Summer in Kazakhstan

I have not posted here anything for a while. The reason has been that I did not want to :) I had an excellent summer - finishing up my first (out of two) year of Master studies in Oslo, spending two weeks in Estonia with the friends and with the family, then going for five weeks to Kazakhstan, followed by a short stop in Estonia and small trip to Lithuanian sea-coast with Siim and Peep.

Now I am back to Norway, but I would say a couple of words about my visit to Kazakhstan again. It was an interesting feeling to come back to the country (and to the city - Almaty) where I had spent one year of my life in 2007-2008. It seemed so different, yet so close and so familiar. After first couple of days of re-integration, I started to feel OK, just like a year ago. Not so many things have changed since 1-2 years ago. Perhaps the traffic in Almaty has become somewhat better due to much larger-than-before fines from the road polices.


Two things I have loved the most about Kazakhstan have fortunately not changed either. First, people who are dear to me. Second, breathtaking nature - mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes. I was lucky enough to be able to go to the mountains twice with one night spent in a tent. There are just some pictures here illustrating the beauty of this country.

Why will I vote in European Parliament elections

In about two weeks from now there will be elections to the European Parliament. As Estonia is a part of the European Union and I am an Estonian citizen, I will vote as well to choose six representatives to the Parliament from my homeland. Although I am in Norway, Estonia is one of the few countries in the world (the only one?) which has introduced an option of national e-elections. I am going to use my electronic ID card plugged in to the computer, insert my personal passwords and give a digital signature for a political party that I prefer.

"Nothing depends on me anyway", "Politics is a dirty game", "They all are self-serving idiots out there in parliament", - quite often one can hear such opinions. And... people don't vote.

Why do I vote?

1. This is the purest expression of democracy. I have a choice. I have a right to vote. My choice matters. Huge amounts of people around the world don't have this privilege. I cannot allow myself not to use this privilege.

2. It is one of the fewest opportunities to express my political view, to give a vote for ideology that is consistent with my personal values.

3. I am a definite fan of the European Union. Entering the EU was in my opinion the best thing that happened to Estonia after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Estonia got into the context of European values and democratic principles, it got to actually contribute to European affairs. The EU project is very unique in the world - with its level of mutual agreements (which are anyway hard to achieve), with its freedoms to move, to sell, to work, to study abroad, with mutual dialogue. I can be confident that the war between the EU states is unimaginable - the latter is actually enough for me to be a definite supporter of a common European project.



I found a really great website which helps the European Union citizens to define their political views and correlate them to the parties that they can vote for (and to all other parties in the EU for curiosity): www.euprofiler.eu. I advise to go through this evaluation for everyone who is thinking about the voting.

I am looking for an intern

When I was an active member of AIESEC, I set a goal for myself that in some year, instead of offering interns from abroad to the companies, I would take one. It is happening earlier than I expected :)

Indeed, we have decided in the company I work in (CyberWatcher) that an AIESEC intern would be helpful in executing our current strategy of conquering the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. I am assigned as a project manager for this. So, the code for the internship (all people who have gone through AIESEC experience know what does it mean) is TN-IN-NO-MC-2009-1302.

Looking forward for having AIESEC intern working with me!

Working with mediocrity

After the last few years of working with mainly young enthusiastic AIESECers, I am in a somewhat different situation now. AIESEC members I worked with were there because they wanted to learn, to develop, and to do something useful. They may have lacked knowledge or experience due to their youth, but they had passion and willingness to do things in a good way (not all , but at least, majority of them).

Lately, I have been involved in the work for certain projects where I had to deal with people who did nothing more and nothing less than mediocre work. I clearly understand now that mediocrity is something I want to avoid dealing with as much as possible.

What does a mediocre person do (from my experience):

This person performs his/her task just up to the level what is said to be done, never more! No creativity whatsoever, just blind following of guidelines.

Real example from a meeting:
- Ohh, I was waiting for this meeting, good we have it.
I ask:
- So, why did you wait for this meeting? What do you think the purpose of this meeting is anyway?
Reply:
- Ehhh... because we need to have it.

This person claims that he/she "has not seen my email in the mailbox for last two days and has discovered it just now".

The rule of mediocrity: never take initiative, try to escape any tasks as much as possible. After most of the work is done by someone else, ask for face-saving: "Is there anything else I could help with?"

Real, but modified example of me asking:
- Why would you like to make a project in the food industry? Why are you interested in it?
Reply:
- Well, because I really like to eat! For example, I cooked a nice dinner yesterday.

...

Mediocrity is even worse than working with people with bad intentions. Bad people don't hide their bad intentions and it is therefore easy to get rid of them. But you can never say that mediocre person has been bad, because he/she has actually fulfilled the very minimum requirements or at least found good-sounding excuse not to have done it, which you are forced to believe.

I remember the days when I was a leader of different teams in AIESEC. I discovered that one of the best rules of management is focusing attention on those who are above mediocrity. I did not care much about the rest, although they were also the members of my teams. It brought results.

I actually made a rule for myself that I would eliminate mediocrity from my life. I simply try to get to environments and try to create my own environment where there is little space for that. I know it all may sound too harsh, but I just believe that I can spend my time and energy doing something good and useful for the people who put a real effort, who strive and want to learn.

Luckily, I have enough people like that in my life.

Simply beautiful

Tribute to Viljo, a man who appreciates beauty in this world.

One of the best activities when I get tired

Today was one of those evenings when you become completely tired after an active day:
--> swimming pool in the early morning
--> working day with phone calls to three potential clients in Croatia (I loved to speak Croatian once again) and learning yet new things about cyber-business
--> few emails and some work on our tourism project (Reisid Vabadusse)
--> few emails and phone-calls to my friends who requested something from me
--> Skype conversation with the most beautiful girl in the world
--> Some readings for my school

When I get physically tired, I tend to become emotionally tired as well. If to let it be so and not to direct my mind, I may start to feel sorry for myself, to imagine that some of the things are worse than they really are.

One of the best solutions during such evenings (when I still don't want to go to sleep yet) has for me been reading blogs of my friends. They are listed in the right menu. I am grateful to some of my best friends who keep themselves close to me by communicating their thoughts and experiences in the web.

Internet is amazing. It keeps me close to my friends being so far away from me. I smile. :)

Interview with me published in Estonian magazine

Recently I was contacted by the editor of the magazine of my university in Estonia which I graduated in 2005. They thought it would be a good idea to make an interview with me as one of their graduates.

University of Tartu has been one of the best things which happened in my professional life apart from AIESEC. Of course, I did not have any doubts and accepted the interview.

The interview is in Estonian and can be found here in online version of the magazine.

I talk there about what I did in Kazakhstan, say some words about Kazakhstan as a country. I share my thoughts on challenges in co-existence of Estonians and Russians in Estonia and on potential of Estonia as a state.

Reisid Vabadusse - my start-up enterprise

Several months of preparation, discussions, meetings, negotiations, learning and planning... And here we are - Viljo, Marko and me - started our first company.

We aim to offer travelling to the destinations and to be hosted by people that would otherwise be hard to find. Authenticity, beautiful nature, interaction with local culture are the keywords. No hotels, no restaurants, no excursions with the big buses.

In the first year, we offer travel packages for Estonian market to Croatia and to Kazakhstan - the countries I have lived and I have friends and partners in. Both are the countries with amazing nature and with very hospitable people.

Three of us met and worked in AIESEC. Marko and Viljo are both dedicated, entrepreneurial, daring and hard-working people - I couldn't imagine better partners to start a project with.

If the enterprise will be successful during the next six months, we will enlarge the pool of destinations and variety of choices.

Reisid Vabadusse means something like "Travel into a Freedom" in Estonian.

Campaign has started. It is now possible to pursue own way to freedom.