Getting Down to Business, Then We Eat!

So with the welcomes, opening ceremony, and first research trip complete; it was time to get down to business. On Wednesday, my sub-team partner Jaymie and I compiled all of our notes on Sungai Lembing Mine from our first meeting and our observation trip. If I had to sum up what our project is in one statement from our stake holder it would be, "How do we market to the world?" With that in mind we are planning our project with a primary goal to help market to foreigners, increase tourism, and drive return visits. Unfortunately the real work isn't quite as glamorous, so not as photographic as my most recent posts.

We have had several extremely productive meetings; blowing the Malaysian stereo type of missing and/or unproductive meetings right out of the water. We were able to prepare a survey to give to our CSC team, made of many international members, to immediately collect some data the client is looking for to help prepare a Marketing Plan. We also worked through questions for a a future survey to come. We plan to give the first survey to our team after they visit the Historic Area tomorrow (February 23, 2013).

The client representatives we are working with are extremely focused and productive when it's time, and ready to eat when it's time for a break :-) That said, I do have a few food pictures to make this a bit more interesting for you . . ."now we eat, yes?" Indeed, we do eat. . .

Fish puff (with coconut), "green cake", and donut

Chicken Curry

Nasi Ayam (chicken and rice, literally)

Papaya, Watermelon, Pizza and milk tart
 
#ibmcsc Malaysia

Food, Tour of the Mine, Food, Chief of the County, Food

If it wasn't already clear, today I happily came to understand just how important food really is to Malaysians. They REALLY love to eat. Their food culture really reminds me of South Pacific islanders a lot, but with a broader variety of spices and origins.

Today was the first full work day for our project. So we took a field trip, that was really quite an adventure. We traveled first thing in the morning to Sungai Lembing to tour the existing Museum which is run by the Federal government, and then the newly opened "Living Museum" or Tunnel museum that is the conversion of one of the old horizontal mine shafts into an impressive tour, which is run by the Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK).

But first we needed to stop for "second breakfast", our guides from the MPK decided, to sample some cuisine. Nasi Lemak and Mee Jawa from the locals in the newly built outdoor style eatery.

Then we were off to the Sungai Lembing Museum, which had the main floor refurbished just last year.


After that we headed to the Living Museum (Tin Mine) Tour.

Next, the hanging bridges, I should also mention that this is Sungai Canal "it's not a river any more since a flood changed the route" they tell us. Also, the area received it's name from a Legend about a Speer, Deer, and then finding the river.

and then it was time to eat again! This is a Kari Pap (Deer Puff). It tastes similar to a ground beef empinada.


While we were there eating we were informally introduced to the Mayor or "Chief of the County", as he referred to himself. He told us that previously he had worked in a different place where he had brought in a British company to help the children learn better English. He said he has been waiting for the opportunity to find volunteers to come in and help his children learn better English in the school at Sungai Lembing. We told him we would pass along his information and suggestion as a possibility for a future team to our coordinators.

On the way back to the office our guides decided we needed to sample some local fruit. They made a u-turn back to this stand to have us try Nangka (Jack) Fruit. It was not bad. It's texture is like stringy mango, but flavor more like banana. The scent really lingers for quite some time. I can only imagine how pungent the Durian fruit they always talk about must be for someone like me.

All in all, an excellent day with a ton of great information gathered about the target of our project. Our guides were extremely generous and really all around enjoyable to spend the day with.

#ibmcsc Malaysia

No "I" in Team

Short post for today. We had bright and early meetings after the nights informal festivities for formal introductions of all the people who will be collaborating from the Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK),  University Malaysia Pahang, all the IBM CSC volunteers, as well as IBM Malaysia.

I have to comment about my CSC team, and all I have to say is WOW these are amazing people. The introductions were really great. They have all done so many interesting things and are incredibly accomplished in their careers. I'm humbled that I was somehow shuffled into the mix with them! The MPK staff and officers were all very interesting and diverse, and seem very eager to work with us. We had a right down to business information gathering session after the formal meeting with our Sungai Lembing stake holders and were able to clarify what they hope to gain from our collaboration.


#ibmcsc Malaysia

Meeting the Kuantan Municipal Council

On Sunday we traveled as a team by bus to Kuantan, the city we'll be working in for the next month.
We are very lucky to have projects involving the Kuantan Municipal Council, who governs the city, which is the capital of the state of Pahang. I think they were equally excited as we are to have us working with them on these projects! First they took us on a complementary river tour of the Kuantan River, I have to share a selection of the photos:

Later that evening they hosted a dinner for our team as well as some representatives from the University Malaysia Pahang, where six of the team will work projects. During dinner they put on an amazing show for us. Which even include the leader of the council, YH. DATO' HAJI ZULKIFLI BIN HAJI YAACOB, DSAP., DIMP., AAP., AMP, singing!

I really felt like the event was an honor to be a part of, let alone that they threw it for us. The Kuantan Municipal Council Dancers performed a number of traditional dances representing all the various intermingled Malaysian cultures. Here is the finale dance for your viewing pleasure:
#ibmcsc Malaysia

Perspective

The locals point of view on Malaysia in general is one of pride in the harmony the Malay, Indian, and Chinese cultures have established while retaining their unique aspects. Today our team member Jennifer had arranged a driver for us to go and see some of the sites, like Batu Cave and the Petronas Towers. Meet Mohan, our "Tour Co-ordinator". Mohan had all kinds of interesting facts to share with us about KL.

Mohan used to be in Pharmaceutical sales, but left that job several years ago due to the amount of travel. When I asked him a few questions about the job change he said, "in the end you have to decide what is most important and go with that, and it's the family". I can identify with what he said completely. I think perspective on core values really helps define a person. The other side of the globe some values are gladly still the same. Tomorrow we will get to meet some of the Kuantan Municipal Council. I'm looking forward to seeing how they perceive the purpose of our program, and what they hope for us to achieve in our partnership with them.

We had a great time seeing a few of the sites while we waited for the rest of the team to arrive, prior to our first meetings. Batu Cave and Petronas Towers were our main destinations.

#ibmcsc Malaysia

Layovers.

Four different Planes!

I've decided that its the layovers that do you in traveling, too much time doing nothing. Especially, if your like me, unable to fall asleep quickly. I was going strong until the 5 hour layover in Singapore, or I guess it could have been the 4th plane boarding. Since it was only a 30 minute hop away to Kuala Lumpur, the wait seemed so long. Perhaps its the doing nothing in between rushes that presents the problem, I guess I haven't decided at all. .



Changi Singapore Terminal 2 Orchid Garden

Meeting the first few of the team to arrive for dinner tonight was excellent. Many more will have arrived and meet with us in the morning for breakfast. This is the kind of "layover" that I like, great conversation and food.

These next few days are certainly going to be filled with many more layovers, but I doubt any will be with nothing to do, too many interesting people to get to know. #ibmcsc Malaysia

Needs and Resources

In the last of the weekly meetings with my team members, who I will be meeting the end of this week, the Corporate CSC program representative joined to share some further insight with us about our upcoming trip. He mentioned how much the program leaders wished they had additional resources to be able to accept and send out more people on assignments.

2013 is the Fifth year of the IBM CSC program, and they will have sent out ~2000 people by the end of this year. This year alone there will be about 470 IBM employees in total that serve an assignments. I captured a few spinets from some of the final bit of reading preparation that caught my mind as follows:

The focus must move away from an emphasis on image to an emphasis on substance. “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Gro Harlem Brundtland, Former Norwegian Prime Minister. Corporations are not responsible for all the world’s problems, nor do they have the resources to solve them all. Each company can identify the particular set of societal problems that it is best equipped to help resolve and from which it can gain the greatest competitive benefit. Addressing social issues by creating shared value will lead to self-sustaining solutions that do not depend on private or government subsidies. When a well-run business applies its vast resources, expertise, and management talent to problems that it understands and in which it has a stake, it can have a greater impact on social good than any other institution or philanthropic organization. from HBR Spotlight, Strategy & Society ; The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility

Jim Sinegal, cofounder and CEO of Costco, tells a business story that embodies the values he’s helped build into his company. Back in 1996, he often recounts, Costco was doing a brisk business in Calvin Klein jeans priced at $29.99. When a smart buyer got a better deal on a new batch of the jeans, company guidelines calling for a strict limit on price markups dictated a lower price of $22.99. Costco could have stuck to the original price and dropped seven extra dollars a pair straight into its own pocket. But Sinegal insisted on passing the savings on to customers, because he saw the company’s focus on customer value as the key to its success. The story continues to be told in Costco’s hallways today. It vividly conveys a message about the company’s values—one that resonates, in part, because it’s aligned with the personality of its author. Sinegal answers his own phone, draws an annual salary of just $350,000 (a fraction of what most big-company CEOs earn), and has signed an employment contract that’s only one page long—all of which means less cost for customers to absorb. from The Four Truths of the Storyteller by Peter Guber

These stories and the earlier discussion came keenly to mind tonight as I played a game all about resources with my family. To bad there is no "Tin" resource in Settlers of Catan, because my project will involve working with management of the The Living Museum of Sungai Lembing Mines, in it's day the Deepest Tin mine in the World.

Settlers of Catan

How often over the last 4 years have I heard debates about robbing the future to pay for the present. Social responsibility by a person is so much a personal sense of feeling or belief, where as a corporation is decision based after analysis of fact by many and an act of balancing available resources to further a collective agenda. The resources vary; time, money, food, medicine, knowledge. . . as do the players acting on behalf of the company. I'm just excited that I get to participate, and I can't help but wonder what new truths I will learn as I embark in just a few days now!

I know my family will survive without me, but I hope they take care of each others needs without to much trouble while I'm away seeing to other "needs". So grateful to my wife for being so supportive of me in this new endeavor. #ibmcsc Malaysia