IBM Culture
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It’s been a month since I joined IBM. As soon as I joined, many of you reached out to me, asking two questions. First, why IBM, and second how it is going? Instead of replying individually, I thought, let me write a blog that will answer these questions and provide more insight into what I am doing as a customer success manager architect. Because I have lots of things to share, I am going to make it three-part series. Under part one, I will cover IBM culture, in the second part, I will cover IBM Hybrid Cloud and AI strategy, and in part three, I will cover insights of Customer Success Manager — Architect role.
Many research shows that company culture plays a vital role in retaining employees as well as company growth. In my 22 year career, I worked for six different employers. IBM was one of these six employers. Interestingly, I spent the least amount of time (15 months) at IBM when I joined the first time in 2006. You may think, why IBM again if that was the case. The short answer to this question is that the 15 months I spent at IBM helped groom me into the person I am today. IBM taught me customer obsession, innovation, trust, and personal responsibilities. During my initial job at IBM, I learned about company values. I experienced how every IBMer practiced those values in their day-to-day life. IBM values are the foundation of 110-year-old company culture. What I value most about IBM, which is very near and dear to my heart is that everyone treats you with respect. The senior leadership shows you how valuable you are to the company. They are easily approachable and meet you with tons of energy. For example, I sent a LinkedIn request to the VP of customer success, Janine Sneed, without any note written. Typically, people accept the request, and that’s it. However, surprisingly, after acceptance, Janine responded with the following message.
“Welcome to IBM Customer Success, Kapil! I’m glad you are with us. If I can do anything while you are onboarding into IBM, don’t hesitate to reach out.”
Her response showed that she took the time to review my profile, recognized that I am a new hire, and responded with a personal message. This behavior genuinely touched me.
At work, you spend most of the time with your team members. Their behavior is critical to the team’s success and your job satisfaction. At IBM, I realized that your team members are there to help and support you. For example, last week, one of my team members shared this candid feedback with me.
“Taking the lead, at times for many of us, can be a challenge. But, I’ve seen you take the lead and initiative with client work and the IBM account teams. Asking for support and collaboration within the account team has yielded great results welcomed by the customer and their stakeholders. GREAT JOB!
My only suggestion is one that I would give to anyone, especially in a CSM role; make it a habit to read technical documentation on any new software you’re customers are entitled to.”
After these examples, you can imagine the IBM culture. I would also like to share with you that there are plenty of opportunities to grow and build your career at IBM. In the last month, I met several people, and their average tenure at IBM was more than 15 years. Currently, IBM holds 38,541 patents. It shows how intelligent these people are. So, I asked all these intelligent people one question. What is the reason for staying here for so long? The answer I got from them is that “there are plenty of opportunities inside. Nobody is going to stop you from trying something different. By the way, you tell me do they have IBM culture?”
So, this is what I wanted to share with you about IBM culture. If that excites you and you would like to join us, here is the link to find the right opportunity. Reach out to me if you have any questions.
