Why hire someone who has been a Scout?

The same as “proficiency” validates a high level of English language knowledge, to find that a person has been a Scout in a personal CV guarantees that the person has essential skills to deal with the current job market. These are the ten strengths you will find when you hire someone who has been a Scout. And it doesn’t have to do with any commercial traits associated or with the very ‘old fashioned’ and wrongly stereotyped image of young kids selling cakes.

They know how to work in teams – They might have 15 years of experience of working in teams, always applying respect for others as a transversal value. Setting up a tent or organizing a summer camp for 200 participants as a volunteer is part of their experience. The Scout way of learning is by nature cooperative and project based.

They are creative – They have spent many years finding innovative solutions in adverse situations. They have been asked to fix up roofs under unexpected heavy storms, come up with a ‘Vikings’ theme and a full programme to inspire 100 kids during 15 days; or to set up a fundraising campaign to cover the expenses of a refugee camp in Syria.

Will stand for his or her values and their word can be trusted – They are used to planning and carrying out activities using Scout values as the primary framework (something similar to the ‘code of ethics’ we refer to in the professional world). This fosters the need to believe in the aim of the projects they take part of, aligning these goals with his or her interest and passions. Truth, nobility, justice, solidarity and their word being trusted are non-negotiable values in their framework of action.

Know how to lead and how to be lead – They have been practicing since the age of six how to take decisions and work on more than one project at a time. In some of the cases, they are the leaders, in others, others lead them. When leading, they practice consensus, trusting the team, putting themselves in other people’s position and being consistent with their decisions. When led, they work with the team respectfully, promoting consensus and cohesion.

Has empathy for others – The same as an enterprise, there are all kinds of young people and adults in a Scout group. All of different ages, skills and interests. Empathy is a key factor to achieve coexistence and mutual support. A Scout has learnt that not everybody has to carry the same weight in their backpack, but it is better to distribute the weight based on each individuals capacities. They are aware that the best excursion is not the one that brings them furthest, but the one where everybody in the team can reach the goal together.

Values effort – From very early stages in a Scout’s life, activities are oriented for Scouts to be able to stand for themselves, to overcome their limitations even when all strength has gone. To smile when facing difficulties and to make all efforts to achieve what is set as a goal.

Knows how to set goals and how to evaluate them – Starting at six years of age, they practice how to set up personal and team goals, to monitor and assess them and to receive constructive feedback. Therefore, any Scout with manage smoothly when entering the labor force.

Is generous – To ‘give’ and to ‘share’ are some of the most often used verbs in the life of a Scout. The remaining water in the bottle doesn’t belong to the owner but to the one who is more in need. A volunteer educator is willing to invest up to 1000 hours in a Scout, dedicated to educating them to become better individuals.

Advocates against injustice – With the motto “to leave this world a little better than you found it”, Scouting’s pedagogy is based on encouraging young people to be able to understand their potential and apply it to improve their environment. Being brave to solve and face the challenges without ignoring any injustice, always taking action to change it in a positive way.

Is a resourceful person – They have extensive experience of turning meetings into a more dynamic space, coming up with activities to solve conflicts, to speak in public or to find out the cheapest service to rent a van. They are adventurous and dynamic, used to addressing problems of various sizes and shapes.

Aren’t these all the skills we are looking for in people to be incorporated in our work teams?

• If you have been a Scout and Scout educator, include it in your CV and talk about it during your job interview.

• If you are looking for talent, don’t miss the competitive advantages of being a Scout.

• If you are a parent aiming to educate your children with essential life skills: encourage your kids to join Scouting, even if this results in early wake-up calls during weekends.

Original article published on Forbes.es: Por qué contratar a una persona que haya sido scout.
Author: Ana Sáenz de Miera, Director Spain and Portugal and Co-Director Ashoka Europe.

Scout Founder's day

Robert Baden Powell

February 22, 1857 - January 7, 1941

Nearly all National Scout Associations throughout the world are celebrating Founder’s Day or World Thinking Day today in remembrance of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement, and his wife, Olave Baden-Powell, founder of Girl Guide movement. Coincidentally, the husband and wife team both share February 22 as their birthday.

Robert spend much of his life encouraging the growth of the movement and inspiring others to help train youths in responsible citizenship, character development and self reliance.
In honor of Founder’s Day, let’s take a look at how these famous former boy scouts are related to Robert Baden-Powell. And make sure to check how you’re related too!

Happy BP's day.
Happy Founder's day for all scouts.
Happy Thinking day for all guides and girl scouts.

His Life
Lieutenant General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, (22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, author of Scouting for Boys which was an inspiration for the Scout Movement, founder and first Chief Scout of The Boy Scouts Association and founder of the Girl Guides.

He was born as Robert Stephenson Smyth Powell in London on 22 February 1857. BP was the youngest of 7 children. His father died when he was 3 years old and his mother subsequently changed the name of her children to Baden-Powell.

BP was awarded a scholarship to Charterhouse, a prestigious school. He first was acquainted with scouting skills through stalking and cooking games while avoiding teachers in the nearby woods. He also played the piano and violin, was an ambidextrous artist, and enjoyed acting. Holidays were spent on yachting or canoeing expeditions with his brothers.

In 1876, BP went to India with the rank of lieutenant. He enhanced his scouting skills in the early 1880s in Natal in South Africa, where his regiment had been posted. During his travels, he came across a large string of wooden beads, worn by the Zulu king Dinizulu, which was later incorporated into the Wood Badge training programme of Scouts.

BP returned to Africa in 1896 to aid the British South Africa Company colonials under siege in Bulawayo during the Second Matabele War. Many of his later Boy Scout ideas took hold during this war. It was during this campaign that he first wore his signature Stetson hat and scarf.

A few years later he wrote a small manual, Aids to Scouting, to help train recruits. Using this and other methods he was able to train them to think independently, use their initiative, and survive in the wilderness.

BP returned to South Africa prior to the Second Boer War and was engaged in further military actions against the Zulus. By this time, he had been promoted to be the youngest colonel in the British Army. He was trapped in the Siege of Mafeking, and surrounded by a Boer army, at times in excess of 8,000 men. Although wholly outnumbered, the garrison withstood the siege for 217 days. Much of this is attributable to cunning military deceptions instituted at BP’s behest as commander of the garrison.

During the siege, a cadet corps, consisting of boys below fighting age, was used to stand guard, carry messages, assist in hospitals and so on, freeing the men for military service. BP was sufficiently impressed with both their courage and the equanimity with which they performed their tasks to use them later as an object lesson in the first chapter of Scouting for Boys. The siege was lifted in the Relief of Mafeking on 16 May 1900. Promoted to major general, BP became a national hero.

On his return from Africa in 1903, BP found that his military training manual, Aids to Scouting, had become a best-seller, and was being used by teachers and youth organisations. BP decided to re-write Aids to Scouting to suit a youth readership. In August 1907 he held a camp on Brownsea Island to test his ideas. The first book on the Scout Movement, BP’s Scouting for Boys was published in six instalments in 1908, and has sold approximately 150 million copies as the fourth best selling book of the 20th century.

Boys and girls spontaneously formed Scout troops and the Scouting Movement started inadvertently, first in the UK and soon internationally.

In January 1912, BP met Olave Soames. She was 23, while he was 55 and they shared the same birthday, 22 February. They became engaged in September of the same year, causing a media sensation due to BP’s fame. They married in secret on 31 October 1912. The Baden-Powells had three children, one son and two daughters.

In 1920, the 1st World Scout Jamboree took place and BP was acclaimed Chief Scout of the World. Baden-Powell was created a Baron in 1929 and is often referred to as Baden-Powell of Gilwell. By 1922 there were more than a million Scouts in 32 countries; by 1939 the number of Scouts was in excess of 3.3 million.

At the 5th World Scout Jamboree in 1937, BP retired from public Scouting life. 

22 February, the joint birthday of Robert and Olave Baden-Powell, continues to be marked as Founder’s Day by Scouts. 

In 1939, BP moved to a cottage he had commissioned in Nyeri, Kenya, near Mount Kenya. He died on 8 January 1941 and was buried in Nyeri, Kenya. 

His gravestone bears a circle with a dot in the center which is the trail sign for “I have gone home”. Kenya has declared BP’s grave a national monument.

Baden Powell's Last Message
BP prepared a farewell message to his Scouts for publication after his death. His advice of “try and leave this world a little better than you found it” is as relevant -if not more- today and continues to inspire young people all over the world.

He said:

Dear Scouts,
If you have ever seen the play Peter Pan you will remember how the pirate chief was always making his dying speech, because he was afraid that possibly, when the time came for him to die, he might not have time to get it off his chest.
It is much the same with me; and so, although I am not at this moment dying, I shall be doing so one of these days, and I want to send you a parting word of goodbye.
Remember it is the last you will ever hear from me, so think it over.
I have had a most happy life, and I want each of you to have a happy life too.
I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life.
Happiness doesn't come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in career, nor by self-indulgence.
One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful, and so can enjoy life when you are a man.
Nature study will show you how of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy.
Be contented with what you have got, and make the best of it; look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one. But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people.
Try and leave this world a little better than you found it, and when your turn comes to die you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not waste your time but have done your best.
"Be Prepared" in this way, to live happy and to die happy; stick to your Scout Promise always- even after you have ceased to be a boy- and God help you do it.

Your Friend
Baden-Powell

Do Not Text Your Ex "Happy Birthday"

At least once a year, something terrible happens when you wake up in the morning of your ex's birthdays. When it is supposed to feel like it's going to be a good day, but then you see it as crisis and you need a plan for how to move forward. 

Wll here is that plan: Do not dare send a "happy birthday" text!!

If you think sending a "happy birthday" text to someone you once dated/boned/were in love with seems perfectly normal, you are wildly out of sense. Such message won't prove that you are "nice" but are actually it's a terrible proof of your "kindness". These texts are not at all about wishing happiness to someone as they're about playing with that muddy emotions. The true secret behind every happy birthday text from an ex is: Look at me, I'm so careless that I can wish you a "happy" day and it's totally fine!

There's no such kind "happy birthday" text when ex is involved. Mostly because an ex can never just say "happy birthday" and leave it at that. A birthday text from an ex always comes with a side of something horrible like: "...and I hope you're doing well,..." or, "I know it's been a while since we talked but..."; what kind of reply are you expecting? a simple "Thanks"? or another horrible reply "Thanks...I am fine... keep in touch...".

I can understand the motive behind saying happy birthday to an ex, especially for the serious one who you experienced at least one birthday with. Is it a moral thought? If you don't say happy birthday, will they think you're being salty and are secretly wishing they have an unhappy birthday? But then again, if you do say happy birthday, they might not respond, or worse, they might respond with that cold "Thanks". 

This would all be much easier if there was just an established rule for this situation. And that rule should be: Just don't send the damn text.

Throw your phone for 24 hours if you must. Because the actual best birthday present you can give to any ex is to leave them the hell alone. No texts, no e-cards, no flower arrangements, no nothing. Just let them enjoy their special day the way they want to - completely without you. It is a one day a year that should not be ruined by the blast from the past.

There are very few exceptions to this rule. If you and your ex are mature enough and who are honestly still friends, sure! send the text. And by "friends," I mean this ex must be someone you interact with at least few times a month with zero drama. Like, if they texted you out of nothing for an advise. But if that isn't the situation between you and your ex, or if you are unsure, Don't send it! Don't.

You know that: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?" don't you?

If you can't say, "Happy birthday," to an ex without actually meaning: "Happy birthday, you f** b** I hope your cake tastes like a s**," then don't say anything at all. 

If you're very lucky, your ex will return the same favor to you.

Keep them alone and continue your life like any other normal person.

Keep Walking... Keep Smiling