It’s a really difficult task to decide on what to write on in my first post for Laurea SID program. It has been 2 years since I first got in touch with the program and the outcomes were always beyond expectations on personal, communal and regional basis.

Should I write something about the activities I got engaged in, the knowledge I gained and shared, the initiatives I joined and started or the bonds that got created and  the ties that evolved? Or Moreover, about the fillings between all of that, which you can’t touch, measure yet you realize theme later when they express themselves  in this closeness between the SID groups and the overall community.

I made my choice and decided to start with something that represents all of this. It’s my learning diary for the Change Leadership & Service Culture course. Due to the nature of the topic and the sailors on board, this topic was very touching and transformational in many aspects. During this course I got exposed to volumes of knowledge that still shape my daily practices and thinking and for years to come. And also during this course I created a knowledge that I always value and feel proud of. I’ve met the most impactful people in my life and lived some dear moments. I would like to start posting the content of the diary one page at a time as is from the diary.

The diary takes the theme of flying. The following are the cover, Table of Life (traditionally called Table of Contents), intro cover then intro. I’ll post the content of the intro in text format for better readability. I’ll post the following diary moments in future posts.

And this is all what you need to know before you start jumping into some amazing 2010 SID moments ….

Title: Spread Your Wings and Read With Your Heart

Thanks for choosing to read this mmmmmm.. document and let’s just call it that. They expect this to be a report and I would say “just like any other thing in my life, these are moments to share, if you checked my resume it’s not that much different”. Welcome aboard the flight that took off with a very far destination in mind. Unfortunately, the moments I share here wouldn’t cover all the trip to the landing point as we’ve not gotten there yet, but these moments would get you ready for what to expect.
You’ll come across a vast blend of ideas, thoughts, reflections, situations, insights and more. You’ll meet gorgeous people on board, I’m not the pilot all the time, and here nobody is. Everyone you see here will sometimes by a flight attendant, captain, or a passenger. It depends on how you’re able to see them.
Remember names you’ll come across like Chris, Annemari, Rob, Ulla, Taria, Janne-Valteri, Mikko, Eyad, Hazem, Moneer, Salah, Richard, the little non-childish Adora, and more. Don’t worry about remembering them now they’ll pop out in time.

What is the flight about?

• Some of these moments are really in a flight.
• Chris (One of the pilots we have here) had us on board from Espoo to New Zealand and back to share some moments with us.
• During “the course” of these moments we all enjoyed “Southwest Airlines”.
• One of our starting points was “Life at 30,000 feet” with Captain Richard Branson.
• During these moments if your eyes needed to rest and looked down you’ll see some nice quotes made by a leader from the airlines industry in his book Moments of Truth.
• During these moments we were taught to fly over obstacles, above expectations, traditions, norms and poor cultures.
• We were prohibited from flying due to the volcano eruption but we never stopped flying our way.
• And finally, I always had to fly Doha-Istanbul-Helsinki to get to live many of these awesome moments and blends.

Chris (Evatt) told me to tell you “There’s no safety in playing it safe”, so there’s no safety instructions for this flight. No belts to fasten, feel free to jump out anytime for some nice fresh air and come back.
Mahmoud
DOH– 4/29/2010 18:39:38 PM
Page Footer: From The Moments of Truth, “Only the customer, and the customer alone, will pay our costs and provide our profits”