Chenggong - "Success"

I am back to Normal... literally. I arrived Saturday evening at the Bloomington airport to my lovely bride, Pamela's, smiling face and perfectly clear blue skies that I really had not seen in weeks. It is wonderful to be back to the simple life. It is good to be back where people really understand me. No translation needed.  I found that the most difficult headache in my 28 day trip was not knowing the Chinese language.  While the Chinese are making a very big step to improve their English skills, they are a long way from really being able to speak English so almost all conversations had to be translated.  Not that I blame them for not knowing English.  After all, if they came to America, how many Americans could speak a lick of Chinese?  It was still difficult, though, when we were trying to communicate difficult subjects, particularly technical ideas, and leadership ideas.

Culture

The cultures are very different.  The government policies are different.  Everything is different except the hearts of the people who as Dean Kuroff from my team mentioned in one of the meetings.  We all want the same things... quality of life and pursuit of happiness.  Liberty?  Maybe not, but the government seems to be able to keep their economy rolling at an 8.1% growth rate for GDP so they have the freedom to pursue enterprise.  The people are being fed and that keeps revolution away and the government in tact.  There is no such thing as outsourcing when you have 1.6 billion people.  People generally seem to be satisfied and the government does seem to really try to attend to the people's needs.  Jobs are job 1.

It was an amazing experience.  I respect many aspects of the Chinese way of life.  They are very orderly except when it comes to traffic.  When their government decides to do something, they do it.  There is very little wrangling among the leadership.  So when I say that I think our Executive Service Corps recommendations will be carried out, I can say, "Shoulda or Yes",  I think they will.

Final  Banquet at the Secluded Purple Palace

We were successful.  In Pinyin (Western Alphabet of Chinese) success is spelled "Chenggong." The Fab 5, as we jokingly called ourselves, delivered a very complete 140 page Powerpoint report and our recommendations were well received.  Mayor Ji and his Directors and Vice Mayors seemed genuinely excited to receive the results.  We feel pretty good about the work that we did in 3 short weeks.  We are confident that it will provide ample opportunity for both the City of Nanjing and the local IBM team who covers the public sector in China to make considerable progress on all 4 of the objectives laid out for us:  Smarter City, Software Development, Industry Transformation, and Social Media.

Final Charter

We had a very aggressive scope of work and realistically we could have taken anyone of them and gone deeper more effectively.  You do what you must, however, and we were chartered by the Mayor on these 4 areas so we worked to deliver something of value in all 4.  I think we did it.  It was a marvelous experience and team effort.

Let's put it this way.  They want us all back in mid-October to carry out the recommendations and do a deeper dive in each of the areas.  The major focus they want us back for is the Smarter City objective.  They have some serious problems in implementing a Smarter City, particularly with traffic control.

It was something that everyone should do in their lifetime.... take a sabbatical to another country for a bit. Of course, if you can get someone to put you up in a 4 star hotel, drive you wherever you need to go, and treat you like royalty, leap at the chance.  IBM's ESC program is a great for developing leaders and kicking off major new efforts in the emerging countries.  I can't say that this is a truly humanitarian effort, but I can say that "we came, we saw, and we made a difference."  It is all related to to pursuit of happiness which we were told by one official, is what matters.  To know that you made a difference contributes to well being.

I think I can speak for my team that this was a unique and wonderful experience.  I went with a little trepidation and being away from family was certainly a challenge.  But, I wouldn't have changed anything.  I leave you with a saying from Confucius:  Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.  You will be well rewarded.  Thanks, IBM, and the City of Nanjing (who will never see this behind the Great Chinese Firewall) for the opportunity to do something will all of my heart.

Nanjing is beautiful and full of potential

Nanjing Software Expo reminds me of Comdex in the 80's

Fond of Nanjing

I have grown very fond of Nanjing. It is a city of great potential. I have seen many sides of the city. It is beautiful and visually stunning.  It has culture. The people are well educated and hard working and crazy drivers - ask me about traffic chaos theory.

Hello Nanjing Web Site

It has resources. It has some very sincere and capable leaders. It even has a good sense of openness to ideas from around the world. All of this, but it still has to conform to central government policies which in some cases require a less than perfect strategy. Ok, this is just another architectural constraint, right? I deal with these everyday. It is frustrating, but there are ways around the constraints.

If you were to move here you would find mountains, lakes, rivers, and and a passion for greatness. What else is needed?  How about an effective management system? Yes, I think this is what is needed. It is fundamentally what we will provide in our recommendation.  Our slide deck is now at 125 but how to short to 10 slides for Mayor Ji?  Hmm.

The Team

Our team is well matched. Despite the pressure of cranking through what should have been a much more limited scope that is trying to solve all of Nanjing's evolutionary issues, we gel well and are pretty compatible. We are already talking about a reunion in Bora Bora or Figi. Or more realistically, Las Vegas. :-)

We meet with the IBM and Chinese media over the next couple of days to prep them for what will be. You will be able to read about this on IBM's intranet and the CCTV in China. (Good luck finding that on Hulu.)

Doug Robinson - Team Member and PM

We meet with Mayor Ji on Friday. Mayor Ji is responsible for a 8 million person corporation. The challenges are great. I think we are up to the task.

Back to Normal

I would like to share so much with you all as this has been an experience of a lifetime. I miss my family, though. I have never been away this long from them or my dear friends.  I miss my tennis group, my church, my small group and the harvest moon. I miss the smell of smoke in the backyard from all of the fires post high school football games.  I miss it all.  You wouldn't think that one month is that long.  I can't wait to catch up with all of you.

We wrap this up soon and it will be back to Normal by Saturday evening.

One of my jobs in this consulting gig is to help Nanjing develop a social media strategy. Blogging is just one component of social media. Thanks for indulging me in it.  See you soon.

On a Clear Day......

I woke up this fine Saturday morning to find the clearest day we have had so far.  No clouds and minimal pollution.  A great day to go out and explore the city.  Today we are headed out to see the Japanese Massacre site and a boat trip down the Yangtze river.  I am taking my camera so be prepared for more photos on the Flickr site:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinaesc3 .

Here is what I was treated to out my 65th floor window this morning:

Mid-Term Report - Excellent!

Just a quick post to let everyone know that we made our mid-term report to the Nanjing government today. It was a two and 1/2 hour meeting with the Vice Mayor.  It went very well, but we have realized just how much extra work is required next week to provide detail to our recommendations.  But, the weekend is ahead and we need a break.

We are on to an Italian restaurant called Ciao and then a massage.  A much needed break after a long week of work in preparation for our presentation. Everyone did a great job setting up for the recommendations for next week.  We think we are well on our way towards helping the City of Nanjing in their quest to be a Smarter City who cares about their citizens and provides many green jobs in the software industry.

Our Photo Library

Our team has been taking lots of photos!  We will be consolidating them on our Flickr site which you can find here:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinaesc3  We will be adding more as I get them from my mates.  There are a few dodgy photos in there (not the best).  "Dodgy" is a new word I I have learned my Australian teammate, Doug.

Management Consulting is Hard! But I love it.

The Mission

My team from Left, Me, Ron, Judith, Doug & Dean

Hi everyone from beautiful Nanjing, China.  Sorry I haven't posted any new entries for several days.  We are heavy into cranking through the interview notes, city documents, and various sessions we have had with the IBM teams closest to the Smarter Cities initiative which the City of Nanjing has undertaken.  What we are doing is management consulting, pure and simple.  The IBM Corporate Service Corps is much more of a grassroots, on the ground, hands on effort to build a solution to solve a specific problem.  Sometimes the work is humanitarian in nature. The executive service corps is much more of a relationship building effort at the executive level that also is designed to tackle major strategic problems. There is more management strategy involved, which frankly I love.  I really enjoy tacking Harvard Case studies.  The Nanjing mission qualifies.

In our case we have been chartered to look at 4 major areas where the City of Nanjing, in Jiangsu Province, has decided to build their future upon:

1. Software Development and Outsourcing - Want to Rival Bangalore in outsourcing capabilities and revenue.
2. Smarter City - Keen on building a smarter city that builds a high quality of life for citizens through better transportation, healthcare, water, and electrical grids.
3. Industry Transformation - Would like to upgrade the more than 1000 enterprises in the city through business transformation software such as ERP Systems.
4. Social Computing - Building a bridge between citizen and government to provide for "Happy Citizens."  

Nanjing - A Second City Who Wants to Compete at the Highest Level

If you look at China today you find some very interesting dynamics that look very familiar to anyone who has been in IBM for 30+ years (of which there are very few these days).  In the early days of IBM we had divisions that competed with each other.  In history, China's economy has been very closed.  In the early 1990's everything changed for China.  They started to compete globally.  But, until then, all of the cities in China competed for country resources and looked to stand out in ways to convince the highest party leaders of their competence and might.  Specialization existed in many provinces and cities.  Everyone today looks to provide the best jobs for their people as those who have jobs are the best fed.  People who have food are happy people and not prone to revolution or uprising in the land.  Jobs are the new currency both here and abroad.  China is focused on jobs and green jobs are the best.  What is the most green job?..... Software development.  It involves a higher level of intellect and training and generally commands higher wages than lower level service jobs.  It is something that the US wants to outsource as labor costs and overhead are very high in the US making software development expensive.  With a very powerful currency, the US can find much cheaper labor overseas and often does largely at the expense of the "middle class." 

Nanjing wants to best the other cities in China and Bangalore.  They have a very tall order, but I would have to say that they are well positioned to do this if they can focus on a couple of very key areas:  Software Engineering and Full Lifecycle of Development and testing are clear opportunities and areas often neglected by their competitors. They can do this as they take a very rigorous approach to quality and testing - it is their factory and manufacturing psyche.  

English competency is still an issue, but here is an interesting fact.  The Universities in Nanjing teach all of their computer science classes in english and they use english textbooks.  Their ability to speak the language is there, but because of saving face and not wanting to make mistakes, prevent them from really trying to speak face to face.  We do everything through interpreters.  If you have ever had to spend your entire day working through interpreters, you will find that taxing, but also in many ways easier.  You can often think about what you want to say while something is being interpreted.  The down side is that every meeting lasts twice longer than usual.  It is just something you get used to, but my assessment is that it doesn't necessarily breed trust as everything is done through interpretation and we all know that there are things missed and lost in interpretation. 

Service Opportunity - Talking Careers at Nanjing University

All five of my team, Ron, Doug, Dean, Judith and myself went back to school to speak with the business students at the University of Nanjing about careers in business and more specifically in IBM.  It was a good time meeting with young people and hearing about their aspirations.  Interesting.... most wanted to get a good government job.  I tried filling their minds with dreams of becoming the next Facebook, but after the FB stock has dropped so low, I am not sure that they are too keen on trying to be the next Mark Zuckerberg.  I did have to laugh that one young man in my group decided that he wanted to work for Boston Consulting as a management consultant.  He said "if that doesn't work out, I will go get a government job."  

Deep Thoughts

I could give you a day by day sense of our engagement, but I won't.  We can talk about it in person when we see each other back in the states.  A few deep thoughts before I retire:

• It is important to have a good driver.  Driving is crazy here and if you don't have a good driver you will end up with your face in the back of the front seat.
• We don't have Dragon Fruit in the US, but we need it.  It is very tasty.  
• There isn't much variety of food here. It is difficult to find an "American" restaurant that is not KFC or McDonalds.  KFC doesn't have original recipe either.  :-)  Just crispy and spicy wings.  McDonalds is pretty much the same, but they also sell chicken here.
• Massages are cheap!  $15 for a one hour massage.  Beware of foot reflexiology, though, it is a bruising experience.  I am still not totally recovered from that.
• Pedicures are cheap and I was forced to have one.  :-)
• Chinese are crazy about golf, but there are no golf professionals in China.  They have learned about golf by reading books.  It is still expensive to play here, though.  Not like Central Illinois!
• The central government IS in charge and once convinced can make anything happen as we saw in the Bejing Olympics. There are days I long for this in the US, but given who we have in congress and the presidency, I am thankful that we don't have highly centralized government.
• Like the US, everyone is basically now supported by the government and have government jobs.
• Like most places in the world outside of the middle east, people are very nice and respectful here.
• The cost of food is cheaper.  A big mac, fries and a coke are 15 RMB - about $2.25.  Services are cheap, too.  

The Engagement

Do They Have What it Takes?

The City of Nanjing wants to be a world class software development headquarters.  They have the assets.  There are more than 50 Universities here in Nanjing.  One of the colleges has a software institute that leads all of China in turning out software engineers.  Their curriculum is amazing and much deeper in focus on software engineering and full lifecycle of development than most American schools.

They have built software parks that look and produce like silicon valley.  Our visits to the governmental agencies are all focused on the mission of producing high value jobs.  They are willing to do what ever it takes to edge out India for software outsourcing.  Because of their manufacturing prowess, they are very skilled in embedded development.  They could become the Smarter Planet Showcase for the world.  They have built a Smarter Transportation System already.

Why haven't they taken over already?  That is what we are aiming to find out.

Sorry for the Delay in the Blog - Hello Nanjing

Hi everyone.  I realize that it has been almost a week since my last blog post.  I have now been in China for 10 days.  After my visit in Beijing with Fred and Lisa Begtine, I made my way to Nanjing.  It was a relatively short flight between Beijing and Nanjing.  I was greeted at the airport by Eduard who works for the Australian Business Volunteers (ABV), a non-for-profit agency that helps companies to promote business investment in the eastern hemisphere, primarily east Asia.  ABV is the agency that IBM is using to help connect the Executive Service Corps with governments in places like Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, and of course, China.  This is IBM's third engagement of the Service Corps in Asia.  There have been two others in Cheng Du and now Nanjing in Jiangsu Province which is about 80 miles from Shanghai which is on the Chinese eastern coast.

View from my 65th floor room

Zifeng Tower, Hotel Intercontinental

Eduard, a Chinese National, is here to help our team of non-Chinese speaking executives to get to where they need to be, the beautiful Hotel Intercontinental in Nanjing.  The hotel is the tallest building in Nanjing over 85 stories tall.  It is our home for the next several weeks.  No complaints about the digs here.  This is a luxury hotel in China.  No need for a steripen and most important this hotel is very western compliant with appropriate plumbing.  Other members of the ABV are here to facilitate our success.  Jean Sum, a charming Australian National who also speaks good Mandarin, has been with us since the early days of briefings.  It is a pleasure to be working with Jean.  She has been invaluable to the team keeping us moving from meeting to meeting and making sure that we have everything we need including finding us a church to attend if we need to and where we can have a great meal.  Jean understands the Chinese culture well, too.  She seems to really enjoy her job.  We appreciate all that she is doing for us.

Nanjing is a beautiful city with hills, a river, and a fairly sizable lake.  There is plenty of waterfront and our first couple of days were spent getting to know the city with a tour and a trip to the Confucius Temple.   We learned of the wisdom of Confucius in more depth than we know from our Chinese Fortune Cookies. It was a fascinating view of thousands of years of history preceding the birth of Christ.  Confucius died in 479 BC.  

Confuscious

You really get a sense of how much history this country has with over 5000 years of recordings.  It is sort of strange, however, that the country is not trying to preserve history.  Instead, it is modernizing most of their relics, including the outer walls of old Provincial Nanjing.

We have had some very nice dinners.  Chinese food can be so familiar to the sort of food we eat and so different when you eat the local specialties.

On our third evening here, we ate at a restaurant at the old part of Nanjing close to the original wall hundreds of centuries old.  It was an elegant restaurant with excellent food and excellent company as our team met with the local IBM team and discussed the client situation and our ESC engagement.  We got to try some unique dishes and of course drank the Watermelon Smoothie - basically puree'd watermelon that my daughter Elise, a watermelon junkie, would love.

My team is a wonderful set of executives, 3 from North America, and one from Australia.  They are all great to work with and I am having a lot of laughs with Dean, Judith, Doug, and Ron who are all bringing unique talents to this engagement.  We are working and gelling together quite well.  More to come on our team and our engagement.  Working with the City of Nanjing and the Chinese people has been quite a cultural experience for me.  I think you will all be quite interested in what is going on in Nanjing and where the Mayor of this fine and beautiful city wants to take the people of China.  I will try to be more regular on this blog, but our schedule has been so busy with interviews, dinners, and team meetings that finding even a spare 15 minutes to blog has been difficult.  And then there is sleep.... not nearly enough.  More tomorrow.

Forbidden No More

Forbidden City is a Fascinating Look at China's History

Fred and I went to Tienanmen Square to see the Forbidden.  Having been there once before, it was Fred's second time so he had some background about the history.  As you walk into the Forbidden City, the size of the city becomes apparent.  It was a city from the 14th century onward and Beijing grew up around it.  The many leaders and Emperors reigned there.   You might remember a movie about the Forbidden City and its youngest Emperor, Pu Yi, in the movie the Last Emperor.  There is much history here about the situation dramatized in that movie.  I don't recall everything about it, but I do recall that Pu Yi didn't reign for long before Sun Yat Sen and the new republic brought revolution and ushered in a new government.  The Dowager Empress pretty much ran the country into the ground and the Qing Dynasty was hopelessly shattered.  Pu Yi became just a cog in the Communist system.  Of course the reality is that any time there has been famine in the land as with the end of the Qing Dynasty there has been a change of government.

Just Outside of the Forbidden City

 The architecture inside is as you would expect of Chinese architecture, but you have no idea how large this area is as it goes for at least several miles.  The parks inside are very nice.  It took more than 1 million workers to build this city and 24 emperors reigned there.  The capitol city has mostly been in Beijing, but it was my host city for the Executive Service Corps, Nanjing, at one point.  When the Forbidden City was built in the Ming Dynasty, it was moved from Nanjing to Beijing and the City was built on the site of the former Imperial Palaces that were burnt to the ground at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

There is much to see and do here, but mostly this is the museum of Chinese history and a must see if you want to understand the rich 5000 year history of China.  I'll have more pictures to share that I will upload to Picasa as there are just too many pictures to insert here in this blog.  My next post will talk of my shopping experience in Beijing and a first in my life!

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to Beijing

Beijing is a vibrant city.  It is a large city covering a huge area with the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square right in the center.  East meets west here in Beijing.  It is loaded with embassies.   Being the capital city, you see compound after compound surrounding us as we make our way to the Temple of Heaven.  Living in the ex-patriot community you would think that you are living in a suburb of Atlanta, GA.  The homes and the people are generally western folks here on short term assignments.  We are picked up by a shuttle and with an hour and 15 minute ride through choked arteries of roads, we finally make it to the Temple of Heaven which is a set of religious buildings dedicated to sacrifice to the heavens.  Built in the early 1400's, it is exemplary of early Chinese architecture.  It is quite pretty and interesting.

It was a very hot day and despite everything you here about pollution in Beijing, it really wasn't bad.  On day 2 with the visit to the Forbidden City, we had blue skies and sunshine for most of the day.  Did I say it was hot?.... Yes.  Fred bought, as he would say in French, beaucoup d'eau.  We needed it.  You do a lot of sweating in 95 degree heat and very unbearable humidity.

Fred and Lisa Begtine at the Temple of Heaven

After spending time at the Temple of Heaven you realize that the past here is very old.  5000 years of dynasties and history is evident at the Temple of Heaven. To think that this place was built 1400 years AD is amazing.

There were displays of various types at the Temple, but most were dedicated to the various types of sacrifices that were made at the temple.

Leaving the Temple, we found ourselves in a more active area, the Pearl Market shopping district.  You can buy almost anything there.  I bought an interesting little speaker system that collapses into a ball like figure.  The price was right, 60 RMB, or about 10 dollars.   You see quickly here that China really does manufacture everything for the world.

Pearl Market - Loaded with Everything for Purchase

First Days in Beijing

As the Boeing 777 from Chicago to Beijing landed after almost 14 hours on the plane, I thought about the adventure that awaits. As I was leaving the plane there was a young American woman walking off the plane at the same time as I. She could have my daughter, Elise. Cute, long blonde hair, carrying a plush Panda bear and looking a little out of sorts. I asked her where she was from and if this was her first time in China.

From Minneapolis, Minnesota, she said this was her first time in China. I asked her if she knew anyone here. She said no. I asked her if she was a student. Again she said no. Realizing at the moment she was a college graduate who must have been advanced because I swear she looked seventeen, I asked her why she came. She said that she was here to teach English. Recently graduated from Bethany, a Christian school in Minnesota, she learned of this opportunity and signed up for to a one year contract with an agency. How young she looked and how great an adventure for someone not yet fearful of the great unknown.

Which reminded me of a quote from Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” I thought to myself, here I am 54 and it is my first time in Asia and this young girl not knowing anyone is here to Explore, Dream and Discover. I must confess, I would have had a hard time putting my daughter on that plane bound for Beijing. Youth knows know boundaries.

Good for her. China awaits. More tomorrow on my first full day in Beijing. My good friends, Fred and Lisa Begtine, who have learned the value and excitement of new adventures, treated me to a day of shopping and important Beijing landmarks.  The Temple of Heaven and the next day the Forbidden City.

Hmm... What to Bring

Today is packing day. What to bring besides sedatives for the flight? Let's see... clothes for a month, China Culture guide, 10 packages of Beer Nuts (can't get them in China), two dozen small packs of tissues - it seems that the Chinese don't have toilet paper in their bathrooms, anti-perspirant when facing the Chinese Media, and the book "The Amateur" by Edward Stein.

Time to load up my iTunes with enough podcasts to last a month. A few videos for the flight - found a PBS Series called "Inside China." I think I will be taking my camera and all of my Apple gear. Do you think I should take my Apple TV? I doubt I can get Netflix there.

I am really looking forward to seeing my good friends Fred and Lisa who recently moved from Nice, France to Beijing for a two year stint. They live in a expat neighborhood with their two dogs and a cat. They are wonderful hosts and I always enjoy seeing them. I'll be there for 3 days. Maybe see a few sites in Beijing.

2 Days to Go!

This trip is also my birthday present.  I leave at 5 pm on Sunday which is also my birthday. I think my good friends Fred and Lisa Begtine whom I am staying with in Beijing will have a birthday cake for me when I arrive.  So I get to celebrate being 54 once on this side of the International Dateline and once on the other side.  How fun is that?

I have a very tight connection in Chicago with less than one hour to make it to my flight to Beijing.  So be in prayer that American out of Bloomington takes off on time!  I have had some bad experiences with American Airlines this year as they have "for no good reason" cancelled two of my flights on my return from Chicago to Bloomington.  I never thought I would see the day that I would be praising Delta Airlines over American, but here is the deal.  After my last two cancelled flights, I wrote a letter to Thomas Horton now CEO of American.  My letter was never even acknowledged by American.  That is NOT a Remarkable Customer Experience.  American needs to do something to improve their posture in the industry. They need to do something other than bankruptcy and proposed mergers with Jet Blue to do it.  I long for the return of Bob Crandall.  Bob ran a tight ship at AMR.  He also made them profitable and a pleasure to fly with.

Thomas Horton, CEO AMR

I'll let you know how this flight with American goes.  13 hours and 25 minutes of flight time on American in coach no less.  I was able to secure a power port and an aisle seat but only by paying an extra $100 for the two legs of the trip.  Maybe I will at least be in Group 2 for loading?

A Nice Review of What to Expect Through the Assignment

Tonight in our preparation we were treated to a presentation by Stanley Litow,  IBM VP of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs and Nancy Greco, Distinguished Engineer in IBM Research working on Next Generation Platform.

Stan spoke of the importance of the Corporate Service Corps and its value as a humanitarian endeavor.  Of course, IBM wins when the relationships make progress in the emerging countries. We live in a global economy, now, and IBM feels that we need help develop business in these emerging markets. Stan shared that the benefits to both the sponsoring country and IBM are immense.  He described the lifelong relationships both in country and outside that could be made in the engagement.  He said that eh Executive Service Corps is a development opportunity of a lifetime.  Having done several mission trips with my church and Hurricane Katrina relief, all of those experiences are character shaping in many ways.

Nancy, a recent participant in Chengdu China, described the importance of creating recipes in what we propose to the Chinese people.  The Chinese value manufacturing in a way that no other country does.  It is, frankly, a great way to create jobs for their people. History shows that every major government change occurred  when there was famine in the land.  The government is wise and knows that bringing the people into urban areas is the best way to make sure they are fed and have meaningful work.

The skill that the Chinese demonstrate in being able to quickly scale and build after seeing the "recipe" for a project is just amazing.  Nancy recommended that they will quickly get the benefits in what we share with them.  Concepts are fine, but by the end of the engagement they are ready to take something and run with it.

Nancy described and reasserted how important it is to prepare the scope of work that we might be undertaking ahead of time.  With a broad proposed scope, she felt that they ended up with some long nights in preparation of their final presentation when some advance work would have helped immensely.  Nanjing has communicated that the areas of interest for them are in Smarter Cities, but mostly focused on the Youth Olympic Games and Social Media, improving education, and a third area where Nanjing wants to become the "New Bangalore" of Chinese software development.  All of these topics are relevant and important to the city.

On a more personal note, Nancy described that we might consider bringing roles of toilet paper as the "toilets" are really just holes in the floor and typically have no amenities in them.  She mentioned that anyone with knee surgeries (me with surgeries on both knees) will struggle to adapt to this new required skill.  Here is an article about how to use a Chinese Toilet.

We got to hear about both Doug and Ron from their ESC profiles which was really great.  They seem like very dedicated individuals who value teaming and have great families.  We closed with discussion about how to have a "meet and greet" for the team.  I mentioned that I have been experimenting with Google Circles and Google Hangouts which might be a way to have a "virtual video wall" for our six team members.  The team seemed open to trying it out.  We will see how this works.  The excitement for the trip builds.

Fun Facts about China

Some Fun Facts about China:

Fast Facts about China

• Population: 1.3 billion
• Currency: yuan
• Largest dinosaur fossil site in the world? Zhoucheng, China, where more than 50 metric tons of bones have thus far been discovered beneath the town.
• Guinness World Records: most people painting each other's faces simultaneously in one location (13,413), largest bottle of cooking oil (containing 3212 litres), most couples hugging (3009 couples)
• Internet users: 135 million
• Milk beer: from Inner Mongolia, an alternative to the traditional mare's-milk wine
• Squirrel fish: whole mandarin fish deep-fried and manipulated to resemble a squirrel
• Number of chinese characters: over 56, 000

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/china#ixzz1zy1MSBtM
#IBMCSC China 3

Nanjing China! Exciting Opportunity

Hi Everyone.   Bruce is going to China for 3 weeks with the IBM Executive Service Corps!  I leave on August 28th and return on September 22.    Not having gone anywhere in Asia, this will be a very new experience.  IBM, a great company, is looking for ways to help the developing nations tackle some very global issues but at the local level in the emerging markets.  IBM has sent over 2100 people to a large number of emerging nations since 2008.  Have you heard of the Smarter Planet Initiative?  Here is an article from Businessweek about it:  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-15/ibm-on-a-mission-to-save-the-planet and of course the official IBM Smarter Planet site. We will be focused on the Smarter Cities initiave which is a sub category of Smarter Planet.


IBM is using our Research and technology to solve some of the toughest world's problems.  Improving access to clean water, energy conservation, and transportation are just a few of the areas where IBM has already made a difference.  While we have some ideas about our mission in Nanjing, we don't know exactly what we will be working on just yet.  It depends on what the city of Nanjing wants us to focus upon.  We do know that they are hosting the Youth Olympic Games in 2014.  That could be a place of interest for the city. Their interests seem wide so we will have some honing to do with the city leaders.

Why China?

With more than a billion people, China is the world's most populous country and a land of ancient cultures and modernizing forces. IBM's business in China dates back to 1934. After a 30-year absence, IBM resumed business in China in 1979. CSC activity in China started in 2009. Locations have included Chengdu, Sichuan Province, Shen Yang, Xi’an, Mianyang, Jinan, Tianjan, and Shijiazhuang . CSC IBMers have worked with different nongovernmental organizations, governmental agencies, chambers of commerce and small business owners on topics ranging from logistics infrastructure to workforce development.  (republished from the IBM CSC site)

You can follow my travels here as I will be attempting to blog each day about my experience.  Wish me luck and travel prayers! #IBMCSC China 3