For almost 72 years, since it was founded after the World War II, AIESEC has been giving youths the chance of developing their skills and shaping their personalities in order to become the leaders the world needs. This has been possible by keeping a permanent connection with AIESEC members worldwide, creating a network of communication and mutual help which goes beyond the cultural borders.
AIESEC is a global, non-political and not-for-profit youth organization which was founded in 1948 by a group of young European people (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden). Its fundamentals were shaped by the social, political and economic climate of that time. The aim was setting a worldwide network, aspiring to Peace and Fulfillment of Humankind’s Potential, so that young people all over the world can have the opportunity to develop their personalities in a peaceful climate, delivering the best version of themselves.
Our organization is present on each continent and counts 127 national committees and over 40,000 members. The Global Committee is in Montreal and consists of 21 members who oversee the activities of all committees worldwide. At the national level, the Member Committees are the ones which oversee the Local Committees in a given country.
A Local Committee enables youths to take the first step in this organization, by being Team Members, Team Leaders or Vice-presidents in every Local Committee’s departments. Here they learn how to act according to the Six Core Values in AIESEC (Striving for Excellence, Demonstrating Integrity, Activating Leadership, Acting Sustainably, Enjoying Participation, Living Diversity) and most importantly, develop in their personalities the characteristics of leadership. Through the Leadership Development Model we want our members to develop their self-awareness, to adopt a solution-oriented attitude, to be able to express their ideas clearly and to empower other people to take action.
When the new members start their journey as Team Members, they take responsibility of their position by learning to work in a team and getting familiar with the general working pace. On the other hand, the Team Leaders have the responsibility of delegating tasks and making their members aware of their role in the team, tracking their achievements and most importantly, integrating them in the Local Committee.
The Vice-presidents are in charge of coordinating the operations in their area, but most importantly, give people within the chance of an amazing experience. “As a Vice-president you have a big responsibility: to supervise the entire department and track the implementation of different strategies. But more than that, you have the power to grow your members, to help them find their inner passion and develop their skills.
By encouraging youths to participate in international conferences and through delivering exchange experiences, we strive to develop the leadership potential in each of them and make them aware that every step they take can have a huge impact even in a non-familiar climate.
The AIESEC Way is the members‘ guide that explains what is the purpose of our (AIESEC's) existence but also the unique way of how the organization is achieving it. Reminder: The goal of this article is not for members to try and memorize all words or concepts. This article should bring members back to the purpose of the organization and provide clarity for everyday actions. The AIESEC Way document is NOT a bunch of nice statements and it is NOT a document you should only glance through. It will not solve all your problems or answer all of your questions. AIESEC members are encouraged to constantly review and discuss the AIESEC Way.
Cross-Cultural Exchanges AIESEC provides an opportunity for young people to work or volunteer abroad in non-familiar environments.This allows them to step outside their comfort zone and expand their worldview, while contributing to the community in which they are working. Living such experiences enables people to build a better understanding of how to communicate and capitalize on diversity in our increasingly connected word.
Team Experiences AIESEC members work in teams to create and manage these cross-cultural exchange experiences. This provides an opportunity for our members to live powerful team experiences and develop their own leadership potential.
Inner and Outer Journey We believe that young people learn best by doing and reflecting. The following diagram shows the framework AIESEC provided in every experience, enabling young people to learn the most from every experience. The Outer Journey is the individual's interaction with the external environment. The Inner Journey is the internal change that happens within the individual. The combination of the two ensures that what someone learns from any experience will stay with them forever.
The Values are one of the most important part of AIESEC Way. Is something that every member is going through. This six values everyone must know whenever someone asking you what are the values of AIESEC.
Our leadership development model consists of characteristics we want to develop through the experiences we provide as an organization. These characteristics are fundamentals, which enable life-long leadership journey of young person.
Impact Your journey’s impact on society. This enables young people to see their connection with the world and take ownership and responsibility for their actions and impact.
Individual responsibility Taking individual responsibility with clear goals is a first step in the outer journey of leadership development.
Challenging role and environment Your role and surrounding environment push you to leave your comfort zone, enabling you to learn.
Interaction with multiple stakeholders The diversity and quantity of stakeholders to which an individual is accountable heavily influence’s one leadership development. For example, interaction with diverse cultures or different types of stakeholders (boss - customer - colleague, AIESEC - company - NGO, etc).
Reflect on your experience Going through self - reflection exercises to understand how are achieving personal goals, changing throughout the experience, and capture your learnings and realizations.
Support system In the outer journey there should be some support system for the inner journey. It can be a mentor, coach, buddy, etc. A support system can be provided by AIESEC or any other external stakeholder.
Set personal goals The inner Leadership journey starts with understanding where you are currently and with setting goals for what you want to gain from the experience. Understand your personal values By living the experience and going through inner journey you realize the fundamental things about yourself – your values and how they impact your everyday life.
Reinvent yourself Capturing the learning from this experience to use it in the future; Understanding your ‘new self.
Here we elucidate the mistery of what this letter and numbers mean: A2020
AIESEC 2020 ambition is our answer to this question:
What do we want to become by 2020 to move closer to Engage and Develop every young person in the World?
These statements we co-created as a result of 2 days process at IC (International Congress) 2015 in India by 800 delegates and inputs of 1000 online adapted for the 2020 co-creation process.
According to the business website sixsigma, businesses need a framework for guiding the mobilization of an organization around its strategic plan. A “roadmap” enables everyone in the business to clearly understand how each action and decision need to be made, who needs to make them and when to achieve the organization’s common goal.
Many organizations in the world built roadmaps through their history to achieve a common goal. Nowadays we also have famous tech companies that work with yearly product roadmaps in order to apply the best strategy for their growth. Companies and organizations build roadmaps to achieve their common goal, especially long term strategies.
Since the creation of our Vision for 2020, AIESEC has gone through big changes to adapt itself to become a more dynamic and focused organization. That's why our Roadmap has evolved from year to year, even though our main strategies and Vision remain the same.
