Introduction
When I was in college, my parents had just discovered the wonder of international travel, but I didn’t want to wait that long to experience the rest of the world. I saw a poster at college about opportunities to work abroad and a meeting for something called AIESEC, an international exchange program. My initial interest in AIESEC was to get to Europe for the summer and take my girlfriend with me.
The Beginnings with AIESEC
After attending the meeting and learning about the organization and requirements from the student leaders, I made a list of business executives who lived nearby, people my family knew, and companies that were likely prospects for something relating to international experience and education. AIESEC is student-run and works through local committees at universities. The key measures for success were the number of traineeship offers raised in the country and the number of students going abroad for traineeships. The appeal or strategy used for student applicants at that time was “Raise one. Get one.” This means if you raised a traineeship offer in your country for a foreign student, you would receive a reciprocal offer in another country of your choice.
First Lessons in Sales and Confidence
Fifteen letters and five meetings later, I had secured two traineeship offers. My key selling points were: “Get a foreign student to help your company as a trainee and be part of a student-run organization that promotes international understanding and development.” The cost for the company was reasonable (a $75 voluntary fee for a domestic company or $150 for an international one) plus a living wage for the intern ($60 to $95 per week) with no taxes. AIESEC would handle all the details of visas, travel, insurance, accommodations, and hospitality. Besides, I said, “You will be giving me an incredible opportunity for a job overseas,” because the exchange was based on reciprocity between countries. My first lesson from AIESEC was: I’m not bad at sales. I can do it! Have self-confidence!
The Power of a Strong Value Proposition
AIESEC also used a powerful value proposition: “You can help save the world for freedom, democracy, and free enterprise.” This was the 1960s at the height of competition between communism and the free world. Having been founded in 1948 to promote peace through international exchange, this student organization was committed to freedom and democracy, and it based its international exchange program on traineeships with businesses. My second lesson from AIESEC was: Make your value proposition powerful and emotional, and make your selling points clear and direct.
Life-Changing Experiences and Leadership Opportunities
My traineeship in Switzerland and travel in Europe that summer were life-changing – these experiences set me on a new direction. On return to Princeton University for my senior year, I was selected to be the local committee president, and we did a good job of recruiting students who wanted to participate. We motivated these students to raise six traineeship offers that year and, therefore, also secured six placements abroad. I learned that understanding people’s self-interest for a good cause (freedom and democracy) is effective in motivating them for their own benefits (travel and internship) and helping the good cause at the same time! My third lesson from AIESEC was: You can use motivation and individual interests as powerful incentives.
Creating and Leading a New AIESEC Committee
I went on to graduate school for a master’s degree in literature at the University of Michigan. There was no AIESEC committee there, so I spent time in the business school setting up a new committee, getting the dean’s support, securing a faculty advisor, writing articles for the school paper, and getting a student affairs subsidy. Most importantly, I recruited students to solicit companies. We had a great start with seven exchanges each way in the first year. My fourth lesson from AIESEC was: Get others involved to get the results you want.
Stepping Up to New Opportunities
In my second year at the University of Michigan, I recruited an outstanding successor as the local committee president, so I could organize the association’s national conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I asked the dean to request a meeting for me with top executives at the major automobile companies located nearby. At that meeting, I raised the money for the conference and, as a result of chairing a good conference, I was elected national committee president of AIESEC-US. My fifth lesson from AIESEC was: Be ready to step up to new opportunities!
Practical Learning and Entrepreneurial Experience
My work with AIESEC at the University of Michigan was a great learning experience in creating and leading an organization. I realized years later that this was an entrepreneurial leadership experience. The practical learning from starting something new, engaging others in the enterprise, and getting results was more valuable than the courses I took. My sixth lesson from AIESEC was: Experience matters and lets you stand out!
Growing the Organization and Getting Good Advisors
As the national president of this entrepreneurial youth organization, I saw my role as growing the organization to make it available to more students. In a one-room office next to Grand Central Station in New York City, we had just one window that looked into an air shaft, so I never knew when I left work if it was clear or raining, day or night. How to grow the organization? I worked hard and got great advice from a dedicated board of directors and prestigious honorary board. The board left the decisions to the student leadership (a majority of the board were students!) and required only full and accurate plans and reports. My seventh lesson from AIESEC was: Get good advisors and listen to their advice.
Developing Leadership at All Levels
In addition to setting strategy and leading the U.S. organization, my main responsibility was visiting universities to launch or reinvigorate their local committees. I remember going to so many meetings and seeing no one whom I thought had leadership potential. Yet, again and again, someone eventually stood up, developed into a leader, and did great work. To see someone emerge to become an effective local leader is an amazing experience! It taught me how individuals can rise up when given the opportunity of leadership! In two years, we grew the number of active university committees from forty-seven to seventy-two. My eighth lesson from AIESEC was: Leadership develops and flourishes through the experience of leadership itself.
Motivation and Rewards Strategy
We had five volunteer regional directors who were full-time students. I focused their work on increasing the results by the committees in their regions. Their challenge was to motivate local committee presidents in their region to engage more students to raise more traineeship offers and apply for overseas assignments. The strategy we used was to offer clear benefits for the most successful regional directors and local committee presidents in their practical leadership experience and networking with business executives. The reward for the best producers was attending the annual AIESEC International Congress, where they would network with 400 students from other countries. With this strategy, we increased the total number of international exchanges from 724 to 1,050. My ninth lesson from AIESEC was: Motivation supported by strategy and rewards works best.
Focusing on Leadership Development
With a small paid staff of just two and, later, three of us, we had few financial pressures after we made the company fee mandatory and instituted a $25 U.S. student application fee. With an ongoing revenue stream and low overhead, we could focus almost exclusively on the real work of the organization – motivating emerging local leaders to create learning experiences for others in the areas of networking, sales, leadership, and international work and travel. My tenth lesson from AIESEC was: Focus on developing leaders to get more things done.
Pushing Boundaries and Achieving New Levels
For three years after that, I was elected to serve on the international advisory council for the International AIESEC Secretariat, guiding the secretary general to do the right thing as well as helping to organize cutting-edge international conferences on “Education for International Business” in 1966 and “The International Transfer of Management Skills” in 1969. My eleventh lesson from AIESEC was: As a leader, keep pushing the boundaries to new levels of achievement.
Reflecting on an Extraordinary Experience
At the end of my involvement in AIESEC, I realized I had had a truly extraordinary experience – successful sales meetings with top corporate executives, a summer in Europe with my girlfriend (later my wife), hosting foreign students at my home, implementing strategies for success, leading national and global teams, living an intercultural life, and actually making a difference in the world. In the process, I participated in some twenty international meetings in West Berlin, Rome, Helsinki, Istanbul, Helsinki, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, Mexico City, and other famous cities. Together, all these experiences changed my life! I learned so much about selling, planning, strategizing, motivating teams, setting goals, focusing on results, and, yes, leading others and loving what I do. The biggest lesson I learned from AIESEC (number twelve) was: I learned the value of mentoring individuals to lead and the importance of supporting teams to get results.
Conclusion
My journey with AIESEC taught me invaluable lessons about leadership, motivation, and the power of experience. These experiences have shaped my approach to leadership and continue to inspire me in my work. For more insights and strategies on effective leadership, visit NGOFutures.com. Access free resources and discounts on my books to further your own leadership journey.
See AIESEC-US if you can offer an internship: www.aiesecus.org
See AIESEC Life for information about alumni & events: https://aieseclife.org/
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