1st-Asia Pacific Communication Exchange Association

Yesterday, 26/02/2011, was a quite awesome day for me. Jennifer, White and I, my classmates from the Honours College and group-mates of the JWJ, won the Grand Prize of the 1st Asia Pacific Communication Exchange Association. It was very exciting to hear our names being called to received to Award.

Well, this story begins in December, when I received a SMS from Jennifer saying that she wanted to talk with me. I went to meet her and she started talking about a business competition, that focuses on the novel busisness ideais to promote Macau and Macau tourism to various regions in the world, and she asked me wether I was interested in joining her and White, to participate in the competition. I thought for a while and decided to accept it (it's not everyday that I have the chance to learn more about public speaking and business presentations). After the examination period, we gathered to decide which topic to choose for the contest. After talking for a while we could not come out with a plan, so we decided to think about it while we were on vacations.

After returning from our Christmas vacation, we started discussing about the proposal to submit on 19th of January. We start working on it every night from the 11th to 19th of January and we came out with a vast plan that consisted in promoting the Macau Heritage and Macau MICE industry (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions),  while transforming transforming Macau into an environmental friendly city. We submitted this propose and we were approved to present it in the semi-finals of competition. However, the judge mentioned that our propose was too vast and that we should focus on the part of the Macau as an Eco-city. Then, we start seeking for some advices from friends and professors for the proposal and presentation tips. Therefore, we decided to narrow down our proposal to promote and transform Macau into a Eco-city.

On the 19 of February, we presented our proposal at the S.T.D.M. of the University of Macau. I have to confess that I was a little bit nervous because it was my first time presenting in such kind of environment and contest. I have to tell you, as well, that I was the second of our group to speak out; however, Jennifer  was the first one to talk and she was so confident and she had a quite strong opening that she transmitted some of the confidence to me that I didn't perform that bad... At the end the judges selected us as one of the finalists, so we were all very happy with that. The judges suggested us again to narrow again our propose because it was still too vast, that we covered too much theory and that it wasn't that practical.

Upon suggestion of Professor Udani, one of our professor at the HC, we did the same presentation in the HC class and we asked for some suggestions of our classmates and professor. They gave us plenty of suggestions and some ideas of us to improve our presentation. We try to follow some of the suggestions and try to change a "lot" our presentation.  It was a though week, because me and White were very busy with the course load, assignments, projects, reports and Jennifer with a lot of extra-curricular activities. Therefore, it was very difficult for all of us to sit down and discuss for a while. We end up doing the best we could; however we didn't have that much time to rehearse and prepare the presentation...

Yesterday, I had then to wake up very early to prepare a pre-lab for an experiment that I even forgot to have breakfast. I came to school around 8 so that I could meet Jennifer and White and confirm if every thing was okay for the presentation. After that I went to the Lab to do the experiment and at 11.45 a.m. we took the bus to go to the Venetian, where the finals where going to take place. There we tried to rehearse for a couple of times but the presentation was not smooth enough. The contest started at 2.30 p.m. and I was sitting there trying to relax because I was a little bit nervous. Three groups presented before us, then they call our name... I prefer not to talk about what happened in details. We went on stage and we did our presentation, we tried to do our best but it was not that good. When we returned to our sits we were all disappointed with the performance because we knew that we could have done something better. However, it seems that the judges like it (I not quite sure) because they gave us the first prize :) :) :)

It was an awesome experience; however, now I have a lot of things to catch up for school that I don't even know where to start...

Food crisis

For the last weeks and months, I've been following the increase of the food prices and I can tell you that I am concerned about it. Many people, experts thought that the next World War was going to be driven by the fossil fuels; however, as far I am seeing now, its seems that the next World War will be driven by the lack of fresh water and food.
I am particularly concerned about my people and my country, Cape Verde. The prices of the food have been increasing steadily and have pushed more 44 millions of people, world wide, below the poverty line. In my country, according to the CIA, 30% of the population is below the poverty line and the unemployment rate is 21%. Moreover, we import 82% of the food consumed in the country. Therefore, that makes me wonder how are my people going to handle this...
Famine and starvation have ravaged Cape Verde numerous times over the history. Nobody wants that to happen again. We are now a different country; however, we still relay on others... I would like to know how much can we stand it.
The saddest thing is that I been wondering if there is something I can do but I feel that my hands are tied :(

My Leadership Journey

Few days ago, I had to write this essay about Leadership, part of a course called Development of Leadership Skills that I am taking at the Honours College of the University of Macau. Telling the truth I wasn't that excited about it because it was a 6 to 8 pages essay. However, it end up to be very fruitful and interesting because I had to stop and think for a while about what I've been learning, what I've been doing, what I've been being... Below some lines of my essay.

Leadership is on focus nowadays and everyday I hear about leadership training programs here or there, great leaders, potential leaders and the list goes on and on. However, what is leadership, what is it all about? Well, I am not here do give scientific definitions of such thing because that can be easily found in books and on the Internet, I am here to give my general understanding of leadership and what I am trying to pursue in my Leadership Journey at the Honours College and my personal life.

Going back to my definition of Leadership, I would like to state, first of all, that generally speaking, Leadership does not mean domination. It might be that, in the past, leadership was synonym of muscles, power or something similar but not anymore. It’s true, that we still live in a world well supplied with people who wish to dominate and rule others. However, the true Leadership is an art and this art of leadership is in the capacity to make people want to work/cooperate with you, while they are really under no obligation to do so. Moreover, he or she, the leader, is the one whose actions inspire others to dream more, do more, learn more and become more. At the end of the day leadership is the act of holding the torch of wisdom, while inspiring people and guiding them to a common goal.

Now, changing a little bit the topic, let’s talk about the leaders. Who are the leaders? How do they look like? How do they act? What are great leaders? How do they become leaders? What do they eat? Maybe I am exaggerating in the questions but once talking about leadership we cannot avoid trying to get to know the Leaders. Well, first of all, leaders are just normal people, men and women, capable of influencing others. Moreover, the true leader is the one that realizes that he is a tool on the hands of God and dedicates himself to guide and inspire the sentiments and aspirations of people with love. Only with love/passion, he or she will succeed as a leader because he or she who does not have the power of love and will to serve the others will find it difficult to win and keep the goodwill and cooperation of his followers or subordinates. Furthermore, in my view, leaders are people capable of raising standards by which they are willing to be judged and judge themselves. In addition to pay the price of self-discipline and moral restraints, living in a constant improvement of his personal character, in other words, he or she has to, first of all, lead himself in order to lead others.

In my opinion, there are several key characteristics for one to excel as a leader but the principal is to be able to give of you without expecting anything in return, sacrifice yourself for your believes, that is why I believe that a leader should be also a volunteer and that every volunteer is a leader. That is the reason why I often quote Bob Marley by saying: “if you live for yourself you live in vain, if you live for the others you live again.” Furthermore, a leader should be able to communicate, express its ideas for the group and discuss whenever it is necessary to set goals, motivate and inspire. That is why speeches such as “I have a dream”, by Martin Luther King Jr. or slogans like “Yes, we can”, by Obama’s campaign or songs – never underestimate the power of music because music can change people and people can change the world – can make a difference in a point in history.

Six months ago, if people have asked me who is or was, in my opinion, an excellent leader, I would have probably mentioned Nelson Mandela or Jose Maria Neves, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Cape Verde. However, these months at the Honours College made me realize that there are ordinary people doing amazing things around us and we fail to praise them the way we should, while we keep thinking about the Great Men. I do not have anything against the Great Men, I just now realize that we should pay tribute to this kind of people that surround us and that everyday wake up in the morning trying to make this world a better place for all of us and future generations. This takes me back to Cape Verde where a met this young man that changed my life forever; his name, Helmer Fortes. He is in his early twenties but with a charisma and wisdom of a mature man. I met him at the Youth Center of Mindelo, Cape Verde, where I was a volunteer and he was the President of both the Youth Associations and Volunteers Association of Mindelo. Helmer, more than a leader, he was a friend and he was always “wearing” a smile on his face because according to him a smile was the best make-up that a human being can wear. The door of his office and his heart was always open to everyone and he was always there for everyone. I remember the first day I went to the Youth Center to sign up to become a volunteer, he approached me, gave me hug and said: “Nos eh un so” (we are one). Besides that, he was a very creative and innovative fellow that always inspired people and made people want to know more. He was the one that introduced me to the endangered animal protection program and made aware of the high high school dropout rate in my country and inspired me to do something for people without expecting anything in return.  In an ever greedy and selfish society, Helmer was a “light in the night”, with his love for the people and animals inspiring many others and me. If today I am the person I am, the one who is writing this essay about leadership, he was a key to make me want to be the change and be a leader to change the world, acting locally, thinking globally.

Now you might become a little bit interested in getting to know me. Well, let me tell you about me as a leader and a group member but remember this is just my opinion, as everything I have written so far, different people might have different perceptions. First of all, I believe I am a good member of a group. It’s easy for me to work with people, collaborate to achieve a common goal. I always try to do my part, promote inclusiveness and encourage the group to get things done in harmony. I am also a quite curious person. I tend to be interested about almost everything. I read newspapers everyday to know what is going on in the world and I am always willing to learn more things. That is one of the reasons I always have something to talk with everybody and I believe that makes people to become more familiar and work with me. Moreover, I learnt with people, like Helmer, to smile always; that is why, even when I am sad I will always be laughing like a clown. However, sometimes I cannot control myself when it comes to say what I think. I tend to say things to people that I will regret in the future, things that might harm their feelings. I tend to be different, I don’t like being just like everybody else. If it is in to wear black, I will definitely wear white. That makes me outstand from the crowd, which sometimes creates antipathy with people.

In my opinion, to improve myself, first, I need to be able to give people, while working in groups, more freedom of choice, let them make more decisions and support them. Even if those decisions are not what I stand for; however, they are better for the majority or for the group itself. Therefore, I have been trying to divide the group tasks with people, assigning tasks to people according to their “expertise”. For example, I belong to the African’s Students Group and I am the vice-president of the Honours College Student Association. Therefore, I have been trying to be a more laisser-faire leader, trying to let people’s creativity and spontaneity work. Second, I think I need to become a more effective communicator. Being able to share what I think and what I know in a more concise and direct way. Thus I plan to join the Toastmaster Club to learn and improve my away of addressing to public and people in general. Third, be able to control my feelings and don’t say things straight away without considering the effects on people’s own feelings. Hence now, I always try to consider different ways of approaching people and seek for advice of “co-workers” when I need to communicate my dissatisfaction to someone.  Moreover, I would like to better be able to recognize contributions of people and motivate them, either to continue doing the good job or to improve it. Recognize people’s feelings so that I can say the right thing at the right time, so that they can boost up their confidence or whatever.

Finally, I will continue reading autobiographies of Great Men and pay attention on how they deal with issues. In other words, absorb the wisdom of history and apply it to the problems of the present, so that the future generations may be born, live and die in peace and with joy.