remebering csc days
Sitting at my desk back in my office during my lunch break, I started to reminisce about my month long stay in Ghana with my 10 IBM colleagues – now my close friends. One week ago we were in Accra, the capital, preparing for our press conference, dressed in our business best (and the ladies looked amazing). Our goal for the press conference was to state what we had achieved for Ghana and our clients during our short stay. Five of us summarized the projects we worked on and the tangible deliverables in addition to the intangible short, medium, and long-term goals we left for our Ghanaian colleagues to achieve. It was the three client’s statements that really made us all realize the positive impact we had made – how much we had done for them in 16 working days, how we’ve shown them that when focused on a common set of goals, great things can be accomplished in a very short time. We all hope the excitement and drive we were able to share continues and the pace of success remains steady.
29 days earlier eleven of us from all over the world landed in Accra – all IBMers but strangers nonetheless. We came from very diverse cultural and business backgrounds yet we all shared similar interests: the love of travel, the openness to new cultures, the joy of laughter and friendships, and the love of family and friends back home. Though our business skills were also diverse, we have core similarities there as well: we are all driven to achieve, we all have excellent problem solving skills, we all have great soft skills, and we all have excellent time management skills. We work hard, and we play hard – I guess that’s the IBM way.
As the working days passed, the eleven of us became as close as family. We leaned on each other for support and wisdom; we celebrated each others’ successes and embraced each others’ challenges. We shared outstanding experiences touring Ghana and learning about its people and the growing economy. We realized how special this program was to us and our clients. Many of us shared stories where our clients first realized we were strangers when we started this assignment; they thought we had been working together for years. I don’t know how our team mates were selected, but I commend whomever it was that put the 11 of us together – it was perfect.
As my last post to this blog, I just want to let anybody that is considering joining the IBM Corporate Service Corps know that they absolutely should do it. You will grow in many ways, both personally and professionally. On the professional side, how often do you get the chance to work on a two or three person team where your project deliverables will help shape a growing economy? How often do you get the business opportunity to lead such positively impacting projects? How often do your clients become great friends where they start telling you they’ll miss you 5 days before the project is over? It’s a life-changing experience, do it, and thank IBM while you’re at it.