Give someone freedom (to create, to inspire, to dream…) and they will give you hope.

Give someone freedom (to create, to inspire, to dream…) and they will give you hope.

This past week I had the opportunity to attend the IBM Redbooks Cloud Social Media Residency in Durham, NC. Such residency provides an overview of the benefits related to Social Media engagement. Although the sessions were well planned and thoughtful, I find myself even more drawn towards some of the stories, persona and different cultures in attendance. Such attendees came from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, India, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey  and USA to name a few. Their stories and presentations were inspirational and not all focused on technology. As the week progressed I had the good fortune to listen to the stories of two drastically different individuals. One of them Mac Devine (IBM Distinguished Engineer, Master Inventor) provided us with some insights on Cloud, Mac demonstrated such passion for technology as he walked us thru his latest project and why it was so important to him, IBM and the world.

Mac's latest project related to Cloud and the acquisition of Softlayer Technologies, Inc. You could feel how hard Mac had worked towards the acquisition as from his own words “It’s a game changer”, “Its Cloud without compromise”. Furthermore Mac exacerbated his passion, energy and unflappable belief towards the fact IBM had made the right decision. It takes tremendous energy to convince others that you are correct but more important Mac had been given the freedom to explore the value of this engagement especially related to the acquisition from a pricing, strategy and technology stand point. Big companies don’t always move fast but in this case, IBM showed how nimble it could be.

The other individual, John Romaine stayed at the same hotel than I had chosen. John was on business working at RDU International Airport. John’s passion related to soccer for which he helped start a club (South Georgia United – Youth Soccer) with only 2 teams a few years back. John passion with Soccer was truly reflected in the way he sought to teach and coach the game, allowing players to explore and discover the game. Having coached Youth Soccer for over 20 years myself I found it exhilarating to hear someone 2,300 miles away from home talk about the importance of mentoring our youth and walk them thru their own journey.

Win or loss should not serve as a foundation for teaching but more less a more precise focus should be on defining the purpose, the decisions or actions behind every touches on the ball that make the “Beautiful game” so great to watch. Even though John instill a strong foundation related to the fundamentals of the game, he still knows when it is time to just let the players be free and explore as today’s mistakes will turn into tomorrow’s successes.

Regardless of our background, personal or professional acumen I strongly believe in “Give someone freedom (to create, to inspire, to dream…) and they will give you hope”.

I hope you enjoyed this story, follow me on twitter @thinkahead and let’s continue the discussion.

I would like to extend my special thanks to the IBM Red Books team for making the Residency so welcoming, educational and more important inspirational. You can find those individuals on YouTube Channel “IBM RedBooks”.