April Roundup – What We Were Talking About

In this issue:

• Best of the Blog: Your Top Five for April
• IBM Research Makes History with the World’s Smallest Movie
• Join the Conversation

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The Best of the Blog: Your Top Five for April

For the month of April, here are the five most popular posts on The Greater IBM Connection blog:

1. 50 Years of Innovation: IBM Honors 2013 Fellows
2. Just for Fun: Vintage Social Networking
3. Video Tour: Capturing the Character of the IBM Brand
4. 1st Quarter 2013 Earnings: How Did IBM Do?
5. 10 Things Extraordinary People Say Every Day

Thanks for visiting and thanks for your comments on the blog, as always.

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IBM Research Makes History with The World’s Smallest Movie

Scientists at IBM have created the world’s smallest stop-motion film. The extraordinary 90-second breakthrough, titled “A Boy and His Atom“, stars carbon atoms that were moved by a scanning tunneling microscope.

The Guinness Book of World Records has certified this breakthrough feat, a showpiece for IBM’s work in data storage solutions based on single atoms. Learn more and see the film now!

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Stay connected with The Greater IBM Connection by:

• Joining the The Greater IBM Connection LinkedIn Group
• Liking The Greater IBM Connection on Facebook
• Following @greater_ibm on Twitter: https://twitter.com/greater_ibm
• Following the The Greater IBM Connection blog
• Bookmarking the The Greater IBM Connection portal

What You’re Talking About This Month

In this issue:

• Best of the Blog: Your Top Five for March
• IBM Honors Eight New Fellows: Congratulations to the Class of 2013
• Join the Conversation

Best of the Blog: Your Top Five for March

For the month of March, here are the five most popular blog posts at The Greater IBM Connection blog. In order:

• Video Tour: Capturing the Character of the IBM Brand
• The Replay: Watch Ginni Rometty’s Historic Speech to the Council on Foreign Relations
• Just for Fun: Vintage Social Networking
• Infographic: Who’s Really On Your Conference Call?
• IBM Video Series Celebrates International Women’s Day

Thanks for visiting and thanks for your comments on the blog!

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IBM Honors Eight New Fellows: Congratulations to the Class of 2013

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty this week marked the 50th anniversary of the IBM Fellows Program by honoring eight IBMers with the company’s highest technical distinction. Only 246 individuals have earned this designation in the company’s history, 85 of whom are active employees.

The Class of 2013

“As we have for half a century, IBM is today honoring its most outstanding technologists and their contributions to computing and society,” said Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.

The eight new fellows – read about them here – join a distinguished tradition of excellence and innovation. Congratulations to the Class of 2013!

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Join the Conversation

One benefit of membership in The Greater IBM Connection group at LinkedIn is the opportunity to take part in – and learn from – the many lively conversations among our 80,000+ members. Ongoing discussions today include:

• When You Left IBM How Did It Change Your Life – Or Not?
• How Will Big Data and Social Media Change the Nature of Project Management?
• Ever Wonder How to Be of Higher Value?

What do you think? You can reply to these and many more – or start your own discussion – if you’re a member of The Greater IBM Connection group of LinkedIn. (Note: The Greater IBM Connection on LinkedIn is not open to contractors.)

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Stay connected with The Greater IBM Connection by:

• Bookmarking the The Greater IBM Connection portal
• Following the The Greater IBM Connection blog
• Joining the The Greater IBM Connection LinkedIn Group
• Liking The Greater IBM Connection on Facebook
• Following @greater_ibm on Twitter: https://twitter.com/greater_ibm

Kicking Off 2013 with The Greater IBM Connection

In this week’s issue:

• It’s all about leadership

• IBM Connect 2013 – You still have time to sign up

• What’s new around The Greater IBM Connection

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It’s all about leadership

In the last few weeks, you might have noticed that a lot of our stories, social media posts, tips, and resources have focused on one essential idea: leadership.

After all, the start of a new year is a great time for assessing your life and career and for making new commitments. If one of your goals is to become a better leader, then here are some of the recent posts at The Greater IBM Connection around our central theme, for inspiration.

• IBM CEO Virginia Rometty Shares Her Leadership Philosophy
• 20 Years of IBM’s Patent Leadership (infographic)
• IBM Vice President, Dr. Matt Wang, Awarded 2012 IT Times Outstanding Leadership (China)

What are YOUR favorite leadership tips or quotations? Share them with your fellow community members in the Comments.

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IBM Connect 2013 – You still have time to sign up

Get Social. Do Business. IBM Connect 2013 is almost here. This large-scale annual event, January 27 – 31 in Orlando, combines the deep technical content that you’ve loved for 20 years with the learning you need to accelerate your move beyond social media to drive real business value with social and collaborative technologies. And there’s still time to register.

Why you need to Connect

At IBM Connect 2013, you’ll have opportunities for:

• 1:1 executive connections
• Peer to peer connections
• Exchanging best practices
• Networking and partnering

What’s in it for me?

You’ll leave IBM Connect with a clear path on how to go beyond social media and embrace social technologies to drive tangible business value and results. You’ll be ready to start using key technologies such as collaboration, portal, Web experiences, content management, analytics, process management, and commerce to go from simply ‘liking’ on social media to truly leading.

How to register:

Register for this event and identify yourself as an IBM alumnus – we’ll let you know about special alumni networking opportunities at and around this event. When registering, you’ll be asked how you heard about the conference. Select “Other”, and then in the open field, be sure to include the code IBMALUM13. That’s all there is to it.

Register now

More:

Don’t miss this new Web lecture, From Liking to Leading(Note: may require a one-time sign-in)

In this brief video, learn more about what social business means to you and your business:

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What’s new around The Greater IBM Connection

The beginning of the year can be especially busy, with catching up on work missed over the holidays, setting goals for the new year, keeping resolutions. In case you missed these, here’s a roundup of some of the most widely read stories on The Greater IBM Connection blog:

• 10 Leadership Lessons from IBM Executive School
• IBM’s 5 in 5: Welcome to the Era of Cognitive Systems
• 9 Bad Work Habits and How to Break Them
• Why Is IBM Called Big Blue? The Uncertain History of a Colorful Nickname

Anything you would like to read more about at The Greater IBM Connection? We always like to hear from you; let us know in the Comments.

Get Social. Do Business. IBM Connect 2013 is Almost Here

In this issue:

• IBM Connect 2013 – Register now to save
• Show your appreciation – it’s time
• What are you talking about?

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IBM Connect 2013 – Register now to save

Social business represents a significant transformational opportunity for organizations. If you want to learn more about what it takes, then IBM Connect 2013 (Jan. 27 – 31 in Orlando, FL) is your “must attend” event to kick off the new year.

Register for this event and identify yourself as an IBM alumnus/alumna, and we’ll let you know about special alumni networking opportunities at and around the event.

Register now to save – discounted pricing is available until December 10th. Will you be the one talking about it or asking about it?  Learn more about IBM Connect 2013.

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Show your appreciation – it’s time

In the US, the Thanksgiving holiday arrives next week. And that’s a terrific time to recognize the skills and talents of your employees.

Just like any other day.

Everyone wants to be seen and acknowledged; be sure you’re showing your employees that you appreciate their contributions.

The best leaders know that employee appreciation should be an ongoing activity, not just reserved for one day out of the year. In this blog post, read about 10 thoughtful ways to show your employees or colleagues that you value their contributions.

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What are you talking about?

Want to know what your fellow Greater IBM Connection community members are thinking about and discussing across our social media sites?

Click here for a linked list of the most popular stories, questions, discussions, and blog posts you and your fellow community members were talking about most in the month of October.

Catch Up with The Greater IBM Connection

In this issue:

• IBM Retirees, Watch your Mailbox for Annual Enrollment Packet Soon
• The ESC Key – Did You Know an IBMer Made That?
• Women at IBM in the News
• Join the Conversation!

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IBM Retirees, Watch Your Mailbox for Annual Enrollment Packet Soon

IBM retirees, the annual enrollment period for 2013 is about to begin. This year, the enrollment period begins October 25 and runs until November 16.

Very soon, you’ll receive your packet in the mail. Take the time to thoroughly review your current plan benefits and costs, including the Retiree Health Access (RHA) plan option.

IBM is committed to providing high-value retiree benefits, and continues to offer a wide variety of plan options tailored to your needs. To read more about the available benefit plan options, learn about the advantages of each, and see why many IBM retirees and their Medicare eligible dependents have enrolled in the RHA program, click here.

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The ESC Key – Did You Know an IBMer Made That?

It undoubtedly helped drive the computer revolution of the 1970s and ‘80s. “It says to the computer: ‘Stop what you’re doing. I need to take control.’ ”

In other words, it reminds the machine that it has a human master. It’s the Escape key, and it was created by an IBMer.

Read more about the invention and the late Mr. Bob Bremer.

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Women at IBM in the News

In case you overlooked the following stories, here are three blog posts that feature one thing in common: the amazing women associated with IBM. Three not to miss:

• Working Mother Magazine Ranks IBM in the Top 10 of the 100 Best Companies
• In Campus Recruitment, IBM India Hires More Women than Men for IT:
• And some timely career advice from Greater IBMer, engineer and author Renee Weisman, who wrote Winning in a Man’s World: Advice for Women Who Want to Succeed and the Men Who Work With Them. Here she shares some career help that’s especially relevant to many women: Hate to Brag? How to Self Promote to Advance Your Career.

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Join the conversation! Don’t forget to:

• Like our Facebook page
• Follow us on Twitter
• Bookmark, visit, and subscribe to this blog
• Use the hashtags #IBMAlumni and #GreaterIBM in your own Facebook and Twitter posts and get connected!

Around the World with The Greater IBM Connection

In this issue:

• IBM Champion Program – Nominations Close Oct. 15
• The Center for CIO Leadership: Meet Chief Technologist Dr. Manish Gupta
• New LinkedIn Subgroup Launched: Greater China

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IBM Champion Program – Nominations Close Oct. 15

If you’d like to be an IBM Champion or know someone you want to nominate, time is running out – you have until October 15 to nominate YOUR worthy candidate.

Here’s how it works: if you are an outstanding Lotus or WebSphere developer, or  an expert in System z or Power Systems, or if you blog, participate in online forums, etc., about these kinds of topics – in other words, if you’re an advocate of IBM’s capabilities – then you might make a great candidate to be an IBM Champion.

About the IBM Champion Program

Want to know more? Check out a Web lecture

Nomination form

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The Center for CIO Leadership: Meet Chief Technologist Dr. Manish Gupta

More than 400 CIOs and other company executives recently attended IBM’s Smarter Cities event in the Capital Region of India. The CIOs worked with city planners on ways to apply technology to solve some of the worst problems in the world’s population centers.

Dr. Gupta, IBM India

To mark the event, IBM’s Center for CIO Leadership interviewed Dr. Manish Gupta, IBM’s Chief Technologist for India and Asia and Director of the research laboratory developing new technology for governments and companies around the globe.

Read the interview

Smarter Cities

Smarter Planet Blog

People for a Smarter Planet on Facebook

Smarter Planet on Twitter

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New LinkedIn Subgroup Launched: Greater China

The Greater IBM Connection and IBM Greater China team are pleased to announce the launch of the Greater China LinkedIn subgroup of our community.

Internet users in China are unable to access many of the popular social networks in use today, including Facebook, Twitter, many blogs, YouTube, etc.  The new subgroup enables our community of fellow Greater IBMers to interact and network with the community in China. It also provides a place for users in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong to communicate in Chinese.

To join this subgroup, you must must first join the global Greater IBM Connection group on LinkedIn. Please make sure to provide accurate information about your IBM employment on your profile in English, so that your membership can be approved for both communities.

Read more about the new subgroup

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Leading Marketers: Unleash the Power of Smarter Analytics

In this issue:

• Marketing Analytics – Developing insights that drive business outcomes
• We want to know
• Around IBM
• Milestone reached – thank you!

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Marketing Analytics – Developing insights that drive business outcomes

Marketers: every day, the amount of data available to you grows―and it’s arriving faster than ever. It’s a rich resource, including information about rivals, markets, segments, even individual customers. But to tap this powerful source of competitive advantage and to uncover insights, marketers need a structured approach.

Marketing analytics lays the groundwork for smarter decisions, successful campaigns, and strengthened customer relationships. It’s the foundation that enables marketers to engage customers as individuals in every interaction across every channel.

A new study from the IBM Center for Applied Insights shows how leading marketers – who are today making 2x the profit of their peers – are making it happen. Read it here: http://bit.ly/mrktinganalytics

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We want to know

It’s your turn – of the MANY social networks in use today, which do you use most? Is it the major players like Facebook for social life, LinkedIn for business networking? Or are you a Pinterest person or a Google+ sharer? Let us know by voting here – we want to hear from you!

http://greateribm.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/what-social-network-do-you-use-the-most/

We’ll publish the results next week.

And don’t forget that you can always post your own question under the Discussions tab here at LinkedIn.

Get a conversation going today – you have about 75,000 of your fellow Greater IBMers to talk to.

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Around IBM

A lot of Greater IBMers have told us that after they leave the company, one thing they miss is knowing what’s going on around the world at IBM. Here’s a roundup of some of the latest:

Innovation: Polycom teams with IBM Research on cloud/video capabilities http://greateribm.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/polycom-teams-with-ibm-research-on-cloudvideo-capabilities/

International:

• IBM Mexico in the spotlight as IBM opens Smarter Data center in Guadalajara City: http://greateribm.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/1202/
• Mainframe making good in Africa with IBM Business Partner CFAO Technologies: (with infographic): http://greateribm.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/the-mainframe-making-good-in-africa-with-ibm-business-partner-cfao/

Excellence in IT: Do YOU have what it takes to be an IBM Champion? Nominations are open now – details here: bit.ly/P8KMob

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Milestone – thank you!

Thanks again for helping us reach our latest milestone of 10,000 Likes on The Greater IBM Connection’s Facebook page. We look forward to reaching many more of these milestones with you!

Be sure to tell your Greater IBM friends and colleagues to Like our page, too: https://www.facebook.com/GreaterIBM