Where is the time?

I recently discussed with a wonderful person how time is always a pressure around us, technology speeding up things, so we say as if a piece of technology could really do that, … well society forcing this rules on us that everything need to be done faster and faster.

We decided to do something about that.

First step … make it visible!

We started writing about it … actually she did. Here we go … the starting paragraphs of the story with the title:

I’m not too old

When I was in my twenties, I felt like I was rushing to find something out there, whether it was a boyfriend that would later turn into a husband, two children … because you should never have one or none and three would be too much.

Can`t forget to get a good set of friends and more importantly a career that you find fulfilling and will give me plenty of time to be with my children and enough money to go on vacations.

So many things in so little time after all I had to do crazy amount of things before or by the time I reach my thirties and squeeze all of that in a ten year period.

It was exhausting to say the least. I felt like I couldn’t make it, I was avoiding the big silent enemy that is the Stress.  At some point I felt this rush to become successful, rich or powerful before I turn forty or fifty because what’s the point in making it then? It doesn’t sound so appealing as if I was to do all that in my twenties. Has a better ring to it, isn’t?

Well, not in my book. Everybody has a journey and speeding it up is not going to make it any sweeter or better than it is for the next person. We need to stop age judgement to define a person. It’s even worse and harder if you are a woman.

Why can’t we just ask women their age? Because we are embarrassed you are going to judge us, call us old hag, not employ us because let’s face it: once you’re old society, science makes you believe you are not good enough.

I don’t hide my age. Even when every woman in my family except mother did, I promised myself at a young age that I would be like my mother, I wouldn’t hide the fact that I was growing old, that I had a past, living a present and was looking forward to a future. And as proud as I am telling my age one day, someone told me “I like to tell my age because I look good.” It made me feel horrible because that was not the idea. I didn’t think of that I was just proud and loud to be standing there and not letting age define me.

I have heard so many people over forty say: I can’t learn a new language, my brain can’t handle it anymore, there is no point on doing this or that because science say it goes downhill from now on. It’s really hard to look for a job because they won’t hire me anymore … there are a lot more examples – don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against what science says about our bodies and how we process new information by a certain age, but at some point we need to stop treating people this way.

Making them feel that by thirty you have already lost the rat race … maybe and only maybe we as society wouldn’t have to rush so much all the time.

By the way in case you are wondering I’m 38.

 

… to be continued!

 

How do you feel about age?

 

Advertisement

Loosing yourself …

Do you know this deep feeling of sadness in your body that is not really on the surface but feels like a heavy dark load you carry around?

This beautiful photo somehow visualizes this feeling for me. It makes me sad when money is the reason why relationships break, talent is wasted and health is sacrificed.

In the last years humanity has seen so many proofs that money and the systems we have created do not contribute to our happiness.

Still we all depend on it and it makes or breaks a person to have it or not.

Then I met Martin Altherr in a discussion about different ways to look at “money”. He asked me:

What is your relationship with money?

I did not have an answer right away. As a creative person, in the business of inspiring others to grow and nurture their ideas, there are not many questions that I have not been asked before. This is one of those questions. The development and change that followed is very interesting and still ongoing.

JOIN me at Martin’s  Webinar next week where he wants discuss with us how we do and should relate to money.

Perfect timing for forming your new years resolutions 2017.

 

LINKS

Webinar Series: Demystify the Grand Illusion

** Unfortunately all seats are booked and registration is closed **

 

Always enjoying to share inspiring thoughts and intriguing concepts

It happens … to all of us

Errors, defeat, mistakes or failure … whatever word we use for something that has not worked out the way we wanted it to.

What it could hold for us?

Everything that happens will and does have a reason for happening. It sounds a little bit like a cliché however it’s a truth.

The reason can be anything, and maybe it takes a lot of time to be revealed to you. If you start to understand this first important point, you can start to look for the reason in failure and defeat, which you will encounter on your journey.

The next important aspect is this: Failure and Defeat will happen, to all of us. There is nobody excluded from it and nobody will ever be excluded.

What is the difference between these two?

Defeat is much more permanent than failure. Defeat is the complete loss of something. If you encounter defeat it can mean that you have to start all over again. It could mean, that you have to rethink a plan completely or it could mean that you would even have to change the products or services you’re offering.

If you encounter defeat, it always will be accompanied by an opportunity. Defeat holds many important lessons for you to learn.

• It will show you clearly that you were not ready to start in a broad sense.
• It shows you that you need to gather and apply more new and specialized information and concepts.
• It shows you also that you have to increase the amount of time that you spend on your journey and be more mindful where you actually spend it on.

Defeat holds a key for you. This key is called translated success. If you overcome defeat, learn from it and adjust to the outcome, it holds an equal amount of success removing the defeat in total.

Failure is something that occurs around us every single day and hides in every action we take.  It comes in many disguises and shows in faces everywhere you look if your mind is programmed to see it.

Not sticking to your own goals and timetables could lead to failure. Also not managing to write the blog you wanted is a failure. As not selling the amounts you hoped for is a failure. And all failures, as well as defeats, come along for a reason.

The sense behind it is, that you start to understand that failure teaches you the responsibility you have for your actions.

If you do start to blame others or things for the failure, you clearly are missing the point that failure is trying to teach you.

It also holds another important lesson for you.  It shows you which roads not to take and the decisions not to make.

“Keep looking for the lessons in failure and defeat. As they will occur and have to occur to help you arise into the personality of a successful entrepreneur that you need to become, to reach your desired lifestyle.”

Stefan Logar

LINKS

www.tapabundance.com

Stefan Logar @Linkedin Pulse

From a match to the lantern

Where did the quest take you?

Here is how the story started:
It started with a match …
It started with a match … Part II

Stunned at my success at truing a match into 59 francs I called in to what would be my last transaction. I was running out of time. It was another gift shop with lost of items that looked more expensive than they were. The assistant and I hated and started to select what might be a good trade.

We both know that the retail price is no where near the acquisition price so I thought I was on to a good thing, that is until the owner came back in. At first she, the owner, was somewhat shocked at my proposition but rapport is a beautiful thing.

Remember I am in Zurich and to start with this lady wouldn’t open up in English. with a bit of banter, and pointing out that I am only doing what one of her posters on the wall was saying …

”If you don’t ask for what you want, you won’t get it”,

we became friend in trading. The big challenge here, for me, was she didn’t rate the price tag on the fake lavender. She told me in fact that the quaintly was awful (not her word obviously) and not worth anything other. That said I now believe this to have been a savvy negotiating tactic as I walked out of this shop with a proper gift.

A beach style lantern complete with candle and a price tag of 94 francs.

From a single valueless match to a lantern priced at 94 franc in just over an hour.

So, what can I learn from this?

• in any negotiation make sure you are talking to the budget holder
• in any negotiation the other person is always negotiating too
• build rapport and keep it building politeness and humour go a long way
• value and price are not always related

 

CREDITS

Thanks to Martin Daubney for sharing his learning experience
www.inspirecoaching.com

Martin is a successful Executive Coach with many years of experience working with large corporations and Small Business Owners. He helps leaders to overcome limitations to their growth.

“Liberating potential & creating edge both exemplified through encouraging of people to step outside their comfort zone and then in coaching to help them deliver.”

LINKS

www.industryrockstar.com

Facebook Page

#kaneandalessia

 

It started with a … match

How did the quest continue?

Here is how the story started:
It started with a match …

On the quest to understand what value is:

Over the road was a small independent florist. My strategy, as it emerged was to target business owners rather than franchises or chain shops. On the way in I noticed some small plants outside for between 12 and 18 francs.

A birthday card for a small plant? Now that has to be a good deal (for me). It was nice and cool inside but as I entered I noticed the 4 women who worked inside, and fortunately one of them was the business owner. She patiently listened to my story, delighted in my feature and benefit sale of the new and unused birthday card, revelled in the banter and did the deal on a real lavender plant. Onwards and upwards.

Success breads success and bored with my own I entered a gift shop that had a sale on. This time the owner was not in the shop and would be away some time. However, on hearing the story it was clear the two ladies in this shop wanted to help.

It started with a … match

Learning is great. In fact learning is a life time task. There are some things you can only learn by doing. Good education and training focus on exactly that.

Here is a story from a challenge participants were given in the worldclass mentorship program – Industry Rockstar – to really understand how negotiating for value makes you feel.

This is how it works:
You start with a match and go out on the streets, in stores or wherever you desire to exchange that match for something of higher value. After that you do the same with the object you got. And you keep on going for a certain amount of time. Or until you decide to stop.

From a match to a lantern … Creating Value.

There is an old expression where I come from, and you may have something similar where you are. It’s something about knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Surely it would be better to understand or see the value despite the cost? And does the price tag indicate the value? Probably not in my recent experience.

Anyway … what is value?

A few days ago in Zurich I found myself in a group of 30 started with a match in my hands.

It was actually a very small match and intrinsically held no value at all, unless it was the last match held by Winston Churchill as he was about to light his last cigar. Then suddenly the value of the match increases, for some people and so it goes.

Sadly, my little match had no such provenance. It was just a match that I was challenged to generate some value with or from.

High impact learning stories

Looking for people open to share their high impact learning stories @FUN_Basel

Die erste FUN Abend war sehr erfolgreich – wir hatten 60 Besucher und eine sehr positive Atmosphäre, die allen – Speaker wie Besucher – erlaubte, Erfahrenes und Gelerntes zu teilen.

Besonders gefreut haben wir uns über den Bericht am selben Tag in der Basler Zeitung, der weitere nicht angemeldete Besucher zu uns brachte.

Die kommenden Termine

• 7. Juli 2016   Speaker Slots    Tickets
• 22. September 2016   Speaker Slots
• 10. November 2016   Speaker Slots

Passt einer der Termine in Ihren Zeitplan?
Wollen Sie einen Speaker Slots reservieren?

Sprechen Sie mit uns über einen Speaker Slot – wir melden uns bei Ihnen:

Email(required)

Submit

Δ

——————- v — E N G L I S H — v ——————-

The first FUN.Basel was great – we had about 60 participants and a great atmosphere where people – speakers and visitors – could really share the experiences and what they did learn from them. It was wonderful to have a one page article in Basler Zeitung about FuckupNights and our event that day which brought us a few more non-registered people.

We have the next event dates planned now:

• 7. July 2016   Speaker Slots    Tickets
• 22. September 2016   Speaker Slots
• 10. November 2016   Speaker Slots

Does one of them fit into your calendar?
Should we reserve a speaker slot for you?

Speak to us about a Speaker Slot – we will contact you:

Email(required)

Submit

Δ

high impact learning @fun_basel

TICKETS

Funbasel Tickets July 7, 2016

LINKS

FUN.Basel Speakers Briefing EN
FUN.Basel Speaker Briefing DE

REVIEWS

A phenomenal opening
Erstmals in Basel
The first time

A phenomenal opening

A huge thanks to our speakers at @FUN_Basel Vol I

I organized uncountable events, workshops, lectures and conferences from 15 – 20 to more than 500 participants. It is always crucial to design the benefit for your audience and make sure that you deliver it for each and every one of them.

For me the most important element is if you are able to create an environment of trust where people can share their thoughts and experiences, allowing to multiply your engagement through the community that is formed by having been at the same event.

I am so happy that we succeeded – it was a very powerful evening – the first #FuckUpNight‬ in #‎Basel‬ – the personal sharing was just phenomenal …

Thanks for a very special evening to all the almost 60 people who made it through the rain on Thursday and attended.

Your energy and thoughts made the evening such a powerful experience.

Thanks to our brave premiere speakers – here is the ONE LEARNING to take from our evening together:

 

Miao Gerhard
Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist
Founder & CEO www.mgcce.com, www.love-on-road.com
Co-founder & Managing Director www.shang-dao.com
President www.toastmasters-basel.ch
www.professionalspeakersacademy.com

Upgrade your boat

Your skills and competencies are what you bring along on the boat you sail through life. The strength of your boat determines if and how you can survive a storm.

Weihnachtsspuren – Traces of Christmas

Thank you very much Leypoldt family for welcoming me this warmhearted. The most wonderful Christmas present imaginable.

Here is one of the poems we read on the 24th of December just before singing Holy Night Silent Night. It is coming close to capturing what Christmas means to me.

Wenn mir einer die Frage stellt nach Weihnachten in unserer Welt muss ich nicht schweigen will ich ihm zeigen, was damals begann als Weihnachten seinen Anfang nahm. Wo einer dem anderen neu vertraut und mit ihm eine Brücke baut um Hass und Feindschaft zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden. Wo einer am Ende nicht verzagt und einen neuen Anfang wagt, um Leid und Trauer zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden. Wo einer im Dunkeln nicht verstummt, sondern das Lied der Hoffnung summt, um Angst und Stille zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden. Wo einer das Unbequeme wagt und offen seine Meinung sagt, um Schein und Lüge zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden. Wo einer gegen die Strömung schwimmt, und fremde Lasten auf sich nimmt, um Not und Elend zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden. Wo einer dich aus der Trägheit weckt und einen Weg mit dir entdeckt, um hohe Mauern zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden.

When someone asks me a question about Christmas in our world I do not remain silent and want to explain what it means when Christmas starts to take place. Where someone trusts another person again and builds a bridge with him or her to overcome hate and hostility, there you can find traces of Christmas. Where someone does not give up hope and dares to try again one more time, to overcome pain and sorrow, there you can find traces of Christmas. Where some does not fall silent in the dark, but is humming the song of hope, to overcome fear and silence, there you can find traces of Christmas. Where someone dares to do the inconvenient and voices his or her opinion openly, to overcome illusions and lies, there you can find traces of Christmas. Where someone is swimming against the current, and takes on others burden, to overcome poverty and hardship, there you can find traces of Christmas. Where someone wakes you from your inaction, and discovers a new pathway with you, to overcome high walls, there you can find traces of Christmas.

From an unknown author

Ich habe den Faden weitergeführt … I think I have something to add

Wo einer nicht die Augen verschliesst, und tief drinnen den Schmerz mitfühlt, können Wunden der Seele langsam verschwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden.

Where someone does not close his or her eyes, and deep inside feels the pain of another, for the soul wound to be able to slowly heal, there you can find traces of Christmas.

Haben Sie etwas hinzuzufügen?   Do you have something to add?

The universal language

The key of sharing and collaborating on ideas is of course communication. And for communication not to lead to misunderstandings the same set of rules and values is important, which in a simple way can be just the language. As I am writing this blog entry in English it is obvious that I did so, because it will be understood by a wide range of people. It is not my first language and after years of using English and even being able to have serious conversations using it, I still feel that there are certain things I will never be able to express as I wanted to. The other way around, I feel more comfortable talking e.g. about Design Thinking in English, because I learned and worked with it solely in English.

I had the opportunity to spend some time in South America this year. This was something new and challenging to me. I’ve been to Asia quite a lot, but South America has an totally different, interesting cultural context and I had fun exploring it. One of the things I noticed quite soon was that although a lot of people spoke English, a lot of people did not. This is the same in a lot of Asian countries, but in contrast to Asia, it is not perceived as a lack, if you do not speak English. It was even the other way around that I felt I did not make enough effort to communicate in Spanish! I had plenty of situations when even amongst travellers the common language was not English but Spanish and I had a hard time keeping up, because my Spanish is beginner’s level at best.

It was kind of an eye opener to me. Until now I somehow expected everyone everywhere to speak English. It might have been a bit arrogant of me to expect that, because besides English there are other languages such as Spanish and Chinese that is spoken by a large number of people. I do not want to imply that we should all switch to a different language, but just looking at the development, we might have to think about other languages than English. Who knows what will happen in a few years if you look at the development of the Spanish speaking population in the United States, which is constantly growing. Or the great amount of Chinese speaking population on earth. This is an appeal for being open minded to other languages than English and making an effort learning Portuguese, German, French, Japanese, you name it. Do not automatically expect others to speak English, but agree on a language that is most comfortable for all.

P.S.: I had the most fun conversation with a Belgian guy, who did not speak English, but Spanish and French. I speak neither Spanish nor French, but English and still, we somehow talked about all kinds of things. We agreed on a mix of Spanish with English and a few words of French and voilà, we were having a great time talking

RELATED ARTICLES

Body language and its effect

Why  is  communication  the  key

Kaleidoscope of feedback

Body language and its effect

Communication happens on so many levels. Words, Eyes, Body, Mail, behavior online by simply clicking “like” on Facebook. It happens every day from waking up until going to sleep when saying good night. But in my opinion communication is underrated. People say they are bad at expressing themselves, they quickly switch to informal language and shorten everything they say with hashtags. We talk differently than 20 years ago and the World Wide Web is a big part of it. But communication is crucial to understand each other. Learning a new language gives you a key to the culture, because it reflects a big part of the culture itself. For example, in Japanese the word “I” is used less than in English or German, which I think reflects the importance of the groups rather than the individual.

One thing you don’t get taught when learning a new language is the body language. You have the stereotypical cold Scandinavian and on the other hand the kiss on the cheek giving South European. But besides cultural differences, body language in your own country is very important. It also has a huge effect on yourself, which Amy Cuddy reflects on in this talk on TED:

I found this video very inspiring and added it to my list about communication. For more info also have a look at these people:

Paul Ekman – One of the leading scientists on microexpressions and body language. He states that the basic expressions are universal and has a lot of interesting insights on how we e.g. mask a lie!
Stefan Verra – This man startles you all over again when analysing you and your body language. He has a lot of knowledge about what you tell others when standing, sitting or behaving in a certain way.

Times change but some things always stay the same

It seems to me, more often than before, that essential life lessons a human being has to learn have not changed through the years, even though our environment and practical gadgets we are surrounded with do change at a very fast pace.

I just came across Roman Krznaric, an Australian cultural thinker and co-founder of The School of Life in London and his new book “How Should We Live? Great Ideas from the Past for Everyday Life”.

He speaks about Leo Tolstoy and what he began writing 150 years ago. Most people think of him as one of the 19th century’s greatest novelists. Few are aware that he was also one of its most radical social and political thinkers. During a long life from 1828 to 1910, Tolstoy gradually rejected the received beliefs of his aristocratic background and embraced a startlingly unconventional worldview that shocked his peers. Tracing his personal transformation offers some wise — and surprising — lessons for how we should approach the art of living today.

Lesson 1: Keep an Open Mind

Lesson 2: Practice Empathy

Lesson 3: Make a Difference

Lesson 4: Master the Art of Simple Living

Lesson 5: Beware Your Contradictions

Lesson 6: Expand Your Social Circle

Sounds familiar ?
This is definitely something that has not changed since then – the same lessons are still valid for today.
Maybe this is a general recipe for rethinking life?

LINKS

Details about Tolstoy`s 6 lessons
www.outrospection.org
hello Peace

Embracing Difference

The culture of the country you grow up in forms you and your identity. My identity is firmly anchored in German culture as I grew up in Berlin the first 17 years of my life. Nevertheless, being the child of a Japanese father and a German mother, the issue of where I belong and as what I identify arises pretty quickly. I was never a a victim of harassment, but sneaky side comments in elementary school let me wonder how not only I but also others see me. As a matter of fact, the first twelve years of my life I looked into the mirror and did not see a difference.

I can honestly say that I am happy I was raised in Germany, where 50% of a class is mixed and I walk through streets listening to all kinds of languages. This is a very stereotypical description, but I want to highlight the difference to classes I experienced during my time I attended Japanese high school. Out of 1000 students, the Assistant Language Teacher, two or three mixed kids and me were the only foreigners at that school. Naturally, the understanding of people having a different cultural context or speaking a different language was just about zero and I met a lot of stereotypes such as “All foreigners speak perfect English”.

The treatment I experienced while living in Japan I recognized in the movie “Hafu – Japan is changing” by film maker Megumi Nishikura and Lara Perez Takagi. It is about Japan, a homogenous country that is embracing new cultures and how society deals with the change of identity. Is only 100% Japanese the real Japanese? Or are there more aspects to “being Japanese”? It is also about the identity of half Japanese people, their struggles and their wishes for the Japanese society. I recommend this movie to all, who wonder how Japan treats people who are different, because this is not only applicable to half Japanese people, but to foreigners in general.

こんな顔でも日本人で有り得る社会になって欲しい。

I want this to be a society, where I can exist as a Japanese person the way I look.

– Megumi Nishikura

Homepage: http://hafufilm.com/

Creativity Engineering started @Team Meeting Space

Vienna, 13.10.2013

The new semester is here and Creativity Engineering started into its TEAM FINDING PHASE traditionally on its online forums. This year we also offered a Saturday TEAM MEETING SPACE event – live and old fashioned but much easier to talk to each other, groups were born and ideas connected to people or vice versa.

Here an overview about these year’s groups

Urban Renewal  ::  Be safe  :: Volunteer Path  :: 3D Experience  :: Drainergy  :: Collaboration  :: Incognito  :: Cradle to Cradle  :: Casino Strategy
Group Finding Tool  :: Future Transportation  :: Dream Furniture

There are still open seats in teams for people who could not decided yet, which idea motivates and excites them most. Please go out there and connect to people and ideas.

WANTED

URBAN RENEWAL MAP looking for someone with
a background in MARKETING or INFORMATICS

More teams in the process of formation:
House Energy card, Interchangability Format, iCount, Go Gnceu, Goal Barter, Electrical Steam Generator, Temporary Summer Camp, Augmented Reality App, Ice Cream Glove

NED Juli Paket

… and here comes a monthly package after the month has passed. Not a good approach for continuous learning every day. Unfortunately circumstances and energy levels lead to this. I apologize.

Nihongo	English	Deutsch	Lernen in Wortfamilien
おんど ondo	temperature	(e) Temperatur	Temperatur haben
きょうしつ kyōshitsu	classroom	(s) Klassenzimmer	“das fliegende Klassenzimmer”
ほんだな hondana	bookshelf	(s) Bücherregal	(s) Regal
いたみ　itami	pain	(r) Schmerz	es tut weh!
くるま kuruma	car	(s) Auto	Auto fahren
えいが eiga	video	(s) Video	(r) Film
せいびし seibishi	mechanic	MechanikerIn	MechanikerIn lernen

Happy learning! Viel Spaß beim Lernen!

Nihongo	English	Deutsch	Lernen in Wortfamilien
よむ yomu	read	lesen	ein Buch lesen, lesen können
つうやく tsūyaku	interpreter	ÜbersetzerIn	als Übersetzerin arbeiten
電子辞書 denshi jisho	electronic dictionary	(s) Elektronisches Wörterbuch	das ist unersetzbar in Japan
けいざいがく keizaigaku	economics	(e) Wirtschaft	Wirtschaft studierden
ノート nōto	notebook	(s) Notizbuch	(r) Notizblock
学習塾 Gakushū juku	after school academy	(e) Nachhilfeschule
げきじょう gekijō	theater	(s) Theater	ins Theater gehen, ein Theater machen

Another set of words

Nihongo	English	Deutsch	Lernen in Wortfamilien
こうじょう kōjō	factory	(e) Fabrik	Fabriksarbeiter
ワインwain	wine	(r) Wein	Stadt Wien
おおきい ōkii	big	groß	(r) Großteil
なぜなら Nazenara	because	weil	deswegen, deshalb
好む konomu	like, prefer	mögen	Wandern mögen
欲する hossuru	want, desire	möchten	ich möchte eine Torte
ギリギリ Giri Giri	barely, at the edge	gerade noch	an der Grenze

Gambare!

Wörter einschicken? Freue mich auf Ihre Email an jutta(at)kulturimpuls.net

All Generations engaged at WorldSkills 2013

Our Youth – Our Future

The Worldskills 2013 in Leipzig were an event not only for highly engaged and highly competent youth in 46 professions. It was also a cross-generation event. There were an equal amount of experts committed to mentor and coach their national winners to be able to compete with the best talents of 52 nations.

There were many meetings and conferences that took place in the Conference Center of Leipzig Messe organized and attended by European and OECD leaders about youth (un)employment from across the world.  In this truly global effort, that will be the basis for a continuously engaged platform, you could meet Ministers, Law Makers, CEOs of companies and foundations. They came together to not only speak about the currently very bad situation for youth in many countries but to take action and offer perspectives and a future to their youth.

The focus was put on joining forces, using synergies, learning from other`s mistakes and successes to leverage existing knowledge for changing the way things are. The dual education system which has been an essential part of the national education system in Germany, Switzerland and Austria is believed to be a big part of the solution to low youth unemployment. I attended following conferences during the WorldSkills Competition:

Green Industrial Skills for Sustainable Development

Humanity faces enormous challenges in the sustainability of our current lifestyles and systems. The decisions we take can either move us in the direction of sustainability or contribute to the growing problems. Green Industries are the driver towards sustainability and currently experience a high growth time. It is crucial to have access to the necessary skills to be able to realize the potential growth path.

The conference took place on July 1, 2013 and started with a plenary sessions and keynote addresses from Nobel Peace prize Laureate H.E. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Chairperson National League for Democracy in Myanmar, Ursula Müller from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, Chakib Jeane and Marcos Pontes from UNIDO and Olga Strietska-Ilina from ILO. The following three panel discussions were dedicated to following topics:

• Panel 1:  Green Industry Initiative
• Panel 2:  Skills Development for renewable energy
• Panel 3:  Worldskills and how to sustain the industry through green skills competition development

It was a very interesting day dominated by the questions of how VET Vocational Education and Training can solve this problem to fill the skills gap detected in this crucial sector.

European Alliance for Apprenticeships” (EAfA)

Please see article about this initiative.

Skilling the future: VET and Workplace learning for Economic Success

This international conference organized by the OECD and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research [BMBF] focused on the role of Vocational and Adult Education as well as Workplace learning as the emerging challenges. After the keynote parallel working groups started and engaged in the following topics

1. VET and higher education: transition pathways and innovative blends of VET
2. Systematic development of apprenticeships and workplace learning: changing roles of responsibilities of trainees, employers and social partners
3. Innovative concepts for making the bridge between school and work

I participated in the working group three and presented the success story of  Cisco Networking Academy – a CSR Program for educational organizations supplying a learning platform with IT Networking and System resources for IT skills development.

Resume
The Worldskills Conference Program 2013 “Our Youth – Our Future” was definitely a highlight of the WorldSkills Competition and will be instrumental to connect stakeholders on a global level to implement policies and programs that improve the situation and give our youth a prospective and positive outlook into the future of their nations.

LINKS
Worldskills Leipzig 2013
WorldSkills Conference Program
Cisco Networking Academy Program

The EUROPEAN ALLIANCE FOR APPRENTICESHIPS (EAfA)

At the Worldskills 2013 in Leipzig the Launch event of the “European Alliance for Apprenticeships” (EAfA) took place and pledges were signed by several companies and organizations committing to strengthen vocational education that has shown to be responsible for the low youth unemployment rates in some of the European Countries as Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Cisco represented by Gert de Laet from Learning @ Cisco is signing the pledge of Cisco’s commitment to support the alliance.

Participants and Alumnis from Cisco Networking Academies are showing a strong presence at World Skills 2013 in Leizig competing in skill 39 IT and Networking Technology. It is great to see how the 15 year old Cisco Networking Academy Program has such a impressive impact on the economic and labor market situation in the 165 countries it operates in.

The Cisco Networking Academy Program is a CSR initiative which gives schools, universities and educational institutions access to learning material and practical learning labs for being an expert in building the highways of the Internet

LINKS 

www.worldskillsleipzig2013.com
www.netacad.com

To spread the information here are more photos from the European Alliance for Apprenticeship [EAfA] Meeting in Lepizig.

Nuclear Energy in Japan

Having experienced the Tsunami during my time in Japan, I was astonished to see only a low reaction towards the whole nuclear energy issue in Japan. Either it was not prominently featured in the news or the issue was not causing too much trouble in people’s every day life. I was especially surprised, because I have the contrast to the radical change towards nuclear energy in my home country Germany.

Shutting all nuclear power plants down was a very short-sighted decision, which ended in reactivating some of them, and I kept wondering, what is the strategy behind that? But furthermore I was interested in the attitude of the Japanese population. So, when I went to Japan this year for vacation, I discovered these street tags in downtown Tokyo and was surprised and proud. Actually there is an anti nuclear energy movement!

The man behind it is 281_anti nuke, a Japanese artist, who does Street Art in a fantastic way that reminds me a little bit of Banksy. He made the anti nuclear energy issue his topic and I think it is a creative way to reach especially the younger generation. I found other interesting ways of communication, such as the “no nukes” poster project and the “1 for 10” project for educating people about nuclear energy and I think they are worth to have a look at.

281_anti nuke: http://www.281antinuke.com/profile/

NO NUKES POSTERS: http://int.nonukeart.org/about

1 for 10: http://1for10.jimdo.com/

NED: Nihongo – English – Deutsch Sprachverpackung der Woche

… more Words for the language learner out there.

Nihongo	English	Deutsch	Lernen in Wortfamilien
あし ashi	leg	(r) Fuß	zu Fuß gehen
いけ ike	pond	(r) Teich	im Teich schwimmern
はな hana	flower	(e) Blume	Blumen schenken
エントリーカード entorī kādo	entry card	(e) Zutrittskarte	Eintrittskarte bestellen, kaufen, gewinnen
しも shimo	frost	(r) Frost	(r) Reif, es friert, es hat gefroren
バナナ banana	banana	(e) Banane	(r) Apfel, (e) Traube, (r) Pfirsich, (s) Obst
ドキュメンタリー dokyumentarī	documentary	(r) Dokumentarfilm	Dokumentarfilm drehen

Happy learning! Viel Spaß beim Lernen!

Hidden “Currencies”

— from Tim Clark at Business Model You—
www.businessmodelyou.com

Time and energy are the main currencies you “spend” to create and deliver value to Customers. You may also receive benefits in these currencies: If your work energizes you, or leaves you plenty of free time for yourself, you’ve been paid in an extra-monetary form.

But there’s a third, hidden currency you should account for in your personal business model. As with the other currencies, it can be either a cost (What You Give) or a benefit (What You Get).

This hidden currency, though—unlike time—is hard to quantify. And unlike energy, sensing its day-to-day ebb and flow is tough.

Yet this precious third currency is very real. People who give too much of it to their work (or fail to receive enough in return) often quit their jobs in frustration—or start their own businesses

What is it?

Flexibility.

Flexibility is what you “pay” when you take a corporate job, for example. When you take a new position, you’re typically committing to a 50-week year where you’re required to be at a specific location the better part of each day. Most commonly, you immediately lose the flexibility to choose when and where you’ll work. You may even lose the flexibility to determine what you’ll work on and how.

One way to avoid spending all your flexibility currency is to become self-employed. Business Model You featured Jet Barendregt (page 73), who started her own personal assistant business after her employer decided to move to a new location that would have doubled her commute—and further reduced already sub-par flexibility. The move gave Jet extraordinary flexibility (and tripled her earnings).

All this is not to say that self-employment or entrepreneurship is the only way to gain more flexibility. Savvy employers recognize that greater flexibility is a potent benefit within the “What You Get” building block.

So if you feel you’re either overpaying or are underpaid in flexibility, try negotiating. But whatever you do, start accounting for this crucial third currency within your personal business model.