Good question 😊

English, Swiss and Macedonian lined up to show off their skills at archery. They were to shoot the apple off a young boy’s head. The English moved 100 m off, drew his arrow back, shot, hit the apple clean from the boy’s head, and said, “I am from England, I am Robin Hood!”. The Swiss moved 200 m off, drew his arrow back, shot, hit the apple of the boy’s head, and proudly said, “I am from Switzerland, I am William Tell!”. Faced with a great challenge, the Macedonian replaced confidently the apple with a strawberry on a boy’s head.  He moved 500 m off. Deeply concentrated he almost stopped breathing. The air was full of tension. There was absolute silence among the audience. He drew his arrow back, shot, and… hit the poor boy right in his eye, who then proceeds to drop dead. The desperate guy looked at what he had done, took off his hat, and whispered, “I am from Macedonia, I am sorry.”

My name is Aleksandar or Alek shortly, and I am not sorry, but very proud to be born and live in Macedonia, what is now officially recognized as North Macedonia. However, I consider the world my home or as ancient Romans would say Ubi bene ibi patria. (Your homeland is where you feel good).

Who am I?

Can I define myself an expert because of working in the field of in economic development as a team leader and consultant for more than 25 years? My main field of expertise is SME support and entrepreneurship (SME clusters) and Local/Regional Development. I’ve been mainly focused on project management, capacity building, and facilitating strategic processes.

Maybe I can proudly describe myself as a trainer, facilitator, or moderator since I have provided more than one thousand workshops and facilitated countless group events for more than ten thousand people on topics related to personal and organizational development. My international career includes designing and delivering training programs and presentations, for companies, public institutions and NGOs in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, BiH, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Croatia, Jordan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, and USA.

Or am I a high level intellectual because of my degree in Economics, and MBA and PhD titles? With my 16 years of age, I am the youngest person ever who enrolled university studies in my country. That might sound impressive, but doesn’t tell anything about my intellectual capacity.

Maybe I see myself as an entrepreneur because I used to successfully run a night bar when I was 22 and have started few other businesses (not so successfully).

Or can I call myself a writer, because of that one book that I have written? “He is a writer”, my youngest daughter proudly said, when asked recently what your father’s profession is.

I am also a father of four amazing daughters, a husband, son, brother, friend…

But these all are just labels which only partially describe me. Very often we use those labels not only to tell the world who we are, but also to create our identities.

Sometimes we add an extra label, our company that we own, or work for. When being fired, losing our identity is bigger problem than losing a job.  We get so attached to our positions, titles and functions, that we even have our ranks and academic abbreviations engraved on our gravestones.

So, who am I?

I am not these labels.

Besides my educational and professional background, I have many other fields of interest. I feel blessed because of my curiosity and grit for continuous learning. Reading is one of my main passions. Literature that inspires me – biographies of successful people, personal development books, psychoanalysis.

I am a nature lover and sport enthusiast. Football, skiing, swimming, you name it. I love traveling, especially visiting not so touristic, off the beaten path places. The less I know about the country, the more tempted to explore it I become. I enjoy meeting the locals, learning their customs, trying their traditional food, sharing a meal with them, listen their stories.

Backgammon is another thing that makes my eyes sparkle. I see it not only as a game, but as a philosophy, a leadership tool, an instrument for learning life skills.

But there is a dark side of my moon too. Sometimes I am a difficult person. Getting too emotional. Vulnerable. Moody. Inpatient. Feeling miserable. Catching myself not walking my talk, not practicing what I am preaching about at my communication skills training.  

Did I answer the question, who am I?

I am not sure. Probably there are still many aspects of my personality that reside in my unknown, unconscious part, waiting to surprise me when least expected.

However, I am positive of one thing, I am someone who continuously tries to improve himself, to become a better person, someone who tries to inspire others to fully use their potential.

The key word is TRYING.