APPLICATION FORM

AIESEC BREMEN 2009-2010

my Leadership xp
 LCP / LCVP Candidate Form
2009/2010

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Name: Sayandeep Khan

Address: Jacobs University Bremen
College Ring 6 - Mailbox 261
28759 Bremen, Germany
Phone: +49 (421) 2005450
Mobile:
E-Mail: s.khan@jacobs-university.de
Date of Birth: July 22, 1989
Language skills: English: Very fluent German: working knowledge
Spanish: basic knowledge Bengali: Mother tongue
Which position are you running for? Local Committee President

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

1.Please share three strong points and three points to improve about you.
My three strong points are
1.Different perspectives – I can approach a problem from more than one perspective, and some
of the approaches are different than the standard perspective. This enables me to have a holistic
view of what I am going to achieve.
2.Multitasking – I can concentrate on more than one issue at the same time
3.Determination – with all my abilities, I am true to my statement

My three weak points are

1.Lack of peoples awareness – I am more focused to the goal than the people I am working with
2.Lack of self awareness – I am more focused to what I say than how I say it
3.Less care to formality – I do not pay attention to formalities, when something it's required to
do so
 1.What would you like to see yourself doing ten years from now, and why? How do you
think your work in AIESEC will contribute to achieve this goal?

10 years from now, I want to see myself as an explorer – a researcher for the way, systems in
our universe run. Because I myself am also an element of this universe, part of my quest will
also involve a self discovery process. I expect AIESEC to help me with this self discovery.

2.In which positions have you been active and taken over responsibility (in and
outside of AIESEC)? What were three major achievements/learning points?

My most important 'responsibility' I have taken so far is probably when I was appointed as
Director of Student Activities for my organization, by my CEO. In this position, my job (still) is
to plan and execute projects that involve students, These projects assist students to gain
knowledge about earth and space, and to realize their space based goals. These programs
are running worldwide. At this very moment I am involved in four projects as coordinator and
director, the objectives are exploration, research, development, and education. We have a
diverse level and background of students and researchers working with us.

I am fortunate enough to work with my organization. Three major points of learning from my
organizational experience are:
•We all who dream similar have basically the same story – childhood fascination of the distant
stars, teenage quest for learning about them, and finally promising to ourselves that we will reach
them. So if we all know just ourselves, we know all the people that we should know, and we will
automatically sustain each other. I think this applies to all dreams, not only the dreams to reach
space.
•We all can work 'in our own way' – so if we work together, we will share the load. Everybody will
reach the target with his/her way, and together this will build the most comprehensive coverage to
approach a problem. This is called 'synergy'. This is a theory I use for my student projects, but the
CEO showed this to me in concrete examples.
•There must be an hierarchy in every organization, but the hierarchy must be flexible enough to
change automatically.
The migratory birds fly in a inverted 'v' formation, the leader being in the front, and producing
the highest power. All the bird behind the leader requires less energy, as the leader already
creates a windflow behind him. However, whenever the leader is tired, the behind birds have less
wind on them, and they have to beat more in order to maintain altitude. As soon as they sense
this, one bird from behind automatically comes in front, to allow the previous leader to float. There
is no rule of who will come first, but they are dedicated enough to their cause of migration, so one
automatically takes the responsibility to provide the drive.
Every organization must have dedicated people like this, otherwise the organization will go
extinct. Also, the organizational structure must be energy oriented, so that the person with
maximum energy can automatically stand in front.

1.Please tell your hobbies and interests outside of AIESEC?

Mountaineering, Hiking, Skydiving, Photography, Dxing, RC, and of course storming

RadioShack stores.

2.Can you tell us about one thing you are proud about in your life so far?
I am proud to the fact that I am participating in the Google Lunar X Prize championship,
and I will drive the rovers in moon.

AIESEC EXPERIENCE:

1.When and why did you join AIESEC and why are you still involved?
I do not remember the date, but I joined AIESEC sometime in October 2008.

I came to Germany as a student, but this has been a HUGE self discovery for me. I met a lot
of people, from street graffiti makers to professor wildbrains, from former world award winning
skydivers to John Does walking in the streets day after day, for some unknown quest, from
wannabe-CEOs to headless Heads. I interacted with them, in the sense that I shared their
lives and worked with them, and I discovered I have many undiscovered sensitivity and
capability in me. I came to learn about AIESEC from a mail to the university students mailing
list. I thought perhaps interacting with this organization might help me to discover myself
more. So here I am now.

Now I am in here, and I am finding people here with whom I can interact and discover myself
through their eyes. One of the strong points of AIESEC is the diverse background of
members, and they have diverse perspectives. Therefore, they have diverse hope,
expectation and thought, and they enlighten me from different view-points. This is intriguing,
and this keeps me with the organization.

2.What is your personal AIESEC experience?

Which ups and downs did you experience through your time in AIESEC and what were
 your learning points related to them?
Ups: I experienced AIESEC Bremen as a place where one can meet people who can be your
activity partner.
Downs: I experienced AIESEC Bremen as an organization seriously lacking drive,
coordination and innovation.

My learning points are:

•Every organization needs evolution. It needs to update it's vision. The nice thing is, AIESEC has
updated it's vision as a whole. The AIESEC 2010 document proves it.
•Working in grassroot level with people requires an extreme amount of information flow and a
holistic view of the strategies, goal, and their relations. Without an holistic view, it will be lost.
•Communication is important for social work.

MOTIVATION

1.Why are you running for LCP/LCVP? What are three personal goals you want to
achieve through your role as LCP/LCVP?

I am running for LCP mostly because I think I have enough energy to become the chief wind
breaker.
My three personal goals that I might achieve through this is:
•I work in a leadership position that requires extreme precision and determination. I am required
to do what I say. I am kind of shaped by this environment. [messages here sound like – failure in
device XYZ, and you have 36.78 seconds left to reinvoke .. do something, NOW ! ]. I been
successfully working with this. AIESEC appears to be different than this in the sense that it
requires more patience and better communication, rather than speed and precision. Therefore I
think if I can work for this position, I will increase my versatility.
•From this position I hope I will learn practically how to inspire people from diverse background to
a common goal
•I also hope I will learn people oriented approach of strategic planning.
1.What abilities and past experiences recommend you for this position?
My past experience for leadership – My works with Interplanetary Ventures –
http://www.interplanetaryventures.org > about us
My title is 'Director of Student Activities'. My role is planning for projects that will involve
students in real research and offer them an opportunity to work together with scientists and
researchers. These projects should benefit both the student and the scientist/researcher. I am
also to implement it, execute it, sustain it, make it failure-proof, and evaluate it.
 For AIESEC: Inter cultural experience- I am a student of the International University of
Bremen, surrounded by people from various cultural background. My university taught me to
work smoothly with them, regardless of background.
Decision making in a very short time – I can be proud of that. However complex the situation
is, I do not need large time to make decision.

2.AIESEC is a volunteer organisation, there are no formal limitations and there is a

100% dependency on the drive of the VP/LCP. How will you keep yourself
motivated into fulfilling your responsibilities for the period of term?
I am true to my statements, If I say something, I generally mean it. My application is my
statement of me being motivated for fulfilling the responsibility, my characteristics will keep
me true to it.

STRATEGY

1.What do you think should be the three main priorities for AIESEC in Bremen for the
next year? What individual actions would you propose for each one?

Priority 1: Increase Information flow.

Action: Issuing instructions for everyone to update the Local Committee about their activities
Priority 2: Bringing cosmopolitanism in the sense of cultural and individual understanding
Action: Good selection
Priority 3: Good selection of new recruits
Action: Researching on necessary capabilities, and implementing the research results in
selection process

2.What do you think should be three main priorities for the area you are applying?
What individual actions would you propose for their realization? What results
would you realistically see happening at the end of your term through these
actions:

Same above, I am applying for local committee president

Priority 1 Actions Results
Increase Information flow. Issuing instructions to Coordination and respect to
everyone to update everyone each other, and increased
else in the local committee interest to AIESEC

Bringing Cosmopolitanism
Selection
about their activities. However
this action may be a cultural
shock. Therefore what needed
is cosmopolitanism
Good selection process Members will not be culturally
bound, they will be more free
and more active
Research on member Better core for the organization
criterion, and implementing
them in recruitment process

3.What organizational culture would you like to see in AIESEC Bremen? What will be
your personal contribution into fostering such a culture?
I want to see cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitanism is the property of not being bound by
'culture'. Please note, there is nothing wrong in being influenced by a culture, for
example, you can be influenced by 'punctuality' of german culture, and imply it.
However, being bureaucratic, or isolated, is being 'bound' by it. A cosmopolitan person
is not bound by such. My personal contribution will be inspiring people to a more tolerant
way of working, and sustain the research for the appropriate recruitment criteria.

4.Please tell us 2 thinks you will keep from the past EB’s term and 2 things you would
do different.
•I will keep the Learning environment goal, that was set by last president
•I would keep the Leadership environment goal, that was set by last president.
•I want to be different in representation of the organization to outside. I want to implement more
informative representation.
•I want to be different in organizational culture, in terms of cosmopolitanism.