Mr. Stan Litow is the President of IBM. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at the 4th Annual UMD Social Enterprise Symposium about the topic of bringing social change to an ever-expanding world. He spoke of overcoming complexities of life by breaking them down into simpler solutions. One part of his talk that I enjoyed the most was about IBM’s own trade school, called P-TECH. Started in New York, it has one of the highest graduation rates, and teaches hands-on skills needed by IBM. In exchange, they promise graduates job placement after earning their degree. Take a look:
Social responsibility drives a lot of innovation at IBM. They host contests among top-performing employees, to go into a new environment and solve a social issue using IBM’s resources. For example, in Africa, IBM is treating tens of thousands of poor villagers with necessary medicines and affordable drugs, that allow these people to get care at no cost. Litow thinks that there are things more important than profit:
I find the idea of community service “as a [published] whole” is incredible. It’s like… a fusion of democracy, with CarrotMob, with traditional entrepreneurship.
But it doesn’t end there:
IBM is building a series of P-TECH schools to educate people who are vying for guaranteed job placements with IBM, right out of class. The first such school launched in the fall of 2011. It was applauded by President Barack Obama. They boast a 97% attendance rate – the highest in NYC – and of all illiterate students coming into P-TECH, 2/3rds improved in reading and writing after just one semester. I find this man, and this company, to be fascinating:
Thoughts? Opinions?
