Three things I learned working at a social enterprise.

Ahnaf Aaqif
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read

Like almost everyone else, I stumbled accross AIESEC* on a whim.

It was one of the 15 societies that I joined during orientation week. Ah yes, I was that freshman.

I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. It didn’t help that I didn’t know anyone in this organisation.

I thought I was applying for an internship. As a first year, I was thrilled. Little did I know I would be selling internships instead of going on them.

Nevertheless, let me share some of the lessons I learned on a journey filled with emotions, long nights, dancing, tracking, cold calling, lots of Korean food, troubleshooting, team bonding and whining at EXPA**.

1) Humility

“I am going to blow away everyone in this place with my skills. They don’t know how capable I am.”

That’s what I told myself in my first week here.

Hah. Funny.

I may be competent at selling and public speaking compared to the members here. Yet, I was outworked by dozens of them.

Trust me, we aren’t always this scary.

Understand that you are nothing and you have to prove your worth.

No one cares that you were House Captain, Senior Prefect, Sports Chairperson in high school. All that is irrelevant.

Failing to deliver on my promises was a huge punch in the face. My ego was crushed.

Now, I understand and am liberated by the fact that, I am a nobody. So what I have I got to lose by giving it my all?

2) Hunger

A little more confident, a little more friendly. A little more willing to go the extra mile.

I saw first hand that effort trumps skill. However, I realised that effort without results are still meaningless.

Here at AIESEC, we strive to achieve peace and fullfillment of human kind’s potential. That is a very broad and general goal, nonetheless, the vision is brimming with a drive and desire to make an impact.

It begins with the individual.

The art is in capitalising on your strengths and and working your face off. Identify the actions that drive a majority of the results.

Towards the end of AIESEC Australia’s national conference in Sydney :’)

Our responsibility to succeed is greater than our fear of failure. — Monica Luo

Once you recognise the value of exchange, you want to deliver. No, you must deliver.

3) Courage

AIESEC helped me embody the Kaizen philosophy. You can always be doing better, there is no “good enough”. So don’t settle.

I can’t be afraid to fail.

I have learned to become a doer. I used to contemplate and ponder about how I might do this and how doing that will be cool. But for once I have actually started doing. Started doing stuff that scares me.

I enjoy the fact that working at AIESEC can be difficult sometimes.

I have grown to pursue paths of highest resistance because in hindsight I always know those are the experiences with the steepest learning curves and the greatest impact.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, here at AIESEC, you only get what you put in.

No, this place isn’t perfect. I don’t agree with everyone here. I would do stuff differently.

Nonetheless, I keep learning and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I seek growth and constantly challenge myself. Most importantly, I am surrounded with a community of people that care and support me.

My friends, the journey has just begun.


*AIESEC is the world’s largest non-profit youth-run organization. It provides young people with leadership development and cross-cultural global internship and volunteer exchange experiences across the globe. Our focus is to empower young people so they can make a positive impact on society.

If you want to find out more about AIESEC check out this link.

**EXPA is a website that AIESEC members use to track their Exchange Participants.

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Ahnaf Aaqif

Written by

Lover of books, writing and people. A 19 year old trying to make an impact by taking action everyday.

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