4 days until Trust

Friday night and i'm thinking far away.4 days until Trust... tomorrow together with my team we will have a teambuilding in order to prepare the contest and have fun. We have stickers with our team and we decided to make anoraks. Our team identity is so strong :)

We are ready to go to Bucharest and play Trust. I'm sure we will do a great job and we gonna qualify for the final.

Zoom is ready to fly!

Earth hour day -29th March 2008

Earth hour 2007 was only in Sydney, Australia. This year Earh hour will be a global movement.

On 31 March 2007, more than 2 million Sydney businesses and households turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour - sending a powerful national and global message that it’s possible to take action on global warming.

At 8pm on 29 March 2008, Earth Hour goes global, with cities and towns around the world taking stand on the greatest threat our planet has ever.

Turning the lights off for Earth Hour is a great first step, but if you really want to see a difference, then make Earth Hour part of your everyday life.

Simple things like turning off appliances while not in use and switching your light globes to energy efficient bulbs, will all help us reach our goal of reducing our annual emissions by 5%. Even something as simple as turning out lights when you’re not in a room and switching to cleaner sources of electricity like “green power”, make a big difference.









I'm interested to promote this event in Iasi...if interested to help me leave a comment!
Let's make together a better world!

Inspiring music

Poli Iasi -Steaua

Am fost cu Razvan aseara la meci in Copou. Poli Iasi a jucat cu Steaua iar pentru mine a fost a doua oara cand am mers la un meci al lui Poli.

Se intalneau echipa mea favorita (Steaua) cu echipa orasului meu :) O dilema destul de mare cu cine sa tin. Toata ziua de ieri am asteptat cu nerabdare meciul incurajat de rezultatele pe care contracandidatele in lupta pentru titlu le-au obtinut dar si cele de la retrogradare care o avantajau pe Poli.

Am ajuns la stadion la ora 18:50 si l-am asteptat pe Razvan in fata stadionului. Dupa vreo 10 minute de asteptare apare. Incercam sa intram dar cei care se ocupau de paza stadionului ne spun ca intrarea la Tribuna A unde aveam bilete se face prin spatele stadionului vis a vis de parc.

In cele din urma intram pe stadion la ora 19:10...meciul fiind la 20:30! Am admirat coregrafia galeriei iesene dar si pasiunea pe care o puneau in incurajarea echipei. Fiind meci cu Steaua(cea mai iubita echipa din Romania) stadionul a fost plin...tichetele s-au epuizat imediat ce au fost puse in vanzare.

A fost frig ieri pe stadion... Dar atmosfera s-a incalzit odata cu inceperea meciului! Poli a deschis scorul in minutul 4 printr-un autogol al lui Banel (Da iar a gresit Banel poarta desi mingea i-a sarit nefericit din gazon..)

Pe urma pana la pauza am asistat la un joc controlat de Steaua...speram la un 2-3 spectaculos ...Interesant a fost ca in Tribuna A majoritatea erau stelisti :) Si nu prea s-au bucurat la golurile iesene.

Dupa pauza asa cum ma gandeam a intrat o noua echipa Steaua care a reusit sa egaleze in minutul 47 prin Andres Mendoza. La 1-1 Poli a iesit la joc si nu a conservat rezultatul reusind sa inscrie golul de 2-1 prin Bogdan Onut ...2 faze de poarta ..2 goluri pentru Poli

Steaua a inceput sa joace...sa paseze in ritm latino ..odata cu intrarea lui Dayro care a cam destabilizat jocul echipei iesene in aparare...dar Poli l-a avut pe Cristi Branet (portarul) care a facut un meci mare si astfel Poli a reusit sa o invinga pe Steaua.

Nu mi-a placut:
- galeria ieseana pe parcursul meciului care striga cuvinte obscene chiar daca scorul era 2-1 pentru Poli; (Doar asta aveau in vocabular)
-o parte din echipa Stelei care nu a mers (Ovidiu Petre -cel putin in prima repriza, Banel, Pepe Moreno, Ghionea, Plesan)
-mizeria din tribuna dupa semintele aruncate pe jos
-jocul lui Balba
-faptul ca Steaua a pierdut titlul cu numarul 24 la Iasi

Ce mi-a placut:
-galeria Stelei care si-a incurajat cu fair play favoritii si nu au facut scandal cu galeria ieseana
- determinarea echipei iesene
- Andrei Cristea noua achizitie a lui Poli.

Am sa mai merg la meciurile lui Poli pentru ca vreau sa fac niste poze la stadion..de data asta nu am riscat sa-mi iau aparatul de fotografiat cu mine.

The month of personal development

Last days I was reading a lot... I love when I have time to read for pleasure (not school things) because I enter a new world... a world where I escape with my thoughts&dreams& feelings ... I feel free to SMILE and Dream of changes I want to make in this world.

Ilinca a really nice girl who enjoys the adventure of living each day with a smile on her face sent me a great document related to 25 ways of distinguish yourself by Rajesh Setty. The most important question is "Why should you distinguish yourself" ?

Short answer: Being part of the commodity crowd erodes your value.

So let's see below 25 ways of distinguish yourself

• Care as if it's your own
• Do you daily work with passion
• Building strong relationships
• Dream big ( Let your imagination be imaginative and let your dreams be unreasonable and seem unrealistic. Watch people who have achieved significant milestones; their dreams were not reasonable at first.
• Set the right expectations
• Ask for help
• Celebrate small victories
• Set higher standards
• Know your values
• Pursue right membership
• Help people themselves
• Be a reader (They say all leaders are readers ..from statistics a manager read about 0.75 business books in five years. That's dismal. We should have a year plan for reading. U can set your own goals related on your priorities and needs. U can read a book a quarter,1 book a month, 3 books in a year -is your choice but have a plan)
• Plan by outcomes
• Think Long-Term
• Embrace uncertainty with ease
• ask the right questions
• engage with a coach
• be relevant
• get back on your feet fast
• Lead a volunteer effort
• Balance innovation and continous improvement
• Learn to SELL
• Learn systems thinking
• Walk away from free
• Influence the influencers

More info here

Besides this document I was reading a lot about Leadership. My degree paper is about "Development of leadership skills at young people". I've read "The Tools of leadership " by Max Landsberg.

Key learning points:

• The essence of leadership = Vision * Inspiration*Momentum.Anyone who personally engages with his or her team to create vision and inspiration and momentum will almost certainly be regarded as a leader.

• Leadership almost involves initiating and driving change
• Leadership is highly creative activity
• Leadership is an instrinsically interpersonal activity
• Timing is important in developing a carrer as a leader

Another book I've read this days "Taking great photographs. How to get the best picture every time, with every camera" by John Freeman. I found out many interesting things about taking great photos and photography techniques. About the light, travel photography, photographing people, tips&tricks.

Photography is one of my hobbies and lately I read about this(and go out to shoot).I'm going to start a personal blog about this issue with photos taken by me. I'm still learning how to use my new camera on Manual.

The last book I've read was 500 Tips for Trainers by Phil Race and Brenda Smith which will help me a lot in the future.

Striving for personal development!

Zoom team ready to play Trust

"Trust game provides an exciting career start-up and is going to contribute to the personal growth and future success of each team member.

We consider ourselves to be a team that is continuously learning, seeking opportunities and willing to grow satisfaction and success in our personal carriers. We have a passion for excellence in every thing we do and the ambition to thrive on challenge and change. Having the initiative, taking action instead of just reacting is what defines us best. We do not forget to bring enthusiasm and spontaneity into our work and create a fun environment. We value team work and challenge each other to maximize our skills and personal development.

We are confident that the “ZOOM “team is able to give creative solutions to the case studies based on live business issues like corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, business ethics and market competition because all of us are characterized by the fact that “There are no limits…only obstacles to be overcome” so we are ready to challenge our appetite.


Trust is a supportive platform for career development and an opportunity to combine our skills and knowledge. We hope to discover new and better ways to deliver success, better use of our strengths and test our adaptability and strategic thinking. We want to gain a competitive edge and to grow through this professional, cultural and social experience. Trust is important to us in developing our self-awareness, in strengthening our abilities in the world of work, and shaping our carrier goals.

The best words that describe our motivation for participating in this management game organized by Danone are: Impact-Synergy-Believe and Dream (our team values). We consider the key ingredients that will help us perform intelligent during the entire game if we are selected."

I have been waiting 1 year to apply again for Trust game. This week I have received a phone from a team mate telling me: "Oh Alex I have a "bad news" for you...Somebody from Danone called me and we gonna play Trust on 5 March in Bucharest"

I can't believe it ...and while I was on the phone with her an unknown number was calling me.. I put my team mate on hold and I have received that phone. Of course it was somebody from Danone telling me that Zoom team (my team) is selected to participate at the semi-final of the contest in Bucharest on 5th March.

Since We've applyed I was kinda sure we gonna make it. Because my team is composed by 4 great girls...girls with whom I've been involved in many AIESEC projects! We've put a lot of passion in applying and we had many good ideas in braistorming our team name and motivation to participate at this great contest.

What are the next steps of the Game?

• March 5 th, 2008: Trust Day competition - ONE DAY event to play the competition in teams - So we made the first step ...We are here!
• March 10th, 2008: Romanian Final - ONE DAY event to explain your strategy and action plan to the Board of Directors in Danone factory -NEXT STEP TO COME
• April 2008 10th-11th: International Final - A two days event with the winning teams of all participants countries with the participation of Frank Riboud, the Groupe DANONE president -Final GOAL for our team

Zoom team is ready to play Trust and we are eager to go to Bucharest. On 4th March we will be in Bucharest. Maybe i'll do live blogging one day before the conference if I find wi-fi or on 5th March when hope we'll be happy because we reached the final.

For sure it will be a nice experience.