Helga Law Journal - 01.01.2021, Page 6

Helga Law Journal Vol. 1, 2021
76
Mads Lorentzen
A New Member of the European family
that is ELSA
Mads Lorentzen
Secretary General of ELSA International 2016-2017
“If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn
paths of accepted success” By John D. Rockefeller, probably the wealthiest American of all
time.
In the Spring of 2017, a group of Icelandic law students did just that. They dared
to expand their horizon to lead the way for many more to come. In the year to
come the first part of the journey was taken with greater success than what could
have been expected.
As the Secretary General of ELSA, it was my task to welcome this dedicated
group of people, to guide them into a network of internationally minded law
students. Guiding someone can sometimes be a challenge. You might face
discouragement, a lack of skill and ultimately failure in bringing across the
essence of the journey. However, I did not meet those challenges when I began
my work with – the soon to be – ELSA Iceland. I met a group of people build
together with a dynamic that astonished me from our first meeting. Despite being
a diverse group from different places in their education and life they seemed to
work together as if they had been friends forever.
“You have to learn certain skills to present magic” By David Copperfield, world famous
illusionist.
Often the best athletes in the world makes the most difficult things seem as
simple as breathing. With such a grace they manage to show the most challenging
technical and physical aspects of their sport without breaking a sweat. For me,
this has always been remarkable. Something magical in a world where physics,
skills and talent is the core essentials. I cannot say that I have often witnessed
such magic in the “real” business world. When I arrived in Iceland in the early
summer of 2017, I immediately felt the group dynamic. These people had
managed to establish a team that was ready to travel on new paths. This is when
I realised that my task at hand would be much simpler than what I expected.
When you try to build a new association, you need to first have the ground
pillars at place. It is much like building a house. You start with the concrete and
build on from there. In a new association 99% of the success is based on the
people running the association. Until these people have managed to build a stable
foundation the association is at risk of immediate failure. When you have the
right people all they need is the knowledge and experience to succeed. This was