On Wednesday, February 1 CGE Chairman Sam Palmisano visited his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University in a student event organized by Athletics and Recreation Director Alanna Shanahan. Mr. Palmisano spoke about the realities of the future global enterprise, and how business leaders can best prepare to succeed in shifting environments. During his visit, Mr. Palmisano first held a roundtable discussion with a small group of students with a range of different academic interests. During the conversation, Mr. Palmisano answered questions from students who had read his recently published piece on the current state of globalization and its implications for managers leading global enterprises. The Global Enterprise: Where to Now? was published in Foreign Affairs Magazine and represented a 10 year anniversary sequel of his seminal piece on the globally integrated enterprise which first appeared in Foreign Affairs Magazine in 2006.
Later that evening, Mr. Palmisano spoke to a larger group of student athletes and non-athletes about leadership. Drawing on anecdotes from his time at Johns Hopkins where he majored in history, he shared his path to receiving his first job offer from IBM. He emphasized the importance of a good attitude, sense of humor, hard work and thriving in collaborative work environemnts. The students were eager to learn more about how they can best be prepared to enter the job market in times of uncertainty. Mr. Palmisano recommended that students interested in job security focus on data science and cybersecurtiy – two skill sets that are sure to play a prominent role in the global economy.
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