Alpha Leadership Bootcamp

Hi there again! During my absence I have been to a bootcamp called Alpha Leadership, an experience that I consider worth shharing with you. It lasted seven days and it concerned leadership inside our inner selves. We had ten trainers (3 of them were british) with whom we did both intensive training and individual coaching sessions, but also outdoor activities as you should see further on.

Day 1 - The arrival

After spending some four hours on a bus trip from Bucharest to Sibiu through some beautiful places such as the Olt Defile we finally reached Sibiu, from where one of the trainers took us to the place where the bootcamp was going to take place, the Sibiel Guesthouse, a really nice place up in the mountains near the village of Sibiel.

In the same evening, the first training started at about 7:30 PM. We met the trainers and the organizers, Andy Szekely and Dan Luca, two very inspiring persons who made a concice but impressive presentation of the whole Alpha Leadership Bootcamp concept, how was it born, its mission and of course some details about what was going to happen in the next seven days. Moreover they talked about the "instruments" that we would use in the next few days and what effect each and every one of them might mave.

Day 2 & 3 - Training: Anticipation & Alignment

We got up at 6:30 and went to the morning streching. There we were taught both exercises for our body, but also for the mind to get focused. We were advised to set an intention for that day and in the evening to see if it came true or not.

Before the training could start, the trainers told us about alpha leadership. The term was coined with reference to the alpha pair that lead a pack of wolves. It implies having a well balanced inner self so that, when facing a decision to be made, the decision can be objective and calmly taken. Andy, the trainer of day 2, in order to illustrate the whole concept, quoted Mark Twain: "Before negotiating with others, finish negotiating with yourself"

The training was about the cycle that every α leader would pass through when dealing with a situation, and these are Anticipation, Alignment and Action (the 3A's). This means that when dealing with a difficult situation, we do not have to be taken aback by its effects, in contrary, we have to anticipate potential problems. Consequently, we have to align with the cause and with ourselves, by accepting the problem, by finding inner values that will help deal with the situation and by finding a solution that would involve minimum effort but maximum results. Only after that, the third step, the action itself.

Some of us in the middle of the training session

I particularly liked one of Andy's examples reffering to the 3 A's. He mentioned a martial artist. He anticipates the opponent's strike, he grabs the rivals fist just before hitting, and after that continues the movement of the opponent's arm into his own advantage. The action represents just the final part, that of the knock out. I liked this example, because the 3A's implied here do not refer to leadership upon other, but to leadership within ourselves.

We also had what was called a FLEX time (flexible time, free time) in which many of us using the help of a specialist in osteopathy enjoyed literally bone cracking sessions. It was great because it straightened up the body and it renewed the energetic level of the whole organism.

Enjoyable, ha? :))

In the evening we meditated in order to relax our bodies, but also to maintain our focus.

At 12:00 PM, after 18 hours of intense trainings we finally went to bed. And this happened daily.

We also learned some NLP techniques of getting rid of bad habbits, photoreading & speed reading techniques, we learned how to set values, and we were tought about the neurological levels of human mind, and how a shift in one of them could affect the others.

Day 4 : Outdoor

In this day, we got outside, gathered into teams and started doing activities, variating from building a village to carrying logs on your back while crossing a river on a rope. All in all we had lots of fun, but besides, we have learnt how important teamwork is, because all tasks were impossible to do without the involvement of the whole team. Here, pictures tell you more than the words :)

Just playing a game

Crossing the river

Jumping over a rope

Through the net

To Be Continued