Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity

About five months ago, I received the exciting news that I had been accepted for a one-month assignment with the IBM Corporate Service Corps. For those who haven't yet heard about this program, a good description of the program appeared on Yahoo Finance recently:

[The IBM Corporate Service Corps is a ...] corporate version of the Peace Corps, now in its second year, which sends teams of 8-10 of its top employees from around the world, with skills in technology, consulting, research, marketing and finance to key emerging markets for one month.

When I first heard about this program, I doubted whether I could afford to disappear from my "regular job" for a month. However, armed with a green light from my management (thanks, Martin & Irene!), and an impression that this was the most innovative corporate citizenship and professional development program I had ever heard of, I decided to go for it. Much to my surprise, I was accepted -- and elated!

The CSC program requires that you are willing to travel anywhere in the world for one month, at any time from July of one year to June of the next. You're permitted to order global regions in order of preference (I chose Asia / S. America / Africa / Eastern Europe, in that order)... and you find out the assignment just 3 months before "deployment." For a couple months, I was on pins-and-needles, waiting to find out where and when my mission would be... I told friends and family that I was going somewhere exciting, though I didn't know where and I didn't know when...

In July, I finally found out my location and timeframe: mid-October I'm scheduled to deploy to Ahmedabad, India as part of "CSC India Team 4"!

The Corporate Service Corps is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become immersed in another culture and place. I've been fortunate to have a culturally diverse mix of friends and colleagues and have enjoyed learning about their values, arts, and cuisines. However, I've never experienced Asia firsthand and am greatly looking forward to the experience.

I am inspired by the challenge of understanding a community's problems and applying my professional skills to tackle them. I am also thrilled to be part of a diverse, global team of IBMers working to impact people's lives -- how often does a day at work have that kind of significance?