• Concert de Crăciun la Universitate – Media UB.
• Concert de Crăciun, la Universitatea din Bucureşti.

Program included works of Ludwig van BEETHOVEN, Marc-Antoine CHARPENTIER, Constantin ARVINTE, Ioan D. CHIRESCU, Vasile CORJOS, Gheorghe CUCU, Dumitru G. KIRIAC, Alexandru PODOLEANU, Timotei POPOVICI, Georg F. HAENDEL, Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART, Joseph HAYDN, Robert MOZES şi Pierre PIERPONT, Franz GRUBER, Richard WAGNER.

Director: Vasile CORJOS
Solists: Smaranda DRĂGHICI, Elena SERSEA, Mihai PICU, Valentina NĂSTASE, Mihai GROMAŢCHI.

Program:

Preludiu din Te Deum – Marc-Antoine CHARPENTIER
Bună dimineaţa la Moş Ajun – Alexandru PODOLEANU
O, ce veste minunată – Dumitru GEORGESCU-IRIAC
Astăzi s-a născut Hristos – Timotei POPOVICI
Moş Crăciun – Dumitru GEORGESCU-KIRIAC
Am plecat să colindăm – Gheorghe CUCU
Pe cel deal cu flori frumoase, Slobozi-ne gazdă-n casă – Emil MONŢIA (Solistă: Valentina NĂSTASE)
Domnul Iisus Hristos – Dumitru G. KIRIAC
Trei păstori – Timotei POPOVICI – Vasile CORJOS
Cetiniţă cetioară – Gheorghe CUCU
Noi umblăm şi colindăm – Mihai BÂRCĂ (Solist : Mihai GROMAŢCHI – Nai)
Fluierul cel păstoresc – Vasile CORJOS (Solistă: Elena SERSEA)
Colindul lui Moş Crăciun – Vasile CORJOS
Cântec trist de Crăciun – Stelian OLARIU
Binecuvântaţi părinţii – Vasile CORJOS
Colinde din Transilvania pentru Violoncel şi orch – Robert MOZES (Solist Mihai PICU)
Măriţi pe Domnul – Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Imn de Crăciun – Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Imn nupţial din opera “Lohengrin” – Richard WAGNER
Pastorala din Concertul de Crăciun Op. 1 Nr. 8 – Pietro LOCATELLI (Solişti: Ştefana ZAHARIA, Georgiana SECULA, Andreea BERNEVIC, Radu BARABANCEA, Alexandra PASCARU)
Aleluia din motetul “Exultate Jubilate – Wolfgang Amadeus.MOZART (Solistă: Saranda DRĂGHICI)
Salvatore del mondo – Anonim italian
O, Sanctissima – Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
O, Tannenbaum – Melodie germană
Silent Night (Stille Nacht) – Franz GRUBER
Joy to the World – Georg Friedrich HAENDEL
Jingle Bells – Piere PIERPONT

Photos (in full-screen):

See all the videos:

See videos one-by-one:

Speakers:

• Emanuel COSMOVICI (more on: Arhidieceza Romano-Catolică de Bucureşti);
• Francisca BĂLTĂCEANU (more on: Wikipedia, Radio România Actualităţi);
• PS Mihai FRĂȚILĂ (more on: Wikipedia, BRU.ro, Greco-Catolica.org, Catholica.ro);

Two videos from the event:

More details: Facebook, Vladimiri Ghika amicus.

On 2011.11.25, Jim BAGNOLA was in Bucharest, at Crystal Palace Ballrooms, Bucharest for his “Leading Teams: Managing Success” training.

Jim’s web site: http://www.jimbagnola.ro/

About the training:

Goal: Use teaming and leadership principles to take the team to its next level of achievement. This topic focuses the team members on continuing to move from a traditional culture to a more participative culture; from do as you are told to a do whatever it takes commitment.

Purpose: Teaming is about human interaction. It places tremendous demands on interpersonal skills. The workshop refocuses team members on the three vital interpersonal skills to improve organizational and personal listening, conflict resolution and assertiveness.

The day also included a panel, moderated by Jim, with:

• Radu MANOLESCU (Radu Manolescu | LinkedIn), Managing Partner KMTrust&Partners, Insead and Harvard Graduate,
• Christos KARABELAS (Christos Karabelas | LinkedIn, HR Director Ericsson Romania&Moldova, Kingston University Graduate
• Petru PĂCURARU (Petru Pacuraru – Live Life !), Leadership consultant, entrepreneur, LEADERS Romania President, Aspen Institute Graduate

My thoughts after the training:

• Elements of a successful team (by Jim BAGNOLA) – Get a result now!

Photos I made (go full-screen):

 
And a video interview with Jim, after the training:

Questions transcript:

1. Do you think that management and leadership best practices in the United States also apply in Romania?
2. What would you change in the formal education system?
3. What feed-back is most valuable?
4. What did you do to have the presentation skills you have today?
5. In 1989, Romanians got out of Communism; 22 years from that moment we’re still in transition; all the Revolution was on television; if you could have said a message to the Romanians in December 1989, what would that message be?

Great event!

List of presentations:

• Marius GHENEA (FIT Distribution, president): “Afaceri e-commerce: Start-up. Dezvoltare. Finantare”;
• Cristian HERGHELGIU (Business Strategist ePayment): “Who moved my customer? – ce alternative au magazinele online intr-un context in care clientii migreaza de la un magazin la altul, iar loialitatea este greu de construit?”;
• Bogdan MANOLEA (Legi-Internet.ro): “Explicatii ‘puerile’ despre protectia datelor personale in comertul electronic “;
• Doina COSTACHE (Google Romania): “Think e-commerce with Google”;
• Bryan EISENBERG (special guest, live streaming from USA): “Lessons learned from Steve Jobs and Apple’s rise to be the mostvaluable company today”;
• Radoslaw HOFMAN (Compliance Manager Pay USA): “Trust and trustworthiness in eCommerce”;
• Dorin BOERESCU: (CEO 2Parale): “Tendinte in comertul electronic romanesc. Ce pot invata magazinele online de la site-urile de reduceri colective?”;
• Cătălin CONSTANTIN (NewsMan): “Tips and tricks pentru o campanie eficienta de e-mail marketing”;
• Cristian CHINA-BIRTA (Chinezu.eu): “Cat de important este blogul si social media pentru un magazin online?”

Photos made by me (full-screen):

Blog posts I made after some ideas from the event:

• Selling tip: scarcity sells – Get SEO ideas
• “Our customer support working hours are 9-17″ – but you are an online store! – Get SEO ideas
• SEO tip: make a lot of small bets and focus on the ones that give results – Get SEO ideas
• Presentation tip – subtitles for movies in a PPT – Get a result now!
• Groupon model – predicting its failure? – Get a result now!

See the official follow-up:

• Castigatorii GPeC 2011 – Gala Premiilor eCommerce 2011

and a photo album:

• GPeC 2011 – Gala Premiilor eCommerce – 22 noiembrie 2011

A presentation not included in the official presentation list:

Hans-Hermann Hoppe (born September 2, 1949) is an Austrian School economist of the anarcho-capitalist tradition, and a Professor Emeritus of economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. (via)

Photos (full-screen mode):
And two videos:

Full speech transcript:

• Entrepreneurship With Fiat Property and Fiat Money by Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Also see three interviews:

• Adevarul Mediacenter – Hans Herman Hope, in Romania;
• Cum a câştigat capitalismul lupta cu socialismul, după Hans Hermann Hoppe;
• Interviu cu Hans-Hermann Hoppe despre taxare Hans-Hermann Hoppe;

Carl Gustav JUNG (26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of Analytical Psychology. (source)

The Red Book, also known as Liber Novus (Latin for New Book), is a 205-page manuscript written and illustrated by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung between approximately 1914 and 1930, prepared for publication by The Philemon Foundation and published by W.W. Norton & Co. on October 7, 2009. [...] Jung originally titled the manuscript Liber Novus (literally meaning A New Book in Latin), but it was informally known and published as The Red Book. The book is written in calligraphic text and contains many illuminations. (source).

Details on the debate: Dezbatere pornind de la Cartea Roşie de C.G.Jung (ICR).

Speakers:

• Vasile Dem. ZAMFIRESCU;
• Andrei PLEȘU;
• Mihaela MINULESCU;

Moderator:

• Horia-Roman PATAPIEVICI

Photos I took (full-screen):
Full playsit of videos:

Individual videos:

About the Book:

CARTEA ROŞIE – LIBER NOVUS
Author: Carl Gustav JUNG
Edited by: Sonu Shamdasani
Translation from German: Viorica NISCOV
Translation from English: Simona REGHINTOVSCHI
# of pages: 404.
Format: 30 x 40 cm
Price: 499 lei

Reviews for the book:

• Calea Sinelui | Dilema Veche
• Cartea Rosie de C. G.Jung publicata in traducere la editura Trei – Cultura – HotNews.ro
• O carte care ar putea deveni cea mai influentă din istoria psihologiei | Ziarul Financiar
• Cartea rosie – Cheia operei lui Jung
• Cartea Rosie, realitatea psihica a schizofrenicului Carl Jung

A few pages from the book:
The Red Book

A video with Dan C. MIHĂILESCU speaking about the book:

And a promo of a television show on TVR Cultural:

See the whole show here:

• Înapoi la argument – Televiziunea Română (» Tuesday, 08 November 2011).

Two other follow-ups of the event:

• Andrei Plesu despre tipologia viselor – Prin oras – HotNews.ro
• Andrei Plesu: Daca nu esti Jung sau Freud, visezi ca prostul – Prin oras – HotNews.ro
• Cartea Rosie a lui Jung – un jurnal vechi de opt decenii, publicat abia in zilele noastre / Ruptura dintre Freud si Jung – Prin oras – HotNews.ro

Also see:

• Despre vedenii şi alte vise | Dilema Veche

In the photo below, I’m the guy who films, somewhere in the very low part of the photo, with a raised hand:

About the professor (source):

Dr. Ian Sutherland, PhD (Exon) is Assistant Professor and Director of the PhD Program at IEDC–Bled School of Management. Originally from Newfoundland, Canada, he has developed an active international career as a researcher, educator and musician. Dr. Sutherland’s work crosses many disciplines – principally cultural sociology, leadership studies, social theory, and socio-musicology. Having initially completed degrees in music (Bachelor of Music (Hons.) and Master of Music) at Memorial University, Canada, his PhD in Sociology and Philosophy was completed at the University of Exeter, UK.

The presentations at the event:

• “Mixing it up: Organizing creativity?” – prof.dr. Ian SUTHERLAND;
• “From Executive Potential to Executive Performance” – IEDC MBA presentation;

A video I made:

Photos (full-screen):

Videos from the presenation (or just related to it, I put them for better understanding):

… and a playlist with all the songs on “Kind of blue” album (Miles DAVIS).

My notes:

• What is the competitive advantage of the world? Creativity;
• Creative is optimized, to some extent, by the number of people involved in the creative process;

Very nice event!

Below some photos and videos taken at the National Library of Romania with Maia MORGENSTERN and Maxim BELCIUG.

Photos (see them in full-screen):

Videos:

Below some information about the vent, notes, photos & videos.

About the event:

Along with Tomáš SEDÁLČEK (blog – home, LinkedIn), Romanian enterpreneur Sebastian GHIȚĂ (Wikipedia) and President of the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce, Raymond BREDEN (LinkedIn), took part at the event; the discussion was followed by a presentation of the bestseller “Economics of Good and Evil”. In 2010, Tomáš SEDÁLČEK released a provocative book – “Economics of Good and Evil” (Oxford University Press) -, which was highly praised by Financial Times and Washington Post.

The moderator of the event was Luminița OPREA (LinkedIn).

Organisers: Czech Embassy (Embassy of the Czech Republic in Bucharest) and the Czech Centre in Bucharest (Centrul Ceh / Czech Centre). Event partners: Skoda, BNP Paribas, Eurowag, Konrad Adenauer Foundation – Rule of Law Programme South East Europe; event media partner: Ziarul Financiar.

Media coverage:

• EN+RO: » Blog Archive » Tomas Sedlacek, cehul superstar in economie soseste in Bucuresti » Centrul Ceh
• RO: Economia binelui si a raului | Teen Press – revista ta de liceu
• RO: Superstarul in economie, cehul Tomas Sedlacek vine la Bucuresti | Cariere

My notes:

• There is a difference between what people are wishing to wish and what people actually wish for – Get a result now!
• Heroes are regular persons – Get a result now!

Photos (see in full-screen):

Videos:

Very nice event, I’d say.

Some ideas:

• Being an entrepreneur means being free;
• Anyone can be an entrepreneur, it’s a matter of choice;
• Anyone should be an entrepreneur;
• The future belongs to the entrepreneurial people;
• In 5 years time, in Romania, cash will be seldom used; thus, a lot of current employees in banks will be replaced by IT systems;
• The technology evolves with an exponential rate;
• Social media is a great solution for promotion;
• Question to put when starting a business – “What is the problem to your solution?” (so, a person already has a solution, but what is the problem?);
• You should focus on solving one/two problems of someone/a niche;
• It’s a good idea to test prices – set some small / big prices, and just test and see how it goes;

What does it take to be an entrepreneur?

• You have to contribute with something;
• You need to have passion;
• It is required that you have the ability to be flexible – big / small;
• You need to make money out of your passion.

• With: Marcel IUREȘ, Valeria SECIU, Constantin DRĂGĂNESCU, Afrodita ANDRONE, Vitalie BANTAȘ
• Director: Alexandru DABIJA
• Scenography: Irina SOLOMON
• Duration: 130 minutes

… and I liked it.

Thoughts from the play (approximate quotations):

• “You live and life passes you by”;
• “It’s nothing serious; just art; that’s it”;
• “Creativity, symbols, metaphors” – I liked this;
• How to speak? In a tempo which is “fluent, cursive, coherent”;
• “You don’t know, while I don’t believe”;
• “Read what I give you to read” (read my blog post on this, inspired by this: Why should you read by a plan, by design, and not random?);
• “Think about the things which I give you to read”;
• “I didn’t like things to be easy for me in life”;

What I liked about the play?

• The play had lots of cultural references – locations, composers, works, history figures; it reminded me of Nicolae STEINHARDT – the Orthodox Christian that means the most to me; it was complex;
• Still, despite the complexity, the thoughts were easy to grasp; he was speaking about NIETZSCHE and you didn’t felt like – “Oh, what does he mean?”;
• I was held in suspense; “What will happen next?”; the feeling was there;
• The rhythm was fast, everything felt intense; now, now, now!
• Marcel IUREȘ seemed very well in control of his emotions; cry or laugh on his wish? Yes, it’s possible, it seems;

Personal note: some people see life as a very scientific thing – things happen scientifically, everything can be explained; other people see symbols, and mysticism, and emotions; now, back to me; I generally look for a scientific approach; yet, sometimes I get the feeling (uuu!) that things can’t be explained; I’ve seen the play three times; the first time everything seemed metaphorical, I tried to see symbols all around the play; I went the second time, 2/3 years after and everything seemed scientific; the third time, which happened on 2011.06.28, it seemed, once again, metaphorical; the actor says X, I think Y; when the process happens a lot, you get to be in a metaphorical state;

Two blog posts with metaphors, inspired by the play:

• The devil misses the point – Get a result now!
• The devil is stupid – Get a result now!

You can read about the play in Romanian:

• ..::: dbrom :::.. (very cool feed-back);
• Marcel IUREŞ şi “Creatorul de teatru” – PORT.ro

See a video with Thomas BERNHARD:

I liked the show so much at that time. I read in “B-24-FUN” an editorial which asked for a group fundraising, so that the show could still play. I’ve been to the show two times and was deeply impressed by it. I then saw the original movie, some remakes, listened to the concert. To me, one of the best shows I’ve witnessed. After this, I started listening to more and more of Andre Lloyd WEBBER’s compositions (The Phantom of the Opera, Whistle Down the Wind, Love Never Dies).

What did I like?

• There was a special atmosphere at the event; below you’ll find some videos, but they can hardly put into practice the atmosphere there was in the room;
• Sound sounded great;
• Although I did not know the script, and did not understand very well the play (back then), I was impressed by the actor’s expression of emotions;
• The room was filled;

You can read some details, in Romanian, about the event:

• U.N.A.T.C. “I.L.Caragiale” • Vezi topic – Jesus Christ Superstar in Romania!!!!
• “Jesus Christ Superstar”, dupa 30 de ani… :: BizShow :: Recomandari :: Saptamana Financiara
• “Jesus Christ Superstar”, spectacolul verii – Cotidianul
• “Jesus Christ Superstar” la ArCuB @ Newspad Stiri

See the musical numbers below (I’ve linked to YouTube videos with the interpretation in 2006, available thanks to lidiadrums user on YouTube)

Act I:

• VIDEO: “Overture” – Orchestra
• VIDEO: “Heaven on Their Minds” – Judas
• “What’s the Buzz” / “Strange Thing Mystifying” – Apostles, Jesus, Mary, Judas, Woman
• “Everything’s Alright” – Mary, Women, Judas, Jesus, Apostles
• “This Jesus Must Die” – Annas, Caiaphas, Apostles, Priests
• VIDEO: “Hosanna” – Apostles, Caiaphas, Jesus, Ensemble
• VIDEO: “Simon Zealotes” / “Poor Jerusalem” – Apostles, Simon, Jesus, Ensemble
• VIDEO: “Pilate’s Dream” – Pilate
• VIDEO: “The Temple” – Ensemble, Jesus
• “Everything’s Alright (reprise)” – Mary, Jesus
• “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” – Mary
• “Damned for All Time” / “Blood Money” – Judas, Annas, Caiaphas, Chorus

Act II

• “The Last Supper” – Apostles, Jesus, Judas
• VIDEO: “Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)” – Jesus
• “The Arrest” – Judas, Jesus, Peter, Apostles, Ensemble, Annas, Caiaphas
• “Peter’s Denial” – Maid by the Fire, Peter, Soldier, Old Man, Mary
• “Pilate and Christ” – Pilate, Annas, Jesus, Ensemble
• VIDEO: “King Herod’s Song (Try it and See)” – Herod, Dancers
• “Could We Start Again Please?” – Mary, Apostles, Peter
• “Judas’ Death” – Judas, Annas, Caiaphas, Chorus
• “Trial Before Pilate (Including the Thirty-Nine Lashes)” – Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, Jesus, Ensemble
• “Superstar” – Judas, Soul Sisters, Angels
• “The Crucifixion” – Jesus, Ensemble
• VIDEO: “John Nineteen: Forty-One” – Orchestra

And, finally, a video with Adrian PINTEA:

P.S.: You can see on YouTube other interpretations of this famous rock opera.

The video I like most, out of those, while Nicolae STEINHARDT considers that Andrew Lloyd WEBBER and Tim RICE best expressed their love for creation and love for (the) opera through Mary MAGDALENE.:

Posters:

&

I chose the title “selling point” for this blog post. It is an atypical expression to describe what happens at the incubator. Words like “soul” are, on the other hand, much more commonly used. Still, I’ll present my perspective, for which “selling point” suits just fine.

First a joke with some sex and bears (for which I’ll ask you to pardon me):

EN:

Frank was excited about his new rifle and decided to try bear hunting. He spotted a small brown bear and shot it. Right after, there was a tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see a big black bear. The black bear said, “That was my cousin and you’ve got two choices… Either I maul you to death or we have sex.”

After considering briefly, Frank decided to accede to the latter alternative. Even though he felt sore for two weeks, Frank soon recovered and vowed revenge.

He headed out on another trip where he found the black bear and shot it. Right after, there was another tap on his shoulder. This time a huge grizzly bear stood right next to him. The grizzly said, “That was a big mistake, Frank. That was my cousin and you’ve got two choices. Either I maul you to death or we have rough sex.” Again, Frank thought it was better to cooperate.

Although he survived, it took several months before Frank finally recovered. Outraged, he headed back to the woods, managed to track down the grizzly and shot it. He felt sweet revenge, but, then, there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to find a giant polar bear standing there. The polar bear looked at him very sadly and said, “Admit it Frank, you don’t come here for the hunting, do you?”

RO:

Frank era în culmea fericirii că îşi cumpărase o puşca nouă. Aşa că a plecat la vânătoare de urşi. Zăreşte un urs cafeniu, de talie mică; îl împuşcă… Simte cum îl bate cineva pe umăr. Se întoarce şi vede un urs negru de talie mare. Îi zice ursul :

- Ursul pe care l-ai omorât era vărul meu. Ai de ales : ori te scarmăn până mori ori faci sex cu mine.

Frank alege să se aplece..

Deşi îl doare fundul cam două săptămâni, Frank se face bine şi jură răzbunare. Pleacă el iar la vânătoare, zăreşte ursul negru şi îl împuşcă. Simte iar cum îl bate cineva pe umăr. De data asta un ditai urs grizzly stătea chiar lângă el.

- Ai făcut o greşeală imensă, Frank… Ursul pe care l-ai omorât era vărul meu. Ai de ales : ori te scarmăn până mori sau faci sex crunt cu mine.

Din nou Frank se gândi că e mai bine să accepte.

Deşi a supravieţuit, i-au trebuit vreo două luni să se însănătoşească. Revoltat la culme, se întoarce în pădure, găseşte ursul grizzly, îl împuşcă… Răzbunarea îl răcoreşte… Simte cum îl bate cineva pe umăr. Când se întoarce… lângă el stătea un urs polar gigantic. Ursul polar îi spune :

- Recunoaşte, Frank, tu nu vii aici pentru vânătoare, nu-i aşa ?

The basic model above (going to hunt to look for something else than the hunt itself) can also be used as a selling point for incubator107.

A. The logical model

You can look at the titles of workshops for June:

• COLAJ*
• Cosițe împletite, cu ață răsucite
• Dansuri grecești
• incubăm scenarii
• Jonglerie TRICTRUC107
• Mask of Joy
• Meditație într-o seară de vară
• Miki Tunde
• Parkour
• Să combinăm. Vinuri.
• TALMEȘ -BALMEȘ -CULINAR
• TAROT iunatic
• TRUC-de-MAGIE

and find practical reasons to take part to the classes; you do a thing to get a practical advantage;

Pro reasons to take part to a class:

• Creativity; while doing X activity, you get better at connecting the dots; this can apply to most of the classes; if it’s out of your typical way of doing things, it may boost creativity;
• Physical aspect (parkour is physically intensive);
• Special skill (after wine tasting, you’ll have better skill at judging wines);
• Modeling a professional (if you want to be a hair stylist, seeing another hair stylist will help you understand the process better);

Con reasons:

• Although not mandatory, you are invited to contribute financially;
• It takes your time;

So, at the end of the day, you put the pro reasons on one spot of the mind, the con reasons on another spot of the mind, you consider the alternatives (perhaps you can get the same benefit from an activity from other opportunities) and make a decision. This is very rational – good versus bad, compared to other opportunities => decision. For the logical reasons, it suffices to visit the web site, and try and get an understanding on how the workshop will be like.

B. The beyond logic model

This model is not illogic, it’s something beyond logic – emotions.

Prior to last night, I only had the logical model. Now there’s a new one to talk about.

Why should you take pake to the classes?

• Because you were recommended by a friend / someone you trust; this works well, you do some activity because you were recommended to do so;
• Nice people everywhere - to me this is the most important selling point; organizers, participants, people holding the workshops (let’s not call them ‘trainers’, it’s too official) – they were all very nice; cool atmosphere, nice people; why is this important? I wrote a previous blog post on why two of my friends are very important to me – for their way of showing me what a normal life is; you will have other reasons why you like nice people, mine is mostly – to have them as a model; let’s explain this with another funny quote regarding (lack of) involvement:

“I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.” – Jerome Klapka JEROME

I find no con reasons on the beyond logic model regarding incubator107.

Actionable steps

• For participants: I’d try to get involved in the project’s activities; see the web site of incubator107 for details; I find three solutions:
  • As a participant to a workshop; this is an obvious step, try before you buy;
  • After you tried, you can buy yourself the time to help the organization in organizing things;
  • Hold a workshop yourself; I find peculiar that so few people took the smallest steps last evening for this step; to me, I can justify a lot of things if I feel I do a thing for others, but to you, holding a workshop can be rewarding from two perspectives:
    • It gets you better at that subject; even if you’re not an expert-world-wide-class-master in a field, holding a workshop will get you closer to that level;
    • It can be very rewarding (emotions);
• For organizers: I’d focus much more on the beyond logic model than on the logical one; two options:
  • Right now, the web site focuses on texts and photos; while these are fine, for the “nice people everywhere” to be better transmitted via Internet, videos generally do a better job; so, I’d much rather focus on videos as a mean of communicating; photos and texts are, to me at least, much more rational than the video, which tends to send emotions better; also, you tend to focus on events, rather than on the Internet for promoting your NGO; this is very good, keep it;
  • People may be encouraged to invite their friends to participate to your actions; you can do this generally by directly asking for this (on Facebook, web site, emails, events themselves), or by helping the process (having a page with banners, like this one);

Now, I’ll just have to find solutions to apply some of the actionable steps myself.

PS: I organize an event which has a similar idea for the logo.

My notes and photos at the event below.

Photos (see in full-screen):

Jim on women: you want to take care about everything, but you;

Adults are just children with better excuses;

Argument: if Romanian are (some of) the best gymnasts in the world, isn’t it strange that so few people do sports?

In the (near) future, people will start telecommuting;

Romanians have a tendency to tell everyone else about a problem, if they have a problem, except for that person itself;

Most people in the world are dehydrated;

Book title (not necessarily to read the book): “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water: You Are Not Sick, You Are Thirsty!, Don’t Treat Thirst with Medications!, a Preventive and Self-Education Manual for” – Fereydoon BATMANGHELIDJ;

This is the only body you have; you have to take care of it;

You don’t sleep for your body, but for your brain;

Normally, we don’t have the time to think about what we think about;

Main problems for health:

• Malnutrition;
• Dehydration;
• Stress;

In life: 75% of our health is given by our lifestyle choices, while 25% by our (good) genes;

The more you know about a topic, the more you know you don’t know about that topic;

Note:

• Perfect is unreal;
• Imperfect is real;

What is the most important 1/10th of a second? This moment;

A rather inadequate question: “How many times to I have to tell you this?”;

Funny – “Give him a smile. Not that kind of a smile”;

Very good addressing of objectives;

“Parents are not always right, but they should always be treated right”;

Question to ask to a person doing an unpleasant behavior:
“When you did that, what was your intention?” “…” “That didn’t work; would you like to know what would work if you intend to …”;

When you give feed-back, it should be a balanced feed-back:

• Improve side;
• Appreciate side;

When you give feed-back to a child, give both kind of feed-back;

What do you do with a child who wants to the one thing he/she’s not supposed to do?

Option for use, instead of “but”: “otherwise”;

Whatever you put your attention on, it grows;

Parents have to get used to their children testing the rules;

A says something to B;
When this happens, B should repeat the thing to A, to make sure B understood correctly;

Men are not as good as women at communicating;

Once you get paid, you turn professional; you’re a professional at something if you get money for doing that job;

People tend to do the same things over and over again;

When you read / write / go and get a shortcut you are exposed to other people’s thoughts; you learn from them; thus, education is a very good thing;

You are creating heaven or hell around you;

Personal note: Jim can move me, touch me;

Solutions of a priest in South America:

• Meditation;
• Yoga;
• Group therapy;
• Love;
• Boys & girls being boys / girls scouts;

Jim’s role, as self-defined: “I’m just here to remind you to do it”;

Addressing to the audience: “The world needs more of you”.

_______
Bottom line: Well, as told above, Jim still moves me, after all those years I’ve seen him in conferences.

The event took place from 4 to about 5 PM at the Theological Institute of Saint Teresa (Institutul Teologic Sf. Tereza) of Saint Joseph Cathedral (catedrala Sf. Iosif), 19, Berthelot street, in the commemoration days for Vladimir GHIKA (May 15-17, 2011).

The book is the first documented account in Romania of the life of Monsignor Vladimir GHIKA, from 1939 until his death in Jilava prison.

A video I made:

Photos from the event:

Photos (see them in full-screen):

Video with the presentation:

Photos (see in full-screen):

The event had two parts – the conference and a questions and answers part.

Below you’ll find a video with the questions and answers given at the event (the last half an hour of the event):

I’m very grateful to Muzeul Țăranului Român (Museum of the Romanian Peasant) for the event. It was a great way to spend a birthday.

Below photos and my notes at the event.

Photos:

My notes:

You can learn enormously by living in different countries;

What can you learn?
- How to deal with people which are different;
- How to deal with complexity;

A lot of people that moved a lot have learned a lot of things from the global learning;

There are a lot of ways to learn in life;

Today’s world is dominated by:
- Diversity – you can learn how to deal with it (different styles / cultures / backgrounds);
- Change – adapt;
- Complexity – life is complex;

New context and loss of identity:
- A new country;
- A new school;
- A new job;

You learn you survive the life’s experiences;

You can find a beginning & a new way of doing things;

What’s a new identity?
- Adapting;
- Reinventing;

The inner journey, the uncommon challenges:
- Identity: who am I?
- Being different and still fitting in;
- Where is home?
- Who are my friends & family?

You have to find your own way of resilience;

People start to develop skills to adapt to things;

You know you can get through it;

You can deal with transition;

Learn new ways of thinking;

Learning from your experience – your story:
- Life as a world of possibilities;
- Uncommon complexity;
- Learning from experiences of global journeys;
- Perceptual skills – strength developed;
- Multiple lenses and perspectives;
- Learn ways of doing new things;

Global cosmopolitans know to go into a situation and see everything change;
Everything changes – they understand this;

Skills and “two edge swords”:
- Peripheral / kaleidoscopic vision;
- Insider / outsider perspective – you can be a little more impersonal;
- Move around – this can help you develop things;
- Empathy – you must have this to be able to move around in the world;
- Creativity – cosmopolitans have to find creative solutions & be adaptive to new situations;
- Risk-taking;

Two edge swords:
- Adaptation to a change;
- It can overshadow & work against developing the other side;

Some people become experts at observing, but it’s not enough, you have to be engaged;

Observe – good skill; how to get involved?
Flexible & willing to adapt; but sometime they don’t say what they want;

If you get around in the business, you have to be able to bring something that’s different;

Thoughts:
- Life is very complex;
- You can only live in one city, do a certain job – or you can do different things;
- Some cosmopolitans can’t take a decision;

Challenges => (can bring) better skills => (which in turn, can lead to) more challenges when you develop your skills;

Life is a developmental highway;

Challenges & opportunities moving forward:
- How can you use your differences?
- Managing the relational fabric of life (friends, network, people from home),
- Encountering identity change;
- Finding home;
- Finding personal meaning;
- Raising the next generation;
- Still not knowing;

Career challenges:
- How to get a company to send you to a different country?
- How to make them bring you back?
- How to convince a company to hire more cosmopolitans?
- How do I get my company to really let me take advantage of my global experience?

A challenge is also an opportunity – it pushes you to be creative; a challenge pushes you to find new solutions;

It is hard to build relationships with different people;

Do you have a global team? You need a way to communicate with people;

Knowing your story & understanding your story brings you a lot of power;

It is a great advantage to be able to tell your story;

You should know yourself & be able to create dialogue;

A lot of times cosmopolitans can feel so different and so alone, that they can be demotivated;

You can understand and develop skills without being an actual cosmopolitan;

On a different note, why do an MBA at INSEAD?
- For the relationships (you will get everlasting memories);
- For the business utility (you learn how to do better business);
- It is very challenging (it forces you to be better);

INSEAD’s goal: to get you into the school, not out of it.

Photos:

Video:

Thank you for another great event, MSM team!

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

First of all, let’s explain what “Baseboard” / “Plintă” is:

S: (n) baseboard, mopboard, skirting board (a molding covering the joint formed by a wall and the floor)

and

PLÍNTĂ, plinte, s. f. 1. Piesă de lemn, de piatră, de mozaic, de material plastic etc. care se aplică la partea de jos a pereților unei încăperi pentru a-i apăra împotriva loviturilor și a umezelii sau pentru a acoperi rostul dintre pardoseală și perete. 2. Partea de jos a unei clădiri, a unei sobe, a unui zid, ieșită mai în afară și formând un mic soclu. 3. Bloc paralelipipedic de piatră sau de zidărie, pe care se reazemă o coloană sau un piedestal. – Din fr. plinthe.

What was good?

• The humor – a lot of times the actors made me laugh; more types of humor were used: surprise (didn’t expect that, did you?), remembering a thing (oh, so this is related to that thing in the past – now that’s funny), insights (making the viewer understand a thing, which, in turn, would start laughter), funny situations (you didn’t see this situation coming, did you?);
• The combination between humor and drama – the text itself is dramatic, with both a sad end and a traumatizing sequence of events; yet in this apparently dark setting, humor pops up; at some points, one can laugh at a joke, and in the same time understand that the situation is dramatic; so, yes, this is a funny thing to see, but, on the other hand, it’s also very sad; nice combination!
• Acting – Marian RÂLEA in the role of Saşa SAVELIEV, a 9 years old boy, had a very good imitation of what gestures a boy would do; his gestures helped me imagine him as a boy; happiness, sadness, traumatic experiences – you could see them all in his behavior;
• Emotions of Saşa SAVELIEV – the boy went through a wide range of emotions, but rarely happiness and joy, and mostly frustration, guilt, shame, fear, sometimes anger;
• Emotions of the grandmother (played by Mariana MIHUŢ) – the grandmother was the negative character in the play; she had a very critical eye, negative feelings, aggressive behavior; quite a performance;
• The snow effect – I’m a sucker for such things; little pieces of paper (oh, no!, the magic is ruined now) flying around on the stage and, at the end, over the spectators; very nice;
• I could pay attention to about 95% of the time of the play (although I’ve missed some part at the beginning), so I am satisfied with this; it helped to see changing sets, to hear easy to understand words, and to say the words in an engaging way;
• The settings were nice – refrigerators flying around at times, angel wings, parks, trees, benches, doors and windows; quite nice;

What impressed me?

• Stunning – the little boy had a small ball to help him remember his mother; this is my life; I have memories (yes, as hard as this can be to be imagined) about loved ones, and they’re always in my head; that’s it; the essence of life in a small ball; and if you can put the ball into your mind, being always with you, you’re safe from any danger, and your good memories are always with you;
• The role of the mother – Andreea BIBIRI; good memories, like: joyful, playful, forgiving, brave, fearless (at times), fragile (other times), but most of all fulfilling a role each mother is destined to have – loving her child more than anything in the world;
• I learned some things about myself by looking at the grandmother; I do share some of the negative traits the grandmother had;

What could be improved?

• I had to look the word “plintă” into dictionary, so perhaps a more common word would do nicely; the play itself was using rather simple language, so it’s an atypical trait (a complicated word in the title);
• There are some commercials at which you stare and think “Hmmm, I know why they do this, yes, it might appear to be funny, but they’re tricking me into this”; and there are some commercials in which you enter the state the advertiser wants you to enter, and you can’t focus on the mechanism of fun, being to much involved into it; to me, this play was the first kind; I looked at it, I understood the mechanisms of fun, I understood what should depress me, but I wasn’t engaged as a viewer; I was not part of the show, I didn’t live it; I could watch it externally, not being part of it; thus, my emotions were safe in a corner, while the little boy’s weren’t.

Considering it’s not that easy to book a ticket, I’d suggest you do this as soon as possible (talk about limited offer incentive in marketing).

Presentation:

Videos taken by me:
2011.03.15 Alan PARKER – Behaving like a rock star – presentation

Vezi mai multe video din jocuri

2011.03.15 Alan PARKER – Behaving like a rock star – Q&A sesssion

Vezi mai multe video din jocuri

See more articles on the subject:
Social Media RockStar?! | Ana Matei’s Blog
Online MeetUp | laurentiubuica
Orange Online Meetup: social media marketing – Alan Parker | chestiuni.info
Online reputation management la Online MeetUp / Ştirile Zilei / MobileNews

Photos from the event (full-screen):
 

See more photos and even more.

Finally, some photos with me at the event:

Photos (see in full-screen):

My notes at the event:

- Confusion is great! Something beautiful is going to happen after it;

- Realizing that you are confused – this is the moment which happens right before the light comes on;

- Expect more questions than answers from an MBA program like IEDC’s;

- Set of rules / dogmas – you are preaching: “The 25 business laws for management success”;

- Management is not a topic that lends itself to a collection of dogmas;

- Management is more like an art than science;

- Science implies that you memorize or understand phenomena;
- Art is an experiment;

- In economics:
A + B = C, Ceteris paribus;
- In real life:
nothing is the same, things always change;

- How do you train management, if management is an art?

- How can you learn management? Either via case studies, or from a different company / industry / market;

- It is very to transform and learn from something happening in the pharmaceutical industry to the chewing gum industry;

- Improving managerial competencies could never be done by memorizing a list of DOs and DON’Ts;

- Education (Latin “educo” = take it out in the open / make it visible to others) implies understanding;
- Instruction (Latin “instruo” = build in or into, insert) implies following instructions;

- 1 kilogram of education may prove better than 1 kilogram of instruction;

- When you want to acquire something, you need to give it some time;

- For some processes (like birth), taking a shortcut can lead to problems;

- Tip of advice: think before you speak;

Photos from the event (see in full-screen):

My notes:

• How can one improve on a management system?
• Set up objectives;
• Improve objectives;
• Have SMART objectives;

Busy doesn’t necessarily imply results;

• Efficacy = did you reach your objectives or not?
• Efficiency = with which costs did you reach your objectives?

You can ask for results from either:

• The team; or
• The individuals;

According to Jack WELCH, a manager can be evaluated based on:

• R (providing results);
• A/B (having good attitudes/behaviors;

Situations:

• +R +A/B = keep & grow him in the organization;
• -R -A/B = out (sack him);
• -R +A/B = give him a second chance (put the person in another place or help him grow via trainings/coaching);
• +R -A/B = out (sack him; he should not be coach, you can’t coach values);

Principle: recruit for attitude, train for skills;

A person with a bad attitude doesn’t fit in the organization.

Very nice event!

Some results: Dacia Duster won the overall awards. At best-buy category, the top models were Dacia Duster, followed by Volkswagen Passat and BMW 5 Series. For best design category, the first place was Mercedes- Benz CLS, followed by Audi A7 Sportback and Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

Photos from the event (see in full-screen):
Video recording of the event, via HotNews.ro:

Event coverage: HotNews.ro, ImpactNews.ro, WebPR.ro.

Contents:

Introduction + Photos
A. The words – parts of the speech by Jim
B. The behavior – what did Jim do that was really impressive?
C. Romanian Leadership vs. International Leadership panel

(top)

Introduction + Photos

This is his professional web site in English. Also in Romanian. Here is Jim BAGNOLA doing some trainings, filmed on YouTube. He also has a LinkedIn profile, a Facebook profile. In Romania he works closely with HPDI. Contact HPDI for details in seeing him live in Romania.

I’ve previously written about Jim here:

• Follow-up: how it was at “Leading change laugh crisis” workshop with Jim BAGNOLA? (Marriott Hotel Bucharest, 2010.11.24);
• 2010.06.04 Jim BAGNOLA, interviewed by Olivian BREDA;
• Trainings with Jim BAGNOLA in November in Cluj Napoca and Bucharest;
• My life learning experiences at a training with Jim BAGNOLA and Florin TALPEȘ, 2010.06.04, Radisson BLU;
• What I learned at Leading Teams with Jim BAGNOLA and Marius GHENEA, May 13th, 2008, UzinExport, Bucharest;
• Jim BAGNOLA – the best trainer I’ve seen;

Photos from the event (see in full-screen):
(top)

A. The words – parts of the speech by Jim

- Change is anything that is not included in our list of expectations;
- A thing on evolution: it’s going to get better, but first it has to get worse, before it gets better; the market tells us that what goes down has to get up;
- You should be thankful to change and new things;
- Travelling gets you ready for life;
- Let’s say you are upset by someone or something; it’s best to get the irritable state faster, because it does damage; don’t stay in the upset mindset for a long time; it’s human to be upset, it’s inhuman to yourself to continue to be upset;
- Change cycle: create, maintain, and destroy;
- Causes of change: people, technology, knowledge, competition;
- Sort of a joke: it is difficult to communicate with people with temporary insanity (in an argument, the pulse goes up, the attention span goes down);
- Things will permanently change in the future; solution – flow with it, and don’t resist it;
- If I anticipate that things will change, I will be more flexible;
- You have two options for change: realign or resist;
- In the current situation, if you’re not confused, you don’t know what’s going on;
- Quote by Mario ANDRETTI:
“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.”;
- Solution for decision-taking – do your best and consider it a success;
- Physiological change is quick, easy & natural: a person gets new skin once a month, the skeleton changes every 3 months, the DNA at the level of the atom changes every 2 months;
- Change is perceived as negative, because of our inability to predict & control it;
- If you don’t get plenty of sleep, you won’t adjust to the situations around you;
- Ask yourself:

• Do you get enough sleep?
• Do you rest enough?

You have to be prepared to play the game of change;
- YouTube video: Did You Know 2.0:

- Also: India has more honor students than the US has students;
- The most profitable companies in the US have women in top management or have a woman as a CEO;
- Recommended authors:

• William BRIDGES – speaker and author;
• John KOTTER – leadership and change;

- A change in the road is not the end of the road, unless you don’t take the curve;
- The world’s most powerful impulse: … to blame;
- If you’re going to make a change, you should change the way in which you talk to yourself;
- If you are faced with a difficult situation, ask yourself: what else can I do?
(top)

B. The behavior – what did Jim do that was really impressive?

- When someone says something, try to notice the positive part of what that person says;
- If something is said and done slower, you will remember it better (thus Jim never seemed to be in a hurry);
- All in all, it’s not only what Jim says, but also how it says it and his overall behavior;
- Jim constantly referred to what happened before that day – what X said, what Y did before;
- Jim empowered people to speak in groups;
- How to embrace the change? How about talking to someone you didn’t know at the conference?
- A good solution to listen good is not to interrupt while the other is saying and give verbal or body cues that you are listening;
- Although some affirmations the participants made were negative (“I don’t agree with this”, “This is wrong”), Jim always said a thing similar to “Yes, I agree with you”; also, in a lot of times, he also gave a personal example which made the affirmation of the participant, a negative one, even more stronger (“I see what you are saying, I also…”);
(top)

C. Romanian Leadership vs. International Leadership panel

The panel was composed of: Dan MOCANU, Silviu HOTĂRAN, Cătălin IONESCU, Radu MANOLESCU, Maria ȘANDOR, Jim BAGNOLA;

Maria ȘANDOR
- Solutions:

• Asking questions and listening to others;
• Looking for solutions;
• Learning from every aspect of life;

Silviu HOTĂRAN
- In a big company the only constant is change; you have to change;
- In leadership you have to lead by example;
- You have to have the ability to imagine a better future than today;

Dan MOCANU
- A new vision is linked to some risk;
- What makes a leader a leader is the ability to handle a risk;

Cătălin IONESCU
- Past discussion:

- What do you do? (was asked)
- I am CEO; (answered, and explained the position)
- And when will you start having a real job? (was asked again)

- It only takes a 15 minutes training to do a good job at time management:

• Have an agenda;
• Create a task list;
• Put priorities;
• Allocate resources;
• Implement;

That’s it;

Dan MOCANU
- in Romanian:

PERFORMÁNȚĂ, performanțe, s. f. Rezultat (deosebit de bun) obținut de cineva într-o întrecere sportivă; p. ext. realizare deosebită într-un domeniu de activitate. ♦ Cel mai bun rezultat obținut de un sistem tehnic, de o mașină, de un aparat etc. – Din fr. performance.

In English – definition of performance:

performance = 1a : the execution of an action b : something accomplished : deed, feat
2: the fulfillment of a claim, promise, or request : implementation
3a : the action of representing a character in a play b : a public presentation or exhibition (a benefit performance)
4a : the ability to perform : efficiency b : the manner in which a mechanism performs (engine performance)
5: the manner of reacting to stimuli : behavior
6: the linguistic behavior of an individual : parole; also : the ability to speak a certain language — compare competence 3

There are different definitions in these two languages for the same word;

Jim BAGNOLA
- A company has to align the needs of the manager and of the employee to match the needs of the client and satisfying them;
- You should let your customer be your guide;
- To evaluate performance, you should log everything that you do, and show what results did you get by doing those things;
- Instead of scaring the employee (make him fear something), we should be focusing on loving our customers;
- How does an employee think?

If you are competent and caring, then I trust you; be a good leader and I will follow you?

Radu MANOLESCU
- These two are different entities:

- Recommended author on different cultures: Geert HOFSTEDE;
- Romanians are a feminine society, unlike the Nordic societies, or the French one;
- Greeks are number one in avoiding uncertainty;
- Leadership is about tolerance;

Jim BAGNOLA
- The one thing that the customer remembers about the company – how you made me feel?

Radu MANOLESCU
- In the below formula:

V = Value for costumer;
R = Result;
Exp = Experience;
P = Price;
CA = Cost of Access;

Jim BAGNOLA
- The manager should be evaluated by the employees; he should receive feed-back from all of the employees, anonymously;
- Success is divided equally between the manager and employees;
- The center of the business should be the employee;

Dan MOCANU
- Success comes from a common goal, a plan to do a change and follow-up to implement & evaluate;

Radu MANOLESCU
- If you want to succeed as a company, you have to have space for mistakes; allow mistakes;

Silviu HOTĂRAN
- What you are living every day – this is your culture & values;

Credits for some pictures and for the camera go to Alice BOTNARENCO (site #1, site #2). She also did a conference follow-up.

________
Bottom line: yet another great performance of magic by Jim BAGNOLA, great training, and nice event organization by LEADERS Romania.

Below you can see some photos (in full-screen also) at Noapteș,  Curtea de Argeş Cathedral, Poenari Castle (only the road to it), Vidraru Dam, all in Argeș county.

Great news! He’ll be back in Romania this autumn.

There are two training courses – 17^th of November in Cluj-Napoca and 24^th of November in Bucharest.

He will launch his new book:
“How to Become a Professional Human Being”.

The course is addressed to managers and entrepreneurs who wish to bring a change in the organization they are part of.

Together with Jim BAGNOLA, the participants will identify the best attitudes and strategies for organizational change.

Main subjects:

• How to identify what we can control;
• What to do so that we use what we can’t control;
• Internal and external aspects of change;
• Ways to adapt to the new situations;
• Impact of change to the health of a person and of an organization;
• Methods on identifying blocking patterns;
• How to face unfulfilled expectations;
• Methods of eliminating the need for help;
• New methods on having a predisposition for ideas;

More details on
Jim BAGNOLA Romanian web site.

PS: I’ve also written about Jim here:

• Follow-up: how it was at “Leading change laugh crisis” workshop with Jim BAGNOLA? (Marriott Hotel Bucharest, 2010.11.24);
• 2010.06.04 Jim BAGNOLA, interviewed by Olivian BREDA;
• My life learning experiences at a training with Jim BAGNOLA and Florin TALPEȘ, 2010.06.04, Radisson BLU;
• What I learned at Leading Teams with Jim BAGNOLA and Marius GHENEA, May 13th, 2008, UzinExport, Bucharest;
• Jim BAGNOLA – the best trainer I’ve seen;

On 3rd of October, 2010, I went to Sala Palatului to see a concert by ABBA Generation. The event also contained the projection of “Mamma mia” movie.

What I liked about the event?

• The entertainers were very energetic, they involved the audience, good stage acting;
• Very nice singing; not the perfect copy, but a good interpretation;
• The sound was fine, everything was in place;
• One of the singers was especially good with audience emotions;

Some photos (see in full-screen):

The poster of the event (via):

The race was approximately 4 kilometers long. For each participant to the running, Petrom offered to create one meter of bicycle track.

The circuit places: Libertăţii boulevard, Calea 13 Septembrie, Izvor street, Naţiunile Unite boulevard, coming back to Constituţiei Square.

There were 6 age categories, both for women and men:

• 10-14 years;
• 15 – 18 years;
• 19 – 34 years;
• 35 – 44 years;
• 45 – 59 years;
• more than 60 years;

Most categories received 300, 200 and 100 liters of fuel by Petrom. There was also a sweepstake for all the participants.

In the square there were a lot of sport activities, and some artistic performances.

A few photos that I’ve taken (full-screen):
Some video that I’ve made: