The greatest Chamber in the world

...at least that's our ambition.

Last night at the JCI London monthly council meeting we had a workshop with Sofie on branding, We analyzed the brand of the After Eight chocolate, then we looked at how we brand JCI London, and how we would like JCI London to be seen.

And it turns out JCI London's members are pretty ambitious! Which I like! Not only do we feel we live in the greatest city in the world, we also believe we are members of the greatest JCI chamber in the world (but to not sound too cocky, we modified it as "Becoming the greatest JCI Chamber in the world"). 

Next council meeting the 10th of May will be on membership - who our members are, how can we encourage them to be (and stay) active, how can we get more... All JCI London members are welcome. After the meetings we normally go to the pub for a pint of beer and some informal chatting.

New Directors (2)

Last week we were looking for two new directors, and this week we got them! yay!

Anne is adding to her engagements in JCI London and coming on the board with a full directorship, Anne is already local TOYP coordinator and Deputy Business Director, and now also new International Director. Too much? Anne is very efficient and has a work capacity beyond most people, and I'm trusting her to keep me up to date if something changes. Also Anne is very ambitious on behalf of JCI and wants to do as much as she can for the organisation in the years she has left as a member (membership ends at 40), something we always like!

Second new director is new member Timmy from Sweden. New to JCI and new to London Timmy made a strong impression on us already from day one, and is also ambitious in using his role as Strategic Partnership Director to build networks and visibility in London both for JCI and himself. I've had a meeting with Timmy already and I'm excited for the new push.

New Directors

This week has barely begun and I'm already on the hunt for two new directors. When we learned that two of our dear directors are leaving the council, Sarah (my deputy) and I talked about what our options are.

Martina is leaving her role as International Director because she is leaving London for Barcelona, while Tamas is leaving the role as Strategic Partnership Director because he wants to focus more on his job. Tamas and I have not had the best of communications, something we have both been aware of, and as the role is a new role taking upon itself things the President used to do earlier, I think that bad communication between the President and the Strategic Partnership Director, in addition to it being an entirely new role, made it a particularily difficult and time consuming role.

I have a council of almost 18 people, with 14 different nationalities, and I would be lying if I said that communication is not an issue. Its not normally been much of a problem though (at least not that I am aware..).Instead it is challenging and fun. I deal a lot with different styles of communication and cultures in my job, and what I learn in JCI I can use in my day job, and vice versa.

I have already several people showing interest for both director roles, so the option Sarah and I discussed if we did not get anyone interested does luckily not seem to be relevant. Instead we have a different challenge; how to select the new directors from all the interested applicants! Luckily there are lots of other great opportunities to get involved, so I hope I will not leave anyone hanging...