As they say.... The World is IBM’s Classroom

I've been thinking of writing this post for quite sometime now... I need to document some of my experiences that I had over the past few months...

Being an IBMer gives me a great sense of pride because of the kind of work that our company is involved. Many of you would have seen adverts of IBM showcasing the Smarter Planet strategy. While I would reserve my discussions about the Smarter Planet strategy to some other day, I want to write about another initiative that IBM started last year called IBM Corporate Service Corps, which is a corporate version of the Peace Corps.

What is IBM Corporate Service Corps?

IBM Corporate Service Corps (generally called as IBM CSC) program is part of the Global Citizen’s Portfolio initiative announced by CEO Sam Palmisano last year (2008), to develop leadership skills while addressing socio-economic challenges in emerging markets.

The Corporate Service Corps initiative involves IBMers who can contribute valuable and much-needed skills, talent, and capabilities in emerging market countries and help make an impact in that country.

Through this program, IBM aims to train a new generation of truly global leaders by exposing them to diverse cultures, policy environments and different societal expectations, because this is the 21st context for business.

You can ask - What is the benefit for IBM to do such a program?

The Corporate Service Corps provides a triple benefit. IBM gains leaders with a broader range of skills that can function in a global context. The individual participant gets a unique set of leadership opportunities and development experiences. And thirdly, the communities get IBM’s best problem solving skills.

In plain simple terms, through Corporate Service Corps, IBM sends selected candidates in batches of 8-15 ppl (from various countries) to various growing economies and emerging markets like Ghana, Tanzania, Romania, Philippines, Vietnam, Brazil, China and such countries. This batch of selected members would be working in the country for a month with various NGOs or government organizations or any type of industries that require professional help. We primarily do business consulting services to these organizations and help them solve their issues and lead them to a path of growth. And all these are done free of cost.

Prior to departure, the selected IBM teams engage in three months of preparatory work to learn about their team members, local customs, culture, language, their project goals and the socioeconomic and political realities of their destination countries. After the in-country service, the team shares their experiences to their local communities and IBM teams.

More than 5,000 IBM employees applied to the program and only 100 were selected for the first set of participants to be deployed to various countries during the second half of 2008. IBM selected another 100 for the 2009 spring batch and and has committed to enabling 600 to participate over the next three years. It is one one of the most competitive employee programs ever created by the company.

Recently, Buisness Week magazine featured the IBM Corporate Services Corps program in its issue highlighting it as a Game Changing Ideas for Business
Business Week Article

More information about the program can be found on the IBM CSC website

So, why am I writing about the IBM Corporate Service Corps program in my blog?

I got the news of my selection to the IBM Corporate Service Corps program in November 2008 and joined 7 other IBMers from five countries around the world on a special assignment in Takoradi, Ghana as members of the IBM Corporate Services Corps program from February 20th to March 20th 2009.

More about my experiences working in Ghana and interacting with the local people - in the next few posts.

*The posts on this blog are my views and don't necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions...

RIP Michael Jackson...

Michael Jackson - The man who gave many a hits for us to enjoy... the man who entertained the people with his amazing dances.... the man who gave us the amazing "Moon walk" move.... the man famously known as "King of Pop"..... is no more today... Its very difficult to accept...
Even though his later part of the career was marred by lots of controversies n problems, the way he entertained the people will never be forgotten...
Some of the songs which has special place in my heart are - Heal the World, Black or White, Beat It and lots more....

Michael Jackson - You will be missed dearly!!!

May Your Soul Rest in Peace.....

A letter to Dhoni...

Dear Dhoni,

I am writing this after our T20 World Cup exit in England. You might be knowing very well that we all had high hopes in our team being the favourites to retain the cup we won in South Africa. But, the way we performed in the tournament was far from what any Indian cricket fan would have imagined. Having said that, we are definitely not blaming you guys and loosing faith on you. You were instrumental in many of the successes that our Indian cricket team has got in the recent years right from the first T20 World cup victory to wins against almost all the cricketing nations in the world.

But, the worrying factor for me as a fan is the way you are approaching the game nowadays. I know that you are trying to be more responsible being the captain and one of the senior most in the team. But, that doesn't mean you've to lose your power hitting ability and just try to hold on to one end. We would like to see more of the Dhoni-style sixers and your big hitting capabilities. I know that your responsibility as a captain makes you think twice to do all these, but I don't want you to become another Ganguly. I feel pity to see an amazingly gifted cricketer like Sourav Ganguly getting sidelined because of his loss of form after he got burdened with the Indian captaincy (though he got more wins for India than any other Indian captain). I don't want to see you, Dhoni, trying to do more things as a captain and losing your unique style of playing. We want India to do better in all forms of cricket and the key for that is not only your cool calm-headed captaincy but also your contribution with the bat. This I feel was an important reason for our loss in this T20 World cup.

Dhoni, the pressures of 2 billion people wanting the Indian team to win always and watching you perform well all the time is always high. But, you are capable of doing that and even more. Forget about the T20 loss. Sometimes its good to have a reality check and work on our weaknesses.
We have a lot of faith in you as the Indian captain and we would like to see you and our team perform well in every tournament that we play. I know you are working on your batting too and would be more than happy to see your unorthodox style of swashbuckling cricket.

All the best for your forthcoming tournaments. We are and will always be with our team. Lets rock the world!!!

-From an ardent fan of Indian cricket....

Hail King Federer!!!

Wohooooo.... atlast Roger Federer wins the French Open in his fourth attempt.... Federer conquers Roland Garros :))))) beating the giant killer - Swede Robin Soderling 6-1 7-6(1) 6-4
Am soooo happyyy.... What a way to complete a Career Slam and getting the cup from the hands of Andre Agassi (the previous person to achieve this feat of career slam). He also completed 14 Grandslam titles equalling Pete Sampras.... One title - two goals achieved....

Being a big fan of Federer, I always backed him to win this one even though his form was indifferent this whole year... and credit to Soderling for being the giant killer this year beating lots of seeded players including Nadal. It would have been a fitting final if Federer had beaten Nadal, but what the heck... he has achieved what he wanted the most... so, am fine whatever way it is... :)
Yesterday, I was so tensed to even watch the whole match... n started watching only half way into the third set when I knew that he would win it... I was doubly happy to see Andre Agassi giving the cup (my all time fav sports person)

On another note, am happy to see India starting its T20 World Cup campaign with a good victory over Bangladesh. Hoping that we do well in each n every match... All the best to our "Men in Blue" for their mission...

And in the F1 front, am amazed with the success that the new team Brawn has got... Jenson Button has been one of the veterans in the F1 racing circles and he wasn't getting his due till this year in the form of this new Brawn GP team. He has now won all the races this year except one. Am sad to see the Ferraris not doing well... not even near their best... but hoping they'll stage a comeback at sometime this year (no hopes to catch up with the Brawn GP though).

With all the sporting actions this year, am getting little time to write anything else other than sports in my blog :P
lets see.. probably next time... :)

Deccan Chargers - The new IPL Champions...

Deccan Chargers it is!!! The newly crowned IPL champions of 2009 in South Africa.

Deccan Chargers vs Bangalore Royal Challengers finals was one that was least predicted at the start of the IPL 2 season. But, these two teams which got the last two spots in the first IPL charged their way to the finals this time and the DC team has gone one more step ahead to win it, all thanks to some awesome leadership and batting by Gilchrist.

Am very much happy for Gilchrist who has been one of my favourite cricketers of all times.... but due credit should be given to Anil Kumble who inspired the Bangalore RC team to perform exceedingly well and taken them to the finals. Hats off to both Gilly and Jumbo....

Watching the closing ceremony, I felt how successful the IPL this year has become... Lalit Modi has become a global phenom of sorts for making it possible this year inspite of all the problems he had scheduling it in India.
Also, Thanks to the Rainbow nation - South Africa - for hosting our event there in such a grand manner and that too in such a short notice of less than 4 weeks. I came to know alot about South Africa only recently thro' a lovely friend - Carolyn from Johannesburg... And, I am impressed with what I saw (even though it is only thro' television) during the IPL tournament. Thank you Carolyn & Thank you SA!!! Hope to be there someday :)