“Life can be understood only backwards but it must be lived forward”. Some experiences are life changing and defining. They leave a mark on you in way that, you begin to only LEAP thereafter. One such beautiful experience that happened to the 11 willing enthusiats was the oikos LEAP Advanced Mid-term Meeting.
To start with this experience, we all had a choice to take this up or not! And I guess, a YES and then, it all started on 14th March 14.00 hours, in Lille; one of the cool places we all had known. An amazing house filled with hopes awaited the future responsible leaders!
The 2 day intense program designed for the culturally diverse leaders was made of simple exercises & methodologies to have a better understanding of each other & ourselves. It enabled us to learn different features, traits and habits of responsible leaders and how they can impact the chapter members and the society as a whole. We were challenged to explore the depth of our characters, break our boundaries, re-live the challenges & the happy times we had before LEAP happened to us. A break of true human emotions and getting out of our comfort zone while cooking, eating, cleaning and dancing together helped us overcome the cultural barriers. A realization that we have had similar experiences but the way we handled it, is what made us different. We could easily pour in our inhibitions and feel comforted with a new energy to move forward.
Lisa summaries it for all of us, “LEAP has been a mind-changing process that led me not only to a new definition of leadership, but also to a completely new definition of myself”.
Just 2 days, and strangers became friends, individuals became a knit family and leaders became responsible leaders; ready to contribute their bit towards the society to transform it for a more sustainable way of life. It’s great to have a companion across the continent that we can trust on forever.
If you think you need time for reflection, if you believe you are passionate about un-learning, learning & growing together, LEAP is something that you must experience.
We are the first and believe me, we LEAP together!
Written by: Bhakti Khot and Vusal Abasov
