Random thoughts from the week
MondayI began my week feeling rather "poopie" (this word does exist! Go google it!); and well, started ranting to my room-mates about my desire for a different environment, and some excitement. I decided that I would like to be in Moscow, St Petersburg, Kuala Lumpur or Sydney before the year ends. Hmm...choices.
Tuesday
I finally get my act together and email the nonprofit organizations Dave N kindly recommended for my Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility. I'm trying to take over the world by reshaping the way people think of the role of corporations in society. I have been thinking about it since my trip to China/HongKong last summer: What if we could get everyone to work together through active dialogue to resolve the global issues we face? Can we create a "safe environment" for people no matter from the corporate and nonprofit sector to LISTEN and SHARE their thoughts about their activities? What if this produces collaborative efforts to deal with social problems? Anyhow, that gave birth to this conference. Perhaps if we could get people from both ends in the same room, maybe they would come to understand one another? And realize that more can be done working together than against each other. (It's AIESECey I know, but I can't help it. Teehee!)
Brett is working on this panel with me, and we get positive responses from Sphinx, NCCJ, Focus Hope! I am crossing my fingers Oxfam America will agree to participate as well. They are still thinking about it. And of course, not forgetting AIESEC US!
Wednesday
Finally hear back from Whirlpool and Toyota about their participation on the corporate panel. Toyota in Ann Arbor said no, but Dave O is still helping me talk to Toyota in Cincinnati. Whirlpool gave an unoffical YES. :) It's all thanks to Jayne Boot from AIESEC Miami Ohio! I heart you! Still twiddling my thumbs for more corporate partners. Chrysler has also given a tentative YES but we will see what happens with that. Had a fun chat with Nick Botsas (alum from AIESEC MI).
Me: Hi Nick, I hear you work for Citibank?
Nick: No...
Me: Oops...
Nick: I work for AMEX.
Me: Err... (in my head: how embarrasing!)
Thankfully Nick is a great sport, and laughs it off. I should have done my research better and start telling him about my global domination plans. He's nice enough to agree looking over my proposal and maybe think of someone who could help me. Yay!
p/s: attended an Ice Hockey game that evening: Detroit Red Wings (3) VS St Louis (2). I actually got to see every single goal!
Thursday
Sales "training" for Mike. (Ruth is also in this but she's not here today) Im prepping him to become a sales person after witnessing the sad demise of the sales force at AIESEC MI. He's our secret weapon from AIESEC MI. He's got the guts, has no shame, and is really thick skinned. The type who just does it. Perfect sales material. Lesson today is AIESEC spiel...
Me: So if I asked you what is AIESEC? What would you say? Elevator pitch..go!
Mike: AIESEC is ....(rattles something about cultural integration)....
Me: @_@ you lost me at 10 seconds
Clearly, a lot has to be done! Stay tuned for next week's lesson.
Friday
I attended an ICOS seminar here at U of M yesterday. I have been trying really hard to reschedule classes to make it to the ICOS seminars (Interdisciplinary Committee on Organizational Studies) which invite awesome people from academic institutions around the world. We had Professor David Stark from Columbia Uni yesterday to lead a discussion about social network spaces
Honestly had NO IDEA what that meant, and being surrounded by professors and PhD students made me feel quite inadequate. Basically the research was an investigation about the changing ownership structure of companies in Hungary from 1987 to 2002 based on the effects of foreign investment.
I learnt that Hungarian companies in the past would resort to innovative ownership structures to avoid liabilities, buffer against uncertainties, gain legitimacy etc. For example, it was common practice between shareholders to form a relationship tie by owning direct stocks in another company. It was not considered a merger or an acquisition. Foreign investment came in that changed this behavior as most foreign owned companies did not operate under such ownership structures. Fascinating stuff!
Prof Stark said something that made me think, "The paths we take are shaped by the choices other people make." hmm....
Weekend
http://www.hybridcars.com/2006-state-of-the-union-address.html
Wow! Moving beyond a petroluem based economy! Despite the political and lack of supply motivations, it's actually kinda cool that America is finally looking to alternative sources of energy. I am happy to see such dialogue in the open. Keeping fingers crossed!
2 Comments:
Hello there,
I read about your grandmother's demise last year and I'm sorry to hear about that. I wonder if we could be in touch as I'm currently researching on the samsui women community in Spore? Please drop me an email if you could?
low.kelvin@gmail.com
god your a genisus
your always an acedemic at heart arent you
im glad to see your progress with the conference is going well...
Why dont you start a forum on CSR? why arent you letting people knowing internationall that you are doing this?
Maybe you could get some more ideas and contacts..who knows!
Its an idea for you...have you u posted your conference on the CSR aiesec forum!
Oh ....go big or go home! I love that poem by the way...on your blog from your auzzie friend..its brilliant!
Juanita
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