LIFEATIBM: CRAFTING THE BLUE'S JOURNEY

Life to experience new things, create an impactful journey and shines values.

Unlocking Curiosity

What is IBM? What does IBM actually do? Why are people so proud to call themselves IBMers? Those were the questions in my mind when I started to "marry" IBM.

I graduated as a Telecommunication engineer in 2014, prior to which I joined one of the biggest telecommunication company in APAC as PMO Social Innovations, because I have a huge interest in digital business and social entrepreneurship.  that’s why I challenge myself to pursue my dreams higher. I want to develop my personal and proffessional career globally. Then I decided to join IBM -where the journey begins.

IBM? Global Technology Company. That’s what I considered IBM at that time. But what do they actually do?  Two things came to my mind. First, IBM Indonesia has the youngest director – Gunawan Susanto. He was appointed as IBM Country Director at 35 years of age – an inspiration! Second, IBM Indonesia impact stories. IBM Indonesia has collaborated with Bandung mayor to build Bandung smart city.

Cracking The Blues Values

To cut a long story short, in September 2016 I decided to craft my stories with IBM as Sellers. I believe it is a great avenue where I can grow professionally in my career as well as personally. Sept 18^th – I flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to join the New2Blue onboarding and Global Sales School program – what a way to spend my birthday! What a special day that was, the most beautiful gift from GOD ever – feeling so grateful and excited to start my Blue journey.

The two-day onboarding session was very fruitful – I met such inspiring who were also beginning their Blue journey, gained insightful knowledge about the company and The Blues impact stories. Experiencing the way IBM embraces their values through leaders’ stories was very inspiring!

I am so excited to explore more and unlock my potential with IBM – the potentials are limitless; never-ending life lessons to learned. To build a career is to create stories with purpose and passion. I believe I am the missing piece to the IBM puzzle. I believe it is here where I can pursue my ultimate dream –  to become an inspirational digital woman leader in Indonesia and the world.

Talented people are essential; I admire how IBM can embrace each employee’s values. Nurturing IBMers with honor and respect so they can unleash their potential in the right way.

Inspired by leaders

More excitingly, is when were given the chance to meet previous IBM leaders and listen to their inspiring stories.  How they “survived” in the company for decades as they consistently and continuously offered value to IBM and other IBMers. The opportunity to meet IBM Malaysia leaders and listen to them passionately tell their stories left me feeling energized! Mr. Mizan, one of the speakers, has had a tremendous journey with IBM. He was previously Vietnam’s Country General Manager. He advised us to learn continuously, expand our mind and networks, and to also support one another – at this point, I was filled with inspiration and excitement. I hope I can get more inspiring stories from the Indonesian IBM leaders when I came back home.

Crafting Friendship

Life thought us to inspire and be inspired by others – such a wonderful thing! I have a  new family here – my fellow EPSers. I am so grateful to have such colleagues-now-friends (Reza, P, Tar, Nien, Minh, Eriel, Keena, Shaun, Brandon). Proud to be a “Fireballer”!

We have discovered fun things together, exchanging our experiences, culinary tourism, and visited great places in Malaysia.

Last week, I went to Kiara Mount, Batu Caves and Genting Highlands with Nien and Nien’s IBMer friends. Discover Malaysia!

What an insightful and inspiring trip! I gained some insight into Malaysia’s development upon discovering the story of Lim Gohtong, one of Malaysian inspiring leader. He is a real “zero to hero” story, a big risk taker, persevering, innovative and a leader with a vision. He earned what he learned. Such an inspiring leader not only for Malaysian but also for people around the world!

Dream Big, Be Bold, and Believe

We don’t meet people by accident; they are meant to cross our path for a reason. Referring to Steve Job’s commencement speech at a Stamford graduation, "you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future". I do believe these dots with EPS someday will connect to my future dreams.

I won’t promise anything for IBM, but I'll do my best to make a valuable impact for IBM, IBMers, and the world. Making the world better –life is our message to the world. So make it inspiring. I imagine the world as a big machine and myself as one of its ‘parts’. Machines never have any extra parts; they always have the exact number and all the types of parts it needs. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I am here for a reason; a purpose.

Proud to join the Blue family. Thank You IBM. I hope in the near future there will be more ASEAN millennials joining us. Being an EPS is not only about career acceleration, but is also a way to make a better living in the world – being a problem solver and innovative thinker!

Rara Indah Permatasari-Indonesia
https://w3-connections.ibm.com/blogs/473984ca-6991-48ae-a76d-335dd9029541/entry/Crafting_the_Blues_Journey_part_1?lang=en_us