What I learned (week 4)

What I learned during this week were:

• I do not like writing the toolbox. I enjoy working on the strategies of expanding globally by looking at the big picture.
• Dividing the team into 2 was the best thing we did. We are more productive and the teams are now working parallel with each other
• It is important not to shift the methodology of work half way into the process; otherwise, people will get confused. Especially when they're already on the right track.
• There is no need to stay up till 3 am for a meeting if more than half of the team is not present. We will have to go through that same meeting again with the entire team the day after. Sleeping a full 8 hours is actually more helpful.
• Dirty laundry will be aired :) :) thanks to Rucha who made a list of how active we had been or not on the blog (lol, jk)
• Aaron likes post-it more than I do :)
• Lastly, I learned that God made Andrea perfect :) 

Thank you, and continue to stay Fabulous!

Ella

Reflections about week 4

I have to say; week 4 has been the most important week for me. I am really enjoying working on the meta perspective team. I have experience working on the big picture and strategies before; therefore, I am sure I am more of an asset to Nova if I continue working with MP.

Even with a bit of confusion on Wednesday, the week was an overall success. Everyone is assigned to a task that they personally picked, and each one of us knows what his, her responsibilities are.

I personally am working on the market selection and market entry strategies. I am getting feedback from my own personal network. In addition, I will get some logistics from the Nova team and work with those.

On a more different note, I am happy we have decided to do the 9:15 am check in meeting. This way everyone will show up on time. It was kinda affecting the group energy when people were showing up whenever they felt like it.

Lastly, I believe we are on the right track. Now I am trusting the process :)

Thank you and stay FABULOUS!
Ella

week 4: Nova is also halfway

Some discoveries about Nova:

-Some people don't think Nova is exclusive enough, others couldn't care less about it but just want to get rid of the incompetent. This means that the safest way to serve both these groups would be to maintain our aim on exclusivity.

-There are two revolutions about to happen, and I would love to see Nova at the center of both of these.
(1) Networking is limited, we have the opportunity to radically innovate the networking events so that superficiality no longer leads the conversations and business cards are no longer endlessly flailed around.
(2) Everybody hates the recruitment process, that tries to sort out only the most motivated by asking them to write a cover letter and some other things. You don't have to be a genius to understand that this is a very limited approach to filtering out unwanted potentials.

In the end it all boils down to relevance, meaningful interactions and streamlining every single process like that as it is. Wouldn't it be nice if only those that mattered applied to your company and wouldn't it be great if you could have a conversation that gives you information that you can't usually also find on linkedin?

So I suggest to think a little bit about ways into making opportunities real, networking meaningful and relationships useful.

xx

Stefan

Week 4: halfway

To whomever might read this post,

Dear you, plural you, beautiful you, analytical you, visionary you, emotional you, whoever you are you are awesome. I think you should hear that more often, and I think you deserve a bit of appreciation every now and then. Even though it seemed that you decided you had all the answers, you realised there is much more to answers than your own opinion. I like the way you think about things, reflect on your opinion, make sure that your opinion doesn't become an absolute truth because that is where you will find a lot of people hurting each other over which truth is the most absolute (mostly none of them are).

An old Chinese friend of mine - called Kong Qiu - once said something along the line of: "The better person is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognise the ability that he has". I guess what my friend was trying to say was: we all have limitations, make sure you get the best out of it and you do not intoxicate others with them. Ideally we want to be enlightened and enriched by new ways of thinking. new information and new questions. Because that is in my opinion the true meaning of life, and the true way to grow to become an even better individual.

Load of love,

Stefan

Post #5 - This week was MY turning point

I am always open to learning and growing, and this is why I have a lot of appreciation for this volatile process, as is the nature of ALL startups.

Our guests sharing their stories and experiences are a strong affirmation, that things are going ok, taking quite a normal and expected course that all startups take. You just have to recognize the need for change, and act upon it rather that ignore it, and I'm happy that this week was all about that. We also learned that from the Steve Blank videos: [link to udacity.com]

I was thankful for this week's exercise, where we examined real-case senario's in which we reviewed what we would do if we were to start Nova back home straight away. It was a way to take a step back and see things from an outer perspective, and also reaffirm that we, as individuals were selected to take on this program for a reason: because we can actually do this. We have a contributing role here and it didn't come from scratch.

At some point earlier on, goals were getting a little blurry, and motivation was at a low. This exercise was a huge turning point for me, as were several other activities this week for all of us. Over this week, we reestablished our ownership to the startup program and our roles here. We also identified our key strengths and decided were we would see ourselves most for when it comes to backgrounds and contribution to the process.

I would like to thank my Toolbox team for tolerating my lack of attentiveness this week, especially on Wednesday onwards as I had some work of my own that was draining my energy even when I was present. Thank you Rucha, Aaron, Artur, Ilya!

Thanks Aaron for covering for me on Sunny Fridays. Per, when you asked me if I had asked someone to cover for me, I had already discussed it with Aaron, but totally forgot at the time you asked me because 3-hours of sleep and no coffee (I was fasting!) doesn't coordinate well with my memory capabilities, or analytical capabilities much, come to think of it!

Next week, Inna and I are coordinating to have Google Hangouts with Startup Grinders, 3 at a time over 4 meetups. I'm excited to hear from them!

Speaking of our team, I am happy not just with the group dynamic, but after 3 weeks, I'm starting to appreciate my individual relationships with each member. That helps a lot. I am a person that connects emotionally with my work and it helps me grow and supports me to know that I can count on my friends for advice, support, a second opinion, or a hug!

Here's to an even more productive week!

Xx,
Aisha

Week 4: Activating positivity

I usually have no problem with articulating how I feel on paper/keyboard but this week it's a bit hard to reflect on the process. It was a tough week with many ups, downs and breakdowns. It was a week which left us with more questions than answers and made us realise that we all are on different pages with regards to the final outcome. Some of the main questions raised were whether the toolbox is a means or an end to our internship? Whether we should focus on product development or consumer validation or both? We also had concerns regarding the work we had done so far and whether we really are on our way to achieve our objective for the summer or not. All of this required long intense discussions which only led to more frustration.

There were many learnings this week. I'm compiling a "start, stop continue" list that I'll share with Per during the mid-term review but in general I feel like we need to decide as a group what we want to focus on for the next month. We only have 4 weeks ahead of us so in order to be more effective and efficient, we should try and establish a common understanding of what we want to achieve by the end of our internship and go all out to get it.

When we had our circle practice last Monday, we talked about the values we wanted to work on that week. I chose "drive" but I felt like I lost that drive over the course of the week. Not knowing where we stand and where we are going led to a feeling of being lost. However, I also remember that I had said that a positive outlook is what I often bring to the table and teams and that's something I want to be mindful of this week. Lack of time is what scares me but it's also what motivates me to do our best to add as much value as we can to this global expansion before we leave.

Last week was a new low in terms of the internship but I do believe in our team and know that the pieces of puzzle that we are working on will all fit in place. We just need to decide on the final outcome to make sure we have that big picture in mind when working on our small bits. We should slowly work our way through this chaos to reach that stage of convergence.

Check-ins like last Wednesday are great to give us a reality check and ensure we are on the same page but they can be used more constructively to actually harvest and synthesise the information from such meetings. This is what will help us going forward.

Here's to activating positivity for the week ahead!

Cheers
Rucha

what about us?

Holla,

This post is about the relations between people, the roles of individuals and how I see them evolving and changing over time.

Throughout the process I recognized several important things with regard to the topic outlined above. First, it is virtually very hard to find the equilibrium. The golden middle that would suit everyone and that every member of the team would be happy to work together and produce tangible results. Basically, I personally believe that right now there are 3 parts of the group. People who see the potential of the project and who start executing this potential straight away. People who start taking the project seriously but not yet enough to influence and inspire people around (local community). And, finally, people who are in the emptiness stage, who are not sure what is their role and how they can bring max value. And the point here is: it is hard for our coordinators to simultaneously bring the part of the group from the third phase into the second, people from second phase to the first and sustain the part of the group in the first phase or ideal condition.

The correlation between moods in the group is also very interesting. When one part of the group feels frustrated and goes into the emptiness phase, the other part feels motivation and eagerness to work. And this pattern repeats vice versa, so far I did not recognize a moment of equilibrium, but I wish we can find it out throughout the coming weeks. The sooner we do it --> the better for our deliverables and team spirit.

IG

EVENTually

Good Sunday morning,

This 4th week it has been the fastest and the most meaningful from my point of view.

We have experienced a lot of different phases, the chaos, the discordance and then again the agreement, the willingness of bundling something together to ace this last mile.

I had a period of emptiness during this week, an emotional downturn which sometimes made me without energies and motivation.
However once we reached the internal equilibrium of the team, once each one of us realized its own path that will contribute not only to fill up printed pages but also our minds and the minds of the people that will follow, I re-flourished and now more than ever I see Nova happening.

In term of the process: this week I realized that we can plan whatever we want but at the very end there is no plan that can handle the reality, especially in uncertain contexts such us the start-up one. I think that designing a process is a way for minimizing the risk and especially to find other possible strategy in case of urgency. We learnt that also from Impact Hub: whenever you have people involved in a process the more you plan the less effective will be. All this reasoning brought me to the conclusion that testing is the only way of knowing if something can work out. Per and Karin are testing how to plan, we are testing the plan it self. Everyone in this process is learning by doing, and this is a unique chance we all have.

After the Sunny Friday, which was very useful in term of information, I was looking for something interesting to test the next one, and while finding people to follow on twitter I ended up in Fuck Up Night. Basically they organize event where people talk about their failure (check online). What about doing something about this for the next Friday ? Test how the conversations will evolve would be interesting and useful.

In conclusion, this week brought a new breath and new ideas, it is important to keep sailing it and do not loose this momentum.

Enjoy the sunny Sunday
Andrea

Week 4: Changing the way we network

This week was all about events. The toolbox team worked to put together a module on how to run Nova events for start-up managers. We also got some interesting perspectives from Derek from Startup Grind, the focus group and our first-hand experience at Sunny Fridays.

As someone who usually despises networking events, I've actually grown to like it as each Sunny Friday comes along and I've also learnt a thing or two about organising good networking events.

The thing that I really didn't like about networking events was the superficiality that goes with it. There's a saying that "great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events and small minds discuss people". I would add that in networking events bored minds discuss weather. This used to be the case where a bunch of strangers would meet and try to find common ground by talking about weather and would get stuck in that conversation if one of the parties wouldn't steer the conversation in another direction.

Nova is all about connecting great minds and I think we should leverage our network to organise events that can breakthrough that level of superficiality where people move beyond discussions about the weather, events and people to discuss ideas. I do understand the importance of informal chats and creating a relaxed environment where people aren't forced to talk about certain topics but some guidance can add more value to networking events. My suggestions would be:

- Having some sort of introduction right at the start and a couple of ice breaking questions that get people talking and then they can branch out to other conversation topics
- Having a theme for networking events, especially if we do it on a monthly basis in the Nova network e.g. entrepreneurship, language skills exchange etc
- Having more than just networking - some fun activities e.g. trivia quizzes, photo booths etc to bring engage the attendees a little more
- Crowd sourcing - asking attendees if there are certain topics they want to discuss and allow them to lead discussion groups within the event

I also like the suggestions by Artur in his post and think we should try and experiment with some of those for the next Sunny Fridays and also the Nova experience!

Rucha

My frustration, my process.

Well throughout these last weeks I was able to experience some great struggles. I need to share that I, as a international student on a very international school (we have 112 nationalities within 900 students, let's talk about diversity) have been facing some challenges on dealing with such diverse perspective about business management and development. I have a, personal, struggle with the affirmation or creation of an absolute truth.

Dealing with diversity involves bring together all that with comprehension and respect even when we don't understand the reasons behind it.  Don't understanding it does not make it less valuable.

I could see Per going from a very excited leader to a not as excited as before in the course of one week and that, actually, affects me quite well.

I've learned something. While I was coordinating a organization in Brazil I have the chance of leading 400 professionals in 24 states and 50+ locations. I had a team of 18 people, that I reduced to 8, to help on that process. I went through a process of trying to empower my direct staff to be leaders of the process as well (I strongly believe that a leader is a leader by other's choices not because you say so) and it was quite a struggle. Some people misunderstood that "freedom" with lack of coordination, some people didn't enjoy having it and they needed "orders" to develop their work better and some people tried to assume the process as they were considered, only by themselves, leaders. 

My learning from that was that different people need different approaches. So a multi-dimensional approach was necessary there. Was not only about being the traditional manager (the old methodology that works for making money under the resources, any kind of resources, exploitation) or being the "cool" manager. Was about leading individually. The ones who need to understand their places and need strict orders we gave that. The ones who knew how to deal with freedom and develop their works through empowerment, and empowering, had that as well. Changing that approach, and saying good bye for destructive people who think they have all the knowledge in the world, was not only necessary but very efficient. We had a very efficient staff, reducing from 18 to 8 people on the National Coordination. Our response time, on services, was 76% faster than before and our expenses went down in more than 40%.

We coordinate an International Symposium, in Rio, with the most important people in the country (including the president) and people for huge organizations such as WHO, UNICEF, UN, with a 5 people coordination team. Notes from the UN and WHO representative complimenting, specifically, the event organization.

Where I want to get with this is that we have a huge potential together. But we need to improve our dynamics. Not having meeting, for instance, it complicates communication. We need to have a balance. Shutting down meeting reduces the questions, therefore, reduces our development as well. 

We have a 8 weeks program to create information, collect that from people on our network. That's, on my opinion, why we were selected and what we are being paid for. They don't need me to build a document. Universum is what it is based on the information they collect and how they manage that. They don't need a group of students to tell them what to do as if they didn't know. They need us to bring a perspective that they don't have for not being, culturally, from our countries and because they don't have the network we have (they a have a powerful different network though) within bright students/young professionals. 

I might have, with no structure, drop my thoughts on the lines above. But I was writing down as I felt. 

Your comments are welcome, just remember that is MY OPINION, and closely related with what I perceive and how I see things. Be nice and constructive ;) 

Reflection on Sunny Fridays' Responses

I've been reading the SunnyFridays registering responses this morning and trying to bring out the most important points made in there.

Overall data:

• 56 valid responses
• 29 years old average. Oldest being 47 and youngest 21.
• 24 people didn't answer our question.
• From the 32 who answered our questions, we had 21 constructive answers (by constructive I mean not saying more beer or more girls) 

We had a very common thread being the fact that we should group people by interests. It seems it gets some time until you get to know people that you can actually contribute/learn with. The lack of guidance and activities was also mentioned. Like hosting a topic (someone sharing presenting something) to be discussed during that event. People also said there is not enough food and/or drinks to keep the event going. 

So extracting some ideas from the 1st research about how to make a great networking event we have:

1. Have an agenda, including activities.
2. Presentations during the event
3. Tags for areas of expertise
4. After the free beer/liquor having more to sell
5. Coupons and information for relevant companies/organizations
6. Sweet stuff to eat
7. Having a theme as Why networking sucks and get the discussion going around it
8. Instead of group people (1 suggestion) having them talking with different professionals (i.e. a techie talking with a musician).
9. Offer challenges/problem solving so they can discuss solutions/strategies
10. Social games and activities to promote interactions
11. Color-tag for different profiles (techie; investor; intern)
12. Creating projects where people can group under that interest. Matchmaking between people and interest.

So what I learned this week? That even not having a 100% of participation on our questionnaire we were still able to get insights of thing we haven't think about. Or event if we did we haven't make that happen. 

What I mean is that we had 3 sunny fridays and they were all the same, but there is an opportunity of trying out new things every friday and having their returns. We can be selling beers and liquors and donating the profit for a cause, having games or themes, having a speaker. And figuring out what works and what not works and that's the difference between a startup environment, trying, failing, trying something new, refining, in a continuous development cycle.

I'm thrilled and doing my best to get more external insights, not only in a conversation (because we tend to merge their opinion with our own perception) but having data about it that can influence the process. We did that yesterday and we have material to work with for the next friday. 

I think that says a lot and I'm really looking forward to the webinars and forms getting out of the building and bringing some fresh insights for us.

Artur Sousa

Week 3: Values maketh a community

Last week was all about building a community. We listened to some interesting stories from people who were part of some strong networks and communities. One of my biggest takeaways from last week in terms of building communities would be the importance of having values. By values, I don't mean having a few fancy/fluffy words that are often written on company websites and just communicated to new employees during their orientation week. Values to me are guiding principles and something that can be shared universally. It's not really about the semantics but about the essence of values that's really important when building a community.

To build a community, it's important to come up with a small and simple set of values that can easily translate to actions/behaviour. I liked the values we came up with in the first week but felt like we needed to make them a little more concrete to turn them into actual guiding principles. Although we spent another working on the values on Friday, it was a good refresher and also a good way to start thinking about the Nova network and how to make the values come alive through our activities and events.

Now it's time to be mindful of these values and lead by example by not just integrating the values in the way we work but also the toolbox we design.

Per&Karl talks: key insights+reflections

First of all, let me start with Per's story/presentation. Key extracts:

• Know who you are: your strengths, role. Activate them every day. If we are looking at the divergent-emergent-convergent diagram, then someone is better at the 1st phase, while others are most valuable at the 2nd or 3rd. So, know your role and strengths.
• Respect people's choice. As a leader you should accept people's decisions, even if they do not go in line with your vision and thoughts. 
• When Per and co started his first organization "Young entrepreneurs in Sweden", they thought they are making community for top, elite, ambitions and driven entrepreneurs, but what they actually do was a creation of social support group for people who are not belonging or feel misplaced. :)
• It is crucial to ask questions, especially "why" or doubt questions when you are working in a group, organization, start-up --> avoiding crisis cycles (every 6-7 years).
• Power is people and shared values among them, not the communities/companies/networks that align them. (Sandbox case)
• Digital future of Per was dictated by his childhood interest in computers. Majority of our interests goes back to our childhood.
• ... (find a recording@Dropbox folder)

Although after the meeting I had a perception of information "wave" and misconnected dots, I still believe it was an invaluable speech/presentation in terms of the strong personal story and meaningful life tricks. Regarding the process, this presentation brought the understanding of significance of shared values within the social community, importance of asking the right questions (why) in order to decrease the number of mistakes.

The feel of belonging is actually the basic human need that we hypothesize to fulfill by building local Nova chapters back to our home countries. How to test or experiment this hypothesis? I suggest we go out of the building and start talking. :) Right now we have at least four available channels to verify or reject the hypothesis. 1) Thursday Focus Group 2) Sunny Fridays 3) Our local network 4) People we met during company visits and start-up grind directors

Secondly, visit to 3D Print Shop where we had an opportunity to listen to Carl's story and the projects he currently works on.

Key insights:

• New environment, new people around you - combination of this two gives you the opportunity to think freely and be yourself. This is the time when you start realizing who are you.
• It all dates back to your childhood. As in Per's story with computer geek past, I found out the common pattern in terms of the Carl's passion towards scientific magazines. Essentially, this past habit has brought him to the idea of organizing KidsHackDay.
• The name of the event/start-up/organization/network should not only be simple and appealing, but also explain the why, the what and the how.

My feedback and reflection can be summarized in one sentence. Amazing storyteller and great speaker, Carl captured my attention with his idea of spreading the technological education and gadgets throughout the world with a concept of KidsHackDay. In terms of the process, Carl brought a very important concept of "keeping things simple and appealing", which is very applicable to the toolbox prototype search process.

with love,

Ilya

Post #4 - Being a Handyman is the Shit

Because I'm making my own tools, using awesome tools, and co-creating tools based on stories and my global community's needs.

More on being an awesome handyman soon.

Xx,
Aisha

Post #3 - The best stories are the ones you can relate to most.

The best stories are the ones you can relate to most, because they are the ones you can learn from.

There's a direct relation between relating to a story, and being able to learn from it.

I have heard many, many inspirational stories from our guest speakers, Lars-Henrick, my fellow Nova SUM's, and people I've met here and there in Stockholm. It's the strongest means of communication, and delivering a message.

During Week #3, Carl Barstad was my favorite scheduled story.
Yes, we do have common friends, but listening to his story, I couldn't help but find myself at a similar cross-road he had been through and overcome with great success.

This was really powerful for me. Like Carl, I have an engineering background, but feel like most of my application of it was theoretical and non-technical. This is very disappointing for me, as it really wasn't what I had in mind when I enrolled as an engineer. I thought I would build things, I thought I could make tools and machines that would make healthcare better, and the world better.

Also like Carl, I have been infatuated with the TEDx frenzy, and the dynamic of the community, which as Carl said, "have the utter belief that they can change the world." Not just that, he was right about making that connection that the TEDx community was somehow entwined with this hackerspace movement, and the idea that it doesn't matter who you are and where you are, but you can build something, anything from scratch! How empowering is that to an individual? To a community?

My plans before I applied for the Nova Summer Internship were literally along those lines:

I am currently working with my hometown's municipality on community development and decided that the best told to engage youth within my community, was to open a local TEDxSidon. 

Also, I am currently approaching my graduation for my MS degree in engineering and have barely any clue on how to make electric magic that saves the world. I've been hanging around hackerspace communities since 2012, when I first came across this concept at SHAREBeirut through this dynamic individual called Bilal Ghalib, a common friend of Carl and mine. 

Basically, this community told me that I didn't have to come from anywhere particular, to go wherever it is that I wanted to go, in this case, be a hands-on hardware and software developer. 
Our chat with Carl helped me understand that it's ok to do a ton of things at once, as long as you're passionate about all of them, and you have good support. It also showed me that I should stop overthinking and start doing. Doing it big. And not looking back. 
Failure is a big part of success, I don't understand why I worry about it so much. Maybe it's my community, and the fact that everyone expects you to be great at what you do, especially if you took that radical risk of taking the road less traveled.

Xx,
Aisha

Reflections...

Starting one more week in Stockholm. New module, new short-term goals, renewing energies.
It's, actually, going really fast. Basically we are about to reach halfway on this process.
It's being very interesting to see how some concepts, some intuitions, have being valued throughout our work here.
Per shared an article, a few days ago,  about creating change and the importance of storytelling as a structure to allow and promote change, telling the story is not enough, engage and connecting people with no call to action is a waste of energy and opportunity. The author of that article is, himself, a prove of the importance of taking action. He co-founded Avaaz.org which is known worldwide and also purpose.org which is also very expressive on their mission, among others. Within purpose.org I found that a very good Brazilian woman participate on its foundation as well, it's a professional that I had the pleasure of collaborating with their business plan (on a different and awesome project called MeuRio) during the last competition I was acting as I evaluator.  Alessandra, her name, is a bright mind person, very like the ones we will be connecting through Nova around the world.

Think about it gives me a strong feeling about the change that we can create through those connections. The ability to bring Ideas to life and make projects tuning out in companies, desires in social movements.


Well... hope we can make that happen.

Cultural Observations from a Malaysian Abroad, Part 3

It's my 3rd week week here and I actually stumbled upon these observations because I was hungry in the middle of the night on Saturday and I really needed to pee (like really badly!!) before kayaking on Sunday (which led me on a restroom searching journey through Gallerian and many parts of Stockholm). :)

1. Some of the 7-Eleven are not opened 24 hours.
2. You have to pay 5kr to use the restroom/toilet (I did not use the restroom in the end :P).

Here's to more observation in the coming weeks! Until then,

Aaron

Week 3: Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan

Hi Aaron, Inna, Ella, Andrea, Kiko, Ilya, Aisha, Artur, Rucha, Karin and Per.

How was your week?

If you ask me, this week was quite hectic. I found a deep underlying disaffection with dumbing things down while at the same time learnt to understand the meaning of why we intend to do so. This means that I approximated an understanding of why we are writing the so called "how2guide" to Nova or "toolbox", if I still may.

Nova is a brand:
As any great brand nova has an image which brings tons of associations. We need to confine this image to be a coherent and consistent one over time and place, to make sure that our expansion strategy does not dilute the Nova brand. Therefore we are channeling potential startup managers in making the same realisations we are making and we want to lock that process down so much that even with half a brain they could understand it.

Coming from a background where finding the right people around you is all that makes sense and all that leads to productivity, I feel that I do not relate that much to this strategy. But if we mirror our group and see the vast diversity in it I feel that it might be best to create simplified guidelines that can include all different cultures and backgrounds to join our process.

Basically I have learnt that our toolbox is that handbook that shows you how not to fuck up on basic stuff, and there I do truly see the importance of.

Nova strategy:
On a brighter note, day by day I see more potential in the Nova idea, and day by day I feel that there are more opportunities and possibilities out there that we have yet to discover. An example that comes to mind is the realisation of an output from the combined skills of Nova members or the barter deals that can be used to build some credibility. I feel that in the next weeks we will face quite some strategic challenges around the definition of "value added membership" for Novas.

Ow and me and Andrea bought ourselves a cocktail called "the volcano" that only costed 390 SEK :)

From Stockholm, with love,

Stefan

Week 3

I will keep this straight to the point:

1. During the reflections today, some of you mentioned that some of us ask great questions and give great ideas but with an "aggressive" attitude. Thanks for pointing that out. Yesterday during the meeting I might have asked some questions or stated my opinion somewhat aggressively. If you were offended and took it personally, next time please reach out to me in person first. Then "REFLECT". 

So lesson learned this week - Don't take it personal!

I had my reasons why I was frustrated. I am confused of what we are doing and what we are expected to do. What we have and what we don't in terms of Nova's expansion strategies. I was confused. SO ARE YOU! Otherwise, we wouldn't have to work on the same projects over and over and over again. 

So, one time ever, I was frustrated and maybe used a not-my-usual tone. OK. I admit it. But, I came to Nova to get things done, advise Nova on strategic ways how to expand to other regions outside of Scandinavia. And that is what I am trying to do. 

Now, going back to our behaviors, as some of you don't like aggressive tones, some of us don't like the "fluffy" way some of you work (this goes to the 10 of us only). Yes, you have great & awesome ideas, but please let's keep it realistic. I would rather keep my eyes open.

2. I mentioned today and I will re-mention it again. Instead of working on the write-up first, then on the expansion strategies and how those will be accomplished by either us or other start-up managers. Let's do it the either way around; strategies first, then write-up. We start will the write-up, and figure out that what we have done is not directly applicable to Nova. Then we go work on it again. And then some more. And this leads to time wasted. 

3. What I learned this week, is that I love working with start ups but I need to know what the start up has, what they are thinking, how much I am allowed to accomplish & how creative I can get.

4. Another thing I learned is that I should stop asking questions. Day 1 :)

Inna - thanks for being the only one who made a point to me about my tone in person. Respect!

Oh well, I need to go for a run now. I guess I fulfilled my duty of confining in you for the week. I would appreciate you not comment on this post. 

I hope you all had fun at Sunny Friday tonight. I wanna hear all about it. And remember, no matter what I said above, I love you all and you are an awesome team to work with. We just have different personalities and that's what will make this project successful in the end. Even though right now it looks messy. 

xoxo and remember STAY FABULOUS!

Ella

p.s ... my blog posts are getting longer 

Week 3: The art of discussion

This week has been quite interesting. It feels like we are finally getting our hands dirty by creating the first draft of the first module. We have moved beyond the discussion and conceptualisation stage to a more practical application stage.

As usual, being ten different people with ten unique minds and thinking processes mean that we have spent endless hours discussing to find "unity in diversity" or common ground. I personally go through a downward spiral during some of these discussions because it feels like we get too stuck in the chaos stage to reach the convergence stage.

Here are some reflections I have to improve the way we discuss and run meetings:

- Respect time: I understand the importance of giving everyone time to present but we really need to set an expectation of how long the discussion is going to be and set a fixed time for the presentation/discussion, with a short break every hour.

- Establish common ground: Before starting a discussion, it is important to write down the main objectives or questions on the board so we all know where we are coming from.

- Be constructive: It's natural to disagree with team mates especially since we are so are so diverse. Criticism is great as it really helps to refine our outcome but we need to be more constructive. Just "bullshitting" each other's ideas without offering an alternative isn't very helpful. Also how you say something is just as important as what you say. Adopting a polite tone helps to keep a discussion positive.

- Time-off: Ever watched How I met your mother, where Marshall and Lily "pause" every time they get into that downward spiral of fighting. We could do something similar where we take a break when things start heating up. This will not only help to clear the tension but also give people time to process their thoughts and discuss ideas in a more professional manner. Also, some issues that we choose to agree to disagree on can be recorded in a document and we can go back to that at a later stage.

- Allocate roles: We should appoint a moderator or facilitator for each of the discussion, along with someone who harvests the information so we can have more effective discussions and adhere to all the ground rules.

Hope to have more positively engaging discussions in the coming weeks.

Rucha

Week 2: What I've learned this week

The main things I learned this past week are.

1. Company storytelling - As I understand the individual storytelling (I took a class, too), I must admit I didn't know how to put together a company story. I believe this week taught me how-to tell the story of a company. In my opinion, telling a good story is important to building a strong community. Potential new members will only dedicate 'you' about 30 sec of their time - if the story isn't interesting and precise, then their attention will be lost. I find storytelling a way of 'selling' the company.

2. Like I mentioned on the other post, the focus group on Thursday helped me understand that not everyone is joining Nova because of the network only. Most of them join for the opportunities; whether job opportunity or learning more about a certain company they are interested in. I hope this week's focus group session will be just as insightful.

Thanks and STAY FABULOUS, #WeAreNova!
Ella

Week 2

First and foremost, I enjoyed writing the storytelling. The opinions and ideas were so diverse that it really made this project much more interesting. It is great to see different perspectives from different cultures. My only concern was our misunderstanding of what the deliverable should have been. I know we, as a team, should as more questions what the deliverables should be.

I am positive the focus group session was a good insight for everyone, especially for me. Like I've mentioned before, I was under the impression that 'the network' part of Nova is more important to its members, but apparently it is not. Opportunities and company insights are very important as well.

I was one of the hosts of Sunny Friday, and I am pleased to announce that the event was a success. We had a turnout of about 50 people. Everything went smooth, and from the feedback i received, everyone was happy with the event. I look forward to many more.

With those said, I look forward to this week and progressing with our toolbox.'

p.s .... my tooth is not currently hurting. I hope it stays like this until I get back to US where I have full insurance coverage.

Stay Classy, #WeAreNova!

Ella

Post #2 Video:Storytelling Done Damn Right!

From Zero to Hero

I ran across this video commercial for a used car which is gaining a lot of momentum around the world.
This is the perfect example of how powerful a good story can be.
This car was turned from an average car, a zero, to a f*cking superhero!

How epic is this?






LINK HERE: Buy My Barina: Used Car Commercial

xx,
Aisha

Post #1 - Catching Up

Post #1-Catching Up

Photo Credits: Mirela Teferici 

It's been a little over a week for me here in Sweden and with the Startup Manager Program. My impression on Nova Global is sort of holding strong to the very first impression I felt the second I touched down in Stockholm's Central Station: It's quick, it's huge, it's organized but dynamic, and you have to keep up!

The minute I got here, I was set to meet with an AISEC volunteer who assisted me with my luggage as we raced through stations and through gateways and spaces that I came to recognize only later as just the extensions of the huge central station and right into Google HQ here in Sweden; the biggest HQ in Europe, I recall them saying. It was pretty legit.

I have to say it was a little tricky keeping up for me in the first week, and maybe this is the weakness that I have to work on first. We are all here to grow and improve, and a trait like being on time in the big city and the corporate world well...could really come in handy, to say the least. I have been a reelancer, and I do often have meetings and work in Beirut, but it's easier for me to make it on time back home, where you know there is always going to be a traffic jam everywhere you go, and you might as well just sing along to the radio than indulge in the river of car honking melody.

Google Maps has always been a great friend of mine, but until very recently, we stopped working together and I have had to work out things on my own for a while, at least until we meet again later this month. I guess that's ok. It gives me room to explore and to get lost in this wonderful city of Stockholm on a bike, on foot, and on the subway. You can never really get too lost, so it's a great system.

I've really been enjoying my little explorations of parks and spaces, of musicians on the street and in the hipster metro stations, and of the cosmopolitan community that makes this calm but hard working city of Sweden.

I love networking. I do. Meeting people is awesome. But what's more awesome is meeting people with causes, and people that are doing things in different parts of the world. What a rich and diverse team of individuals with great charisma and character! I love that everyone has an accent that is representative of their culture and background, it makes it all the more entertaining and rich during group discussions and sessions. I kind of wish I had a more Lebanese English accent, so as to add my share of local spices to the taste palette of Nova Global. I guess I can give my two cents worth by constantly saying one of my favorite Arabic words: Yalla, yalla! Let's go!

I occasionally notice myself saying "ya'ni," which is a filler, meaning, "I mean." I don't think I've used that as often back home when speaking in English.

With regard to last week's module: Storytelling- Well, I love storytelling! I am a content creator and copywriter and saying stories and sending messages in a way that connects with the reader is a passion. But it has been a long and rigorous process, which I have completely enjoyed actually, to come up with a story that has the voices of 10 instead of 1. Now that is a challenge.

I have learned that we all actually want to convey a similar message, we just do so stressing on different aspects: some go for logical and informative, others go more for emotions. I like my eggs sunny side-up. So I tend to go with emotions more. I feel like rationale and logic should be mentioned, but not as primarily. But we have to cater to our target audience, a sexy bunch of awesome talented youth and young individuals. They want to hear the real deal or else they'll find other places to hear a good story. A good story with VALUE - now that's what we're offering.

Oh, and about the sunny side-up eggs. it's just almost getting close to breakfast time and I'm thinking about breakfast. Also, I think I should have scrambled eggs: an equal mix of the heart and the mind, the white and the egg yolk... Now you figure out which one's which.

xx,
Aisha

Week 1

1) How do you feel about the process during the week?

The process during week 1 was very inspirational and exploring. I slowly found out what the internship will be about.

2) Have you felt that you have been learning?

I feel like I was able to learn a little more about Nova and the internship. In addition, I learned about the other team members. 

Week 3: Of Purpose, Meaning, and A Personal Story, Part 1

I think I should start by warning you that this is going to be a bit of a long post. But if you made it all the way to the end, I hope you find it worth your time. :)

Listening to Per Jonsson tell his story today, I can certainly relate to some of the messages that he's trying to convey to us. I am writing this down now while everything is still fresh in my mind and in case I forget some of the things that I want to say.

Part 1

When I was young, from between the ages of 7 to 10, all I ever wanted was to be a paleontologist. I used to go to the backyard in my house and start digging for dinosaur bones, until my mom saw me digging one day and said to me "What are you digging back there?"

"I'm digging for dinosaur bones Mom!" I would reply. And she would say, "But there are no dinosaur bones in Malaysia!"

And so my dreams of being a paleontologist in Malaysia were crushed. So I thought, you know what, I'm going to be a scientist then! Since I was really good in Science back in primary/elementary school.

But my Mom told me, "You can't make money by being a scientist in Malaysia!" (Asian parents :P )

So I finally decided that I was gonna do something that would make me a lot of money!

*Fast forward* I was 16 when I was selected to be part of my high school's Young Entrepreneurs (YE) Club, an elite club that only admits the top 30 applicants. One of the many activities and competitions that I took part in was the Kuala Lumpur Stock Challenge (KLSC) sponsored by Citibank and the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM). It was basically a 2-day investing and stock market simulation. In the end, my team and I finished 1st runner up among the hundreds of teams participating from all over the country and shattered the previous record held by a Singaporean team with a profit of 1050% (RM 10,500 from a starting seed money of RM 1,000). I was good at it. I have heard that there was a lot of money in it. And I thought, "Man, this is what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life!"

Which brings me to the point in my story (sorry it took awhile to get here). Per mentioned that the things we tell ourselves eventually become the truth and how the seeds we plant are important (thanks Mom). The process I'm going through here has left me questioning if some of the things that I always thought I wanted to do for the rest of my life are really what I truly want for my life. Maybe some of it is not my purpose or what I really want to do with my life.

People talk about PASSION all the time. But I think that PASSION is an overused word. What exactly is PASSION? It encompasses so many things and means different things to different people.

I had the pleasure of having a small, private conversation and lunch with my idol Warren Buffett. And one of the things he shared with our group was what PASSION means to him. I find this to be the most helpful and intuitive way to think about it.

Passion is waking up at 5am in the morning everyday, looking forward to what you're about to do even though you're not getting paid for doing it for the rest of your life. If you can find something like that, then you've found your passion.

I'm not sure I've found mine yet.

Ohh, and one more thing. It's kinda funny and ironic how just before I left for Stockholm, Sweden, my Mom and I were talking on Facetime and she said, "You know, money is not everything. Happiness is the most important." Thank you once again Mom (you could have told me sooner you know)!

Week 1: Storytelling, Part 2

We had our first disagreements and conflicts this week as a group, and I think it's a good thing. It means that we are making progress as a group and getting a little more in-depth understanding of everyone's cultural and individual personality differences. It also means that we now have the opportunity to seek consensus and find that common ground that we can all agree on. In other words, we can cut away the cultural differences and find what it is that binds us all together.

As for the toolbox prototype that we came up with, looking back at it, it's still a little abstract and I struggle to see how it can help the startup managers with starting their local networks. Perhaps we can include some tools and how-to's to make it more practical and useful for the startup managers? Maybe we had diverged too much in the second iteration of the process on Thursday, so much so that we had a hard time converging everything into a tangible, final product. I believe this is something that we should keep in mind for the rest of the modules.

Cultural Observations from a Malaysian Abroad, Part 2

It's already our 2nd week here and I find it comforting that there are still many observations that we can make! :)

1. You can't buy drinks if you're drunk, even if it's your birthday. (Monday, 7th July 2014)
2. No tipping required, YAY!!! :D
3. Ella was asking where are all the chicken breast? And why is it so expensive? (Olof told me it's because it's taxed)
4. There is no air-conditioning in public transportation and our place, but I can understand this as the weather is nice even in the summer.
5. Met a lovely old lady from San Diego, California on the boat ride back from Fjäderholmarna and she was saying that we have to visit Skansen and the Vasamuseet. She's been living in Stockholm for the past 15 years and yet, she's still snapping away on her little camera!! Just goes to show you how beautiful Stockholm is =)

Here's to more observation in the coming weeks! Until then,

"Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old."
                                                                                                                          Franz Kafka

Aaron

Week 2 - Storytelling

1) How do you feel about the process during the week?

This past week was a very special time for me in term of ‘trusting the process”. We had a lot of ups and downs exploring the storytelling module. On Monday and Tuesday, we learned about story telling and then we took our time to research on the topic. At certain point, I felt lost during the research process because the topic was too broad and I didn't know what I should focus. Having everyone come together on Wednesday and talked about the ideas helped me a lot. The group was very full of excitements after the presentations on Wednesday as people have very similar ideas even we were working in separately. We had some really good ideas to work on.  On Thursday, we got to chance to walk to some current Novas during a focus group exercise. It was definitely a great moment because we had some valuable inputs and it was nice to actually the Novas that we have been talking about for weeks. Friday is the turning point for me, and I believe for many other people in the group too. We spent much time arguing on the wording of the story that we wanted to tell without achieving any of our goals. We finally finished our story draft but it was definitely one of the disappointing moments.

2) Have you felt that you have been learning?

This week, I learned that we need to know the purposes of our work before starting each task, including our target audience and our goal. We had our idea of who we were writing our story to before we got a clarification. I think that was the main reason why we got in such a long and unproductive conversation of the wordings. I also think that we could have used the focus group time better if we knew exactly who our story is meant to be for. However, I still think that we are learning a lot from errors and mistakes as a group.

Serendipity indeed!

Serendipity indeed!

The storytelling presentation showed us how different we are in all dimensions, and that it can result in great combinations of all our thoughts.  Not even discussing what are we going to present each of us came up with the idea, presentation style and examples that were totally different. We never repeated the ideas of one another and the flow of the presentation gave us the perfect picture of what is storytelling, what shall we stay in our story, how should we do it, how we shouldn’t do it and what examples should we use in order the reader to understand our story. The perfect definition of that storytelling chapter is unity in diversity.

But the coin has two sides, so at Friday our diversity showed us that having so different views could also bring us to the different answers of the same question. While building this expansion strategy we answer the question what would work in our own country and the results of course don’t mach. Having this in mine I think its obvious that that we ended up arguing and defending our own point of view. Key learning from this storytelling chapter- don’t focus too much on what is different in our views, but try find a consensus in all the point we all agree.

 To sum my key learning from this week:

• -       storytelling is about emotions
• -       in order story to work it should target the right audience
• -       don’t discuss the concept serendipity
• -       using diversity is not easy, but it definitely brings great results