Bradley Gunawan – XLFL B5 Jakarta – Founder AMM (Anak Muda Mengajak)

Bradley majored in Green Economy at Surya University and currently working at OTP Institute, a human capital development company focusing on communication and leadership. He is also running AMM (Anak Muda Mengajak), a youth empowerment community that he and his friends started a few years ago, focusing as a platform for youths to create, collaborate, and contribute for others. Lastly, his XLFL SIP (Social Innovation Project) team has also been continuing to develop the project, JALAJAH, a traveling consultation platform.

AMM (Anak Muda Mengajak)

The background of AMM is basically from Bradley’s thought about education and people development. These two are important in many different ways. Technology and many kinds of advancement might not be optimal if the ones using them are not adequately empowered. That’s why he and his friends established AMM as a platform for aspiring youths to access development opportunities. They feel that program development, especially related to soft skills and networking opportunities, are not widely accessible for many people yet. They also observe that a lot of professionals and more experienced individuals (even to the extent of C-Level & Founders) are actually more than willing to share their knowledge and experience. Hence, they see an opportunity there.

Tips & Tricks on How to Balance Work

Bradley’s biggest challenge was when he was still working as a project intern at BCG (Boston Consulting Group) last year. At that time, he was still working on OTP Institute, AMM, and JALAJAH too. In some very busy weeks, he had to work as much as 80-90 hours per week for all his activities at that time. In order to manage this kind of schedule, he suggests us know and manage our energy level and cycle.

Everyone has a different energy cycle with different ways to energize and differentiate things that make us feel drained. Bradley thinks it’s very important to be aware of and leverage that to the fullest extent. But most importantly, do not let ourselves judge that all types of work are draining, we have to embrace the fact that some works are indeed refreshing/reenergizing. He thinks this is one of the common pitfalls about energy management, especially related to work. In his opinion, there’s no such thing, in the sense that some works are draining but some works are energizing, and we have to find the balance between the two.

Opinion about Women Role in His Team

There are a lot of women in my team! He thinks there’s no difference between men and women in terms of teamwork, organizational role, and leadership. The differentiating factor is not the gender, but actually the merit of each individual. He doesn’t agree with the stereotyping that exists in the society in which people like to think that men are usually more assertive and rational, and women are more compassionate and meticulous, because we can always find compassionate and meticulous men as well as assertive and rational women. So, the most important thing is to see people based on how they really are, and not letting our gender prejudice clouds our objective judgment!

Powerful impact of XL Future Leaders

First, XLFL expands his knowledge and perspective: Coming from a new university has certainly made it less easy and convenient to access the information and opportunities out there. Being part of XLFL has made him open his eyes to a lot of different things that he might not know otherwise, especially related to job opportunities and other people’s perspectives on many different issues.

Second, XLFL establishes a positive network: he likes to describe XLFL as a support system that is ‘ambitious but collaborative’. Meeting with XLFL friends/mentors has always been refreshing but constructive for him. Also, he has actually been working with some XLFL friends in his non-XLFL projects too, so this says a lot on how meaningful the connections they’ve built here.

Last, XLFL builds a better self-confidence: Even though everyone is outstanding in their own ways, everyone is still so humble that they actually motivate and empower each other even more through the healthy and constructive criticism culture in XLFL. This has helped him build a better perspective on himself too.

Advice for XLFL batch 7, batch 8 and coming awardees

First, opportunity is abundant, but learning something out of it is a matter of choice. All of us are in the same XLFL program, but whether we actually get something out of it is entirely our choice. If we don’t utilize the opportunity to the fullest extent, then there’s no one else to blame for it.

Second, what we do now matters. Life is a series of encounters and relationship building. Who we meet today might become somebody really important in our life in the future, and thus how others perceive us now might become extremely crucial in our life much later on. For him personally, some of his friends from middle school and high school have now become some of his important project partners because of how they perceived him during those school times. So, never underestimate any little action we’re taking right now.

Last, being in XLFL with many outstanding individuals might be harsh on our psychological well-being. It’s always important to take a step back from social media and hearing other people’s success stories. Just constantly remind ourselves that people’s lives are so much more than just what’s there in social media, and that people’s success is achieved after a long journey and perhaps a series of failures that we’re just oblivious about.