Monday, January 28, 2013

Snow pile Seven feet deep!

Snow pile Seven feet deep! by clingmann
Snow pile Seven feet deep!, a photo by clingmann on Flickr.

Today I've been thinking about the weather. 72 degrees in Kuantan today. That's going to be quite a change coming from the kind of weather we've had here in Utah the last month! Snow and snow and more snow, with some freezing rain and ice to top it off. #ibmcsc Malaysia

Friday, January 25, 2013

Why Reflect on Utopia

As part of our training we've discussed a book I have on my shelf, The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs; as well as a paper titled , Utopian Nightmare, which I wasn't as familiar with and seems may have been the groundwork to the book, The White Man's Burden. Both have a lot of interesting information in them. Mr Easterly asks some hard questions like, this one:
"After 43 years and $568 billion (in 2003 dollars) in foreign aid to the continent, Africa remains trapped in economic stagnation. Moreover, after $568 billion, donor officials apparently still have not gotten around to furnishing those 12-cent medicines to children to prevent half of all malaria deaths."
I also really enjoyed watching this video of William Easterly presenting to the Authors@Google series:



I've always been a big believer in the Chinese proverb that Google tells me originated from Lao Tzu, the Chinese founder of Taoism, in the 4th Century BC
"If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime." 
To elaborate. . .







After looking at the Easterly perspective, I found that his mind set more closely identifies with my own. How often to do we see and hear celebrities and the very wealthy begging the public to give money. It drives me absolutely crazy! How often do we see someone actually doing something. Accountability in life and in service seem to be an afterthought for so much of modern society. It reminds me of the 2012 U.S. Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney. He was an example of a do'er. We need more of this in society, particularly among those of celebrity status. For example, watch this video that describes how Mitt didn't go hire some service to help someone in his Sons community, he actually went there and helped himself!





Grand goals and massive amounts of money are useless if they don't achieve the goal in mind. I'm very excited to contribute to the World community through sharing my insights, ideas, and different perspectives as a member of the Corporate Service Corps. I'd like to believe that actually putting my feet on the ground, I will help contribute in a way that brings "progress" to people who are clearly working to better their country. #ibmcsc Malaysia

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Corporate Service Corps

Mid may last year I was reminded of one of the more interesting things that the company I work for does. They call it the Corporate Service Corps. It is one of IBM's vast Social Responsibility initiatives. The program has been up and running for at least three years that I know about. I've thought a lot about service and the world in general. I'd also be misleading if I didn't tell you that I thought it would be a great way to get some International work experience.  So with my managers approval I spent a few evenings crafting my application responses, and finally applied. My manager also spent some quality time submitting her portion of my application. Even so, I was still quite surprised when I was notified June 26,2012 that I had been accepted to the program!

It wasn't until a month later that I learned I'd been assigned to a team of 12 who'd be deployed to Kuantan, Malaysia


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I'm excited and nervous. It will be an adventure like none I've undertaken before. #ibmcsc Malaysia