One of the really nice things about an assignment in Saudi Arabia is its proximity to Egypt (or Misr in the Arabic/Semitic vernacular). It was a convenient weekend destination and I got to visit some of the pyramids.
You quickly realize the pyramids were long ransacked or had their contents moved to the antiquities museum in Cairo or to the Egyptian sections of the Louvre or Met. I am convinced Michael Jackson wrote the words “the funk of forty thousand years” during a dark, smelly, back-bending trip (the passages suited the much shorter ancient Egyptians) down one of the pyramids. Indeed the pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom realized the pyramids were a visible invitation to plunderers and started to bury their mummies in concealed tombs.
IBM’s acquisition of Kenexa made me realize it is so much like Egypt. So many pyramids – Corio, Informix, BowStreet, FileNet and countless others - have had their contents moved to the “museum” where IBM can continue to collect fees. Still others have been buried in catacombs which would be fascinating to explore .
I would love to put on an Indiana Jones fedora (or borrow my friend Tom Raftery’s) and go to town.
IBM, can you issue me a visa? :)
