After a month at the job, I have a picture of what has been done, what are the strengths and what can be improved.

Let's do it!
Now it's time to go to action big time! For a week, before I take a couple of weeks off, I will be focusing on action steps for early 2009. I am looking forward to the months ahead, and I can't wait to see the change over the coming year!

So let's get on with it - let's do it!

Times of change...

"These are uncertain times", "we are in the middle of a crisis", "we are all affected"...

Seems like the headlines are all over, and have seeped through pretty swiftly to many peoples lips. For me, personally, these are most certainly times of change. Really positive change! I start the month of November by changing jobs. Going from the corporate world and a role in sales back to the non-profit sector and a role in leadership and organizational development with Swedish Youth organizations. I will start with LSU - The National Council of Swedish Youth Organisations - on the 3rd, diving right into the role with full energy head on.

I am full of anticipation for the new position. I feel like I have a lot to contribute with, and I think it is perfect timing for me - my experience of the past years with Forge and the past spring's coaching program, my current experience with sales from Starnox also highly relevant, and most of all the many interesting prospects for developing this area within an organisation like LSU.

So, times of change, exciting times, full of possibilities and opportunities ahead. :)

How do you want to shape your future? How will you create your change? How will you turn uncertainties into opportunities for you? I'm sure you'll do great! Let me know ;)

Inspired away

Sometimes inspiration just takes all my time. Haha, it's ironic, but true. Things that truly inspire me and go straight to my heart, mind and soul... they just sometimes take a lot of time away from "all those things that I ought to be doing..." But I hold the belief that what goes around comes around, and that inspiration WILL be translated to energy and action for a really great cause and really effective use.

So, some of the things that I have been reading today: Nabila.se, Evelina Wahlqvist, Fri företagsamhet, Emanuel Sidea, Nätverket SIP, mm.

Good stuff!

Happy New Year... (all year!)

Ok, I have been really crap at keeping myself up-to-date with myself here... That's probably because Facebook (blaah!) stole some of my social online attention in the fall, and my work with Forge Ahead took the rest of me in terms of online stuff... yes, and on that note, we've built up quite a momentum and presence with Forge Ahead over the past month. In november we recruited and trained 15 wonderfully talented coaches, and now we are rounding up the youth projects that will be running for three months during the spring. It is very exciting! Check out the website http://ahead.forge.nu for updated info (in swedish).

Til later... xoxo,

oola

On a roll

Aight, tiderna är ljusa. Höstvädret är underbart. Folk jag snackar med är pepp. Things are rolling!

Sedan planerna med Forge Ahead tog fart i början på sommaren så har det varit full spinn på nätverksfabriken. Jag har snackat med en hel del människor med många och olika erfarenheter och responsen är överväldigande positiv.

Senaste veckan har det blivit mer konkret genom kontakter med bl.a. Botkyrka kommun, Ung Företagsamhet, Södertörn och KI. Jag har fått relevanta och bra kontakter som jag följer upp under den kommande veckan. Imorgon träffar jag studentkåren på Södertörns Högskola. På tisdag blir det en heldag i Spånga/Tensta, med träff på gymnasiet på morgonen och "Entreprenörskap Samhälle 2.0" med Lund Nova på eftermiddagen.

Det känns riktigt kul att komma närmre och närmre målen för varje steg. Nu byggs alla relationerna och kontakterna under de kommande veckorna och sen sätter rekryteringen igång - studenter ska rekryteras att bli projektcoacher för gymnasieungdomar. Ungdomarna rekryteras från skolorna för att driva egna projekt under tre månader februari-maj.


Fortsättning följer...

/ola

In September the Light Changes*...

...the light changes
and the mood
it shifts somewhat
hopeful
and yearning
spirited
yet potentially melancholy

those trees
so beautiful
in the sheer september light
facing, bowing in
temporarily towards the sun
as it lingers
on its descent

the leaves
on those branches
reaching, not for the skies
but for the water
the surface
gently lapping the ripples
diverging from conformity
seeking new ways

wishing
for other directions
is gravity its friend
is time its perish
motivated by greed
or searching for freedom

as always
they will tell
in time
and the path
will tell its own tale
in its own right
being worth it
all the way


* the title is taken from Andrew Holleran's book of short stories by the same name