The paths of sustainability

Being part of an international organisation since I entered university has challenged my personal and professional perspectives for so many times.

The challenges brought me questions and one good way I found to answer those questions was based on looking at others' experiences!

My personal interest on sustainability grew despite of my university course (environmental engineering). When I started to deliver results inside AIESEC, I noticed those results brought me personal development and showed myself that we are capable of impacting things that are relevant for society.

By marriage, some issues of my personal interest started to come up:

- People development
- Consulting, developing, coaching
- Management in the 3º sector
- Cooperation between companies and NGOs
- Sustainability in companies
- Corporate Social responsibility
- Social Entrepreneurship

Sharing experiences is a good source of making things more comfortable and gaining confidence. Today I was taking a look at the blog of a person who I admire for its personal continuous search for self discovery and development.

And guess what?

I found we have lots of professional and personal doubts in common! That's why I share a bit of his thoughts on this post (promesing I'll tell him about it =P). His name is Henrique Vedana, he was president of AIESEC in Brazil some years ago.

"(...)Esses últimos meses foram muito bons, posso claramente chamar esse período de "Planejando o Futuro". Várias dúvidas, perguntas, expectativas, afinal não voltaria a carreira de programador nem a pau, mas quem iria contratar um cara para trabalhar com algo que não existe (sustentabilidade), formado em Computação e com experiência "profissional" numa organização estudantil chamada "AIESEC"??? Pois nessa hora é preciso auto-confiança, bons amigos, contatos e conselhos..."

"(...)Em julho voltei pra Porto Alegre. Alguma coisa podia pintar a qualquer hora. Proposta para tocar projetos sociais fantásticos em Floripa (na Ilha da Magia), quase-entrevista às 22:30h para trabalhar com Relações Corporativas defendendo o Planeta Terra (afinal Pequim está 11 horas a frente do Brasil) e 3 entrevistas com o banco Holandês."



"(...)As random as life can be...When I arrived in Amsterdam and started to get involved with sustainability reporting, I ended up investigating more about GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) and I found out they are based in Amsterdam. “Nice place to work when my internship is over” - I thought - “and it’s on Keizersgracht, by the downtown canals!'"

"I understood much better the role of international NGOs after being inside a multinational corporation."

"(...)Kaos Pilots: Where will I get money from? I'm working on it, but the answers didn't arrive yet. If you know the solution, write me, I need "only" €30,000 for the next 2,5 years!"

"GRI Global Conference on Sustainability and Transparency: The conference was an incredible experience and the team I worked with was something remarkable. Since my AIESEC time I didn’t feel so excited and committed in a team as during those 6 months preparing for the event. The event itself was a surreal experience for me, being in close contact with over 120 key influential people in the world of sustainability reporting, from business, civil society, academia and governments."