Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World: Summary & Key Insights

I didn’t start my career with confidence or connections. I grew up in a modest home where my mother raised four children alone after my father left. That moment — watching her rediscover strength in the face of fear — became my first real lesson in resilience. She taught me that self-reliance doesn’t mean isolation; it means believing that through effort and integrity, you can always move forward. My early experiences working to support my family instilled in me a deep sense of empathy for people who struggle against external circumstances. It also shaped my belief that everyone deserves the opportunity to rise, provided someone gives them a fair shot.

Later, as I studied computer science and entered the workforce, I began to understand another side of leadership: the courage to learn what you don’t yet know. Every new challenge — whether technical or interpersonal — offered a moment to strengthen that inner voice that said, “You belong here.” Those formative years were not glamorous, but they gave me what would become the foundation of my leadership ethos — resilience anchored in purpose and empathy grounded in experience.

When I joined IBM, I entered a company defined by its engineering excellence and global influence, but also one wrestling with rapid change. My early roles were in technical sales and systems engineering, areas that required deep technical knowledge and human connection. I learned that the key to success at IBM wasn’t simply technical mastery; it was curiosity. You had to listen closely to customers, learn their business, and help them solve problems they didn’t yet know existed.

There was also a culture of continuous learning that matched my own instincts. IBM, at its best, was never content with the status quo. Each project and client taught me how innovation requires humility — the recognition that you can’t lead transformation if you’re unwilling to transform yourself first. Those first years inside IBM taught me what it means to be part of an organization with a larger purpose: to use technology as a means to enable human progress, not merely profit.