Client Experience: Value One – Dedication to Every Client’s Success

The March 2013 for The Greater IBM Connection is ‘client experience’.

In honor of the March theme focus on Client Experience, I thought it might be nice to post this link to an IBM Archives Web Site exhibit focused on classic stories of IBM client service. The company from its very beginning has made service a watchword for each and every IBMer. And when you do that, great things can happen. Enjoy!

• IBM Archives:  Value One – Dedication to Every Client’s Success

by Paul Lasewicz,
IBM Corporate Archivist

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Related links:

• IBM Our Values
• IBM Values At Work

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The March 2013 theme for The Greater IBM Connection is ”client experience”.

Greater IBMers on a new kind of frontier in Emerging Markets

Thanks to The Greater IBM Connection, I’ve had the opportunity to "meet" some pretty terrific people in the past several months. Two Greater IBMers that will stand out are Barbara and Oma Sewhdat. You can find their story at http://www.ibm.com/ibm/greateribm/connections/connections_article42.shtml . They came out of retirement to spend a year in rural China, teaching mainframe skills to a new generation of young Chinese.

To do that, they left the comfort of home, friends and family. They arrived in Shanghai, knowing only a handful tourist-book level Chinese words – and compensated by using gestures to communicate. They are the pioneers for Reach Out!, an IBM program to enlist retired IBMers for fixed-term jobs in emerging markets. You can learn more about this exciting new program at http://www-07.ibm.com/employment/asiapacific/reachout/index.html

Barbara and Oma now live in a village with few amenities and their life is largely circumscribed by the campus where they live and teach.  There have been adventures with phones, hot water and basic transportation. It’s not always been easy.

So why do they love it? They are making a difference in the lives of young people. Barbara and Oma know they are being changed, too. They like the change – and the memories that will last a lifetime.

I asked Oma whether he would recommend the program to others. His response was immediate: "Anyone who has the opportunity to do this, should seize it."

One of the exciting things, for me, in what Barbara and Oma are doing is that they are like a lot of other IBMers I’ve known through the years. People willing to put themselves on the line for something meaningful, something they believe in.

Who are some of those others? Do you have an experience to share? Please tell us.

Use the comment tool to tell us about Greater IBMers you know, or have known, who are putting their skills and knowledge to work making things better for others.

Comment now, before other demands distract you.

The story you share just may inspire someone who’s looking for ideas in their own life.

I’m Larry Phipps, a Greater IBMer and editor, The Greater IBM Connection

At the HEART of EXCELLENCE

I know that this is not the place to discuss politics, so I WON’T

However, one truth that has come up for me in watching the political process here in the United States is worth mentioning, because I learned its lesson at IBM.

From the time of hire, it was instilled in me that disparaging one’s competition wasn’t aligned with our values of excellence at IBM — and that selling based on the merits of the excellent products, services, and the brand that you offer is a differentiator that is hard to beat.

Over the years, especially since I founded my own business (now 17 years ago), I’ve learned that at the heart of EXCELLENCE —this long-held value and standard of conduct has proved its worth.

When you meet a competitor at the intersection of your differences, there is something that feels good inside to have built capability, know-how, and conviction in living up to the promise of IBM values at work. It still remains with me. In reflection, I see that striving to be one of the best — living up to the highest standards of excellence in all you deliver — speaks for itself.

I found a quote from Thomas J. Watson, Jr. written in 1968 that was passed down to me as a new IBM manager. He was talking about not disparaging other people, products, or services.

“We always will depend for our success upon the excellence of our own products, our own services, our own people. That’s basic.”  — Thomas J. Watson, Jr.  circa 1968

Related blog on Excellence

What’s at the heart of EXCELLENCE in your work and life?
What lessons have your learned?

Debbe Kennedy
Contributing Author
Greater IBM Connection
Founder, President & CEO
Global Dialogue Center and
Leadership Solutions Companies
www.globaldialoguecenter.com
IBMer 1970 – 1991 L.A.; Anchorage; Seattle; San Francisco