Spring Semester 2006
As part of the Presidents Leadership Class, we were required to take an internship where we are in contact with the leaders of a company. I chose IBM.
I knew IBM was not me. The last thing I am is a cog in a machine, headed in a direction that no one is pushing.
But I wanted to understand how major engineering firms work and what motivates people.
I spent a semester working within the Printing devision and interviewing everyone, from the secretaries to the Vice President.
While I will probably not work for IBM, this internship helped me understand what is important to me as an engineer, and how I need to take personal leadership to get where I want to be.
In the end I produced a paper encouraging IBM to embrace more personal innovation. Encourage employees to change how their job works and what their jobs do. And reward it!