Karev and his daughter at 2017 RI Convention

In 2019, it will be 20 years from the beginning of my GRSP year. It is not easy for me to summarize a year into short enough and easy to read text. Especially to make some order in a mountain of events, stories and connections. So I drew a picture.

In short, there is no doubt that GRSP year has changed my life and it laid the base for my journey over the last 20 years. I believe that each GRSP student’s year is special and so was mine, but our years are not unique. There are so many similarities. My GRSP year gave me four things: experiences, skills, relationships and new mindset.

Experiences are the most obvious outcome from a year abroad. It is one of the main motivators for applying to GRSP program. I heard about the program from a friend, who had heard it from another friend. I applied because it sounded cool to study abroad and at that time there were not many scholarships for doing that. Experience highlights of my year include: case-based education in small groups in Oglethorpe University (in Estonia I had only lectures with 100+ students); visiting management conference on Theory of Constraints in Tampa and meeting all the gurus from around the world; making a road trip with my host father Aadu, his son Mihkel and Mihkel’s friend to Chicago to check out a college for Mihkel; taking my first e-learning course from Washington State University on Theory of Constraints; and New Years Eve with fellow GRSP students in Key West Florida (change of millennia).

Skills are the second obvious outcome and motivation for a GRSP year. Although at my year the famous quote was “Do not let university intervene in your education,” I gained a lot from Oglethorpe University, Washington State University, and from lessons outside academic education. I personally am most proud of getting the hang of using Theory of Constraints problem solving tools, which changed how I see the world (more in mindset part). Yet several other skills turned out to be surprisingly beneficial in coming years.

I assumed that speaking English is so common that you cannot call it a skill any more. I have found that feeling confident in speaking English is much rarer than I had assumed. A year-long practice of English in Atlanta plus a course of “Public speaking” with video training led to working on job positions where half of communication was in English. I got opportunities to give lectures and conduct seminars in English and be a compere on 200+ delegates international conferences.

The second not so obvious skill is an ability to enjoy living abroad for a longer period. This has turned out to be my favourite way of travelling and I have looked for such opportunities. I have lived and worked three months in Switzerland, three weeks in Netherlands and a year in Phoenix (Arizona).

A course of entrepreneurship in Oglethorpe University had also an unexpected impact to my life path. I came back to Estonia with textbooks about entrepreneurship and innovation among others. Soon I found myself teaching fellow students in interdisciplinary TIK-TAK seminars about what I had learned on innovation and marketing in USA. After five years, I found myself in a team launching a nation-wide business plan competition Brainhunt in Estonia. Later I led establishment of the Idea Lab in University of Tartu with a purpose to help students form interdisciplinary teams and find clever solutions to intriguing problems. I helped also to form an entrepreneurship program NGAL (Network Globally, Act Locally), sponsored by Harry Huge-i Foundation (USA) and supporting cooperation between University of Tartu (Estonia), the College of Charleston and Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Intriguingly one of the student teams in TIK-TAK seminars formed a successful technology company and later invested successfully in several Estonian software start-ups. One of these investments has turned into a unicorn company (a start-up worth over 1 billion dollars). Since September 2018 these former students and current successful entrepreneurs have hired me to launch a start-up accelerator called Alpine House for building next Estonian unicorn start-ups. And it all started from two textbooks I brought back from USA.

As peculiar as it may sound my basic knowledge about manufacturing management was gained from courses in liberal arts Oglethorpe University and from a Washington State University e-course. Fifteen years later this knowledge led me to manage Competence Centre for Furniture Manufacturing in Estonia for three years. But this is too long story to tell here in detail. Ask me next time we meet.

Relationships are the benefits you do not anticipate when you apply to the GRSP program. Yet this is the core of GRSP and is emphasized in several ways in GRSP's PEACE mission statement. All GRSP host families are worth praises for their kindness, hospitality and commitment. But I was extremely lucky with my host family. Aadu and Kristi Allpere became like second parents to me. I have kept close contact with them and can’t express my gratitude enough for how much they have helped me. I was the first Estonian student they sponsored with their foundation and as they continued sponsoring Estonian students for plenty of years after me, I guess I was an okay student-son.

Relationships with dorm mates widened my understanding of Americans and increased my tolerance and understanding of people with different orientations.

Relationships with fellow GRSP students shrunk the world. If you know somebody from each continent, then the world becomes a really small place. I have been lousy at keeping up with these relationships, but from time to time I still contact fellows from my GRSP year. I believe that even if most relationships with dorm mates, GRSP fellows and Rotarians remained relatively brief, they were important as these relationships have created great memories to go back to.

Mindset change is something you do not anticipate nor recognize at a time and can track back only years later.

The biggest understanding and lesson for me was gratefulness. Nobody has to do anything for me. If somebody chooses to help me or spends their time on me then it is their gift to me and I am grateful for that. The second lesson I learned was that people cannot read my mind. I have to express my gratitude in words and deeds in a way another person understands the feelings in my mind and heart. I am enormously thankful to my host mother Kristi who took care of me and was a great teacher in learning to express my gratitude and appreciation.

Last year I listened a TED speech by Tina Seelig (a Stanford University professor) about how to be lucky as an entrepreneur. It turns out that my lessons in relationships are the cornerstone to being lucky. In her speech one of the three tips for being lucky is appreciation. At the end of each day she tries to send thank-you notes to all the people she had an encounter during that day.

Another big change for me came from learning the management concept called Theory of Constraints (or Constraints Management) formalized by physicist E. M. Goldratt. The concept was first introduced in a bestseller book “Goal”1 in 1984. Usage of visual thinking and problem-solving tools from Theory of Constraints has steadily spread from manufacturing to software development, health care, public sector and education. For example, in Malaysia problem solving tools from Theory of Constraints are mandatory part of curricula for all elementary school students. In Utah (USA) Kristen Cox has implemented principles of Theory of Constraints in budgeting and in different state departments with great success (see video).

My year in the USA enabled me to take Theory of Constraints courses and have talks with experts in the field in order to fully grasp the concept. From the year 2000 I look at the world with a different mindset. I believe that every situation can be improved significantly if you look for bottlenecks and opportunities for elevation long enough; conflicts between people can be solved if you clarify assumptions each side is making; all people are good as everybody is making intentionally the best decisions they see at a time. The only problem with these beliefs is that after embracing them it is very difficult to continue doing what most of us love doing - bitching and moaning about how bad a particular situation is. You can’t enjoy moaning about the situation any more, because you know that it is in your power to change it.

I thank you all for the life changing opportunity you gave me and I wish all the best to GRSP and Rotarians in changing the world to a more peaceful and better place for all of us, one person at a time.

PS! If you are interested in my full career path over last 20 years, then you can get an overview in my LinkedIn profile. Other great books to read about Theory of Constraints are “Management Dilemmas,” “Isn’t it Obvious” and “The Choice.”