Show Your Worth: Unlocking Transformational Success with Shelmina Abu
Shelmina Abji is the founder of ShowYourWorth.ai, a platform where you can ask Abji questions about your career and gain insight into the essential steps you need to take in your life to reach the goals you're setting for yourself. The development of the platform came after the release of Abji's book Show Your Worth and showcases Abji's dedication to helping women excel.
In her MAKERS MasterClass, Abji ignited a powerful conversation about what it truly takes to move beyond incremental progress and step into transformational success. She shared the essential skills, mindset shifts, and strategies women need to not only advance in their careers—but to own their worth every step of the way.
'My purpose in life is singularly focused. I want to advance gender equality in leadership roles. I want to ensure women are present in every room,' she advocated. She detailed how being an immigrant in the United States shaped her mentality at the start of her career at IBM. Abji found herself learning how to not be replaceable, which came with doing everything that was expected of her to be seen as a good worker.
But, an interaction with visiting IBM executive, Susan Whitney would challenge and shift how Abji approached the rest of her career. When Whitney asked Abji where she saw her career going in five years, Abji expressed wanting to do well in her current role. Whitney responded to Abji's sentiments explaining, 'It is critical you do your best possible job in your current role. And it is equally critical to know where you wanna go next and next. You have so much potential.' In the MAKERS MasterClass, Abji stressed how this response motivated her to reconstruct the direction her career was going in, transforming into the person she is now.
Transformational Success Isn't Doing Only What's Expected of You
Experiencing growth means moving away from the place that feels comfortable. Incremental success is a phase where you're focused on being a good worker rather than taking on the challenges and opportunities that will positively alter your career, and bring you to a period of transformational success. Abji emphasized that to find growth in your career you have to take on assignments that scare you to 'accelerate.' Overcoming fear is essential and something Abji has addressed in her TEDx Talk, she believes facing the fears that keep you from speaking up or expanding your horizons will only keep you in the good worker mindset. 'Take a chance, aim high' is a phrase Abji utilized to encourage the audience to imagine who they can be if they removed the internal restrictions they've put on themselves and their future goals.
Defining Your Success
Being intentional about how you're defining your success will create the outline of steps you'll need to take to achieve your goal. Abji advised that daily success is achieved through creating and following a personal success plan for 18 months. 'It takes everyday actions," she said.
With intentionality also comes strategy. These are two things that have to go hand-in-hand to have your goals and plans be fully realized. This comes with asking for what you want and not waiting on someone to hand it to you. Abji described how promotions don't come looking for you, you have to put in the work to achieve that crucial next step. Alongside the personal success plan, knowing how to prioritize what deserves your attention will help keep you focused and energized. Abji detailed, 'Say no to lesser priorities,' adding, 'You determine what deserves your attention.'
Abji also discussed the role of the power quotient to your success. The capacity to respond constructively to negative stimuli in the workplace is referred to as the power quotient. 'Take your power and show your worth,' Abji said. Getting to your goals means building up your confidence and competence. Learning how to navigate disempowering or scary situations means challenging yourself to arrive at the growth you'd like to see in yourself.
The Mindset for Your Personal Success
Your mindset is a crucial part of achieving your daily success. Abji discussed the importance of recognizing the difference between reflecting on self-improvement and self-criticism. "No one achieves greatness through self-criticism," she wisely stated. "Focus on and amplify your wins." Reflection is a tool for learning and course-correcting, not dwelling on mistakes. Remember, Abji commented, "People and situations don't define you," and all setbacks are merely temporary bumps on your road to success.
—
This article was written by Suzanne Bagia, a journalist, focusing on culture and arts. Outside of her writing, she works in other roles within media and managing literary editorials.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
39 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Kinesis Network Launches Revolutionary Compute Optimization Platform
Seattle, Washington, June 10th, 2025, Chainwire Protocol enables any computing resource to be exchanged, monetized, and put to work Kinesis Network ('Kinesis'), a platform redefining how the world accesses compute, today announced the launch of the Kinesis Protocol testnet. This foundational infrastructure layer transforms underutilized computing resources into scalable, high-performance, on-demand compute services, powered by blockchain technology. Kinesis enables any underutilized computing resource to be exchanged, monetized, and put to work. Its flexible architecture supports a wide range of real-world applications, including Kinesis Cloud, an innovative platform built to meet the growing compute demands of modern AI workloads. Kinesis uses a unique supply-side software that instantly onboards any personal computer, tablet, or data center server, eliminating Web3 complexity for suppliers. Anyone with computing power can join the network without blockchain knowledge or even a bank account. Customers can access the service just like a traditional cloud provider—no wallets, tokens, or Web3 exposure required. 'Compute should work like a power grid,' said Baris Saydag, CEO of Kinesis. 'You don't think about where electricity was generated or who supplied it—you just plug in and it works. That's what we're building with Kinesis: a decentralized compute grid where anyone can supply, anyone can consume, and compute just flows. No complexity. No friction. Just plug in and go.' JOULE Token Kinesis is powered by JOULE, a protocol token with a non-inflationary design and a fixed supply of one billion tokens that ensure the programmatic functioning of the Kinesis Network. The platform pays providers directly from transaction fees paid by users, rather than inflating new tokens, ensuring a sustainable economic loop rooted in real usage. Delegated Staking Kinesis also offers Delegated Staking, allowing suppliers to use tokens held by third parties to participate in the network and share a portion of the rewards with those delegators. This creates a win-win-win dynamic: suppliers come online with significantly reduced friction. Meanwhile, JOULE holders participate to secure the network while receiving rewards for their participation, and the broader ecosystem grows stronger as more tokens are actively committed to the network, strengthening its overall health and resilience. Large entities can launch their own custom delegation pools, enabling them to onboard suppliers directly from their user base at scale and drive powerful network effects. This mechanism is designed to attract ecosystem-scale partners—platforms and communities with access to large-scale supply—by giving them a direct incentive to activate their networks and share in the upside. Kinesis was founded by a team of technologists with deep expertise in cloud infrastructure, large-scale system optimizations, and blockchain. The leadership team brings experience from Microsoft, AWS, IBM, and Meta, combining technical depth with real-world execution. In addition to CEO Baris Saydag, the founding team includes Hamza AK (Chief Operating Officer), Bina Khimani (Chief Product and Revenue Officer), and Toshihito Kikuchi (Chief Architect). 'Kinesis aims to unlock the world's underutilized compute and turn it into high-performance infrastructure that anyone can use, on demand—just like plugging into a power outlet,' said AK. 'Delivering that experience at a global scale requires an economic framework built for efficiency and real-world participation. Delegated Staking is one part of that framework: JOULE holders power the network and earn yield, while enabling suppliers to come online instantly, with no friction. It's a self-reinforcing incentive loop designed to scale with global participation and transform how compute is accessed, supplied, and rewarded.' The Kinesis testnet is now live. 'Bring your hardware, your ideas, or your community. Whether you're a developer, a supplier, a JOULE holder, or a potential partner, this is your invitation to help build the future of cloud,' added AK. About Kinesis Network Kinesis Network ('Kinesis') is a critical infrastructure that transforms underutilized computing resources into scalable, on-demand services. Powered by JOULE, a non-inflationary protocol token with a fixed supply, Kinesis creates an open, tokenized economy for compute, where anyone can supply, anyone can consume, and everything just works. Kinesis abstracts away Web3 complexity on both sides of the network, enabling seamless onboarding for suppliers and a familiar cloud-like experience for customers. Its first flagship product, Kinesis Cloud, delivers radically more efficient AI infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of traditional cloud providers.
CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
IBM announces new quantum processor, plan for Starling supercomputer by 2029
IBM on Tuesday announced a roadmap to develop a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer called Quantum Starling. Part of the company's plan involves the new IBM Quantum Nighthawk processor, which is set to release later this year, according to a blog post announcing the details. "Unlocking the full promise of quantum computing will require a device capable of running larger, deeper circuits with hundreds of millions of gates operating on hundreds of qubits, at least," the company said in a blog post. "More than that, it will require a device capable of correcting errors and preventing them from spreading throughout the system. ... it will require a fault-tolerant quantum computer. Fault tolerance refers to the system's ability to correct and deal with errors. The quantum race accelerated this year after Google announced its breakthrough quantum chip "Willow" in December. Microsoft rolled out its first quantum chip Majorana 1 in February, and Amazon followed a week later with its "Ocelot" chip. Quantum computing has received more attention and investment in recent years as experts say they are getting closer to a device that can actually solve problems faster than a traditional computer based on semiconductors. Researchers say a working quantum computer will be a useful tool to simulate complicated physics or do math that could decipher encrypted data. Quantum Starling will be built at the IBM Poughkeepsie Lab in New York. IBM's new roadmap sets a timeline for building the components needed in the build, with a series of processors and adapters all named with the bird theme. This year the company is building the Quantum Loon chip, followed by the Quantum Kookaburra, a quantum processor module, in 2026, the blog post said. The Quantum Cockatoo adapter is set for 2027. The Quantum Nighthawk processor will replace the company's Quantum Heron processor, the company said in the post. IBM said Nighthawk can run quantum circuits with 5,000 gates, like the Heron, but plans to boost it to 15,000 gates by 2028.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
How A Spin Master Built A Solid Financial Growth Strategy For Kyndryl
If you're looking for a CFO with deep spinoff experience, David Wyshner is a good resource. He's worked on spinoffs as CFO at companies including XPO and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, and is the first CFO for IBM spinoff Kyndryl. I talked to him about his work with spinoffs, the strategic opportunities they present, and how he's built a solid growth strategy for Kyndryl. This conversation has been edited for length, clarity and continuity. It was excerpted in the Forbes CFO newsletter. What drew you to be the first CFO of Kyndryl? Wyshner: I've been involved in a number of spinoffs over time. Kyndryl is actually No. 6 for me on that list. It sort of happened accidentally at first, but lately it's been intentional that I've been joining organizations that were going through or thinking about going through spins. That's what XPO, Wyndham and Kyndryl have in common. It's really exciting to be involved in an organization that's going through a lot of change. It's a really formative stage, and the number of things that need to be done, that need to be decided, that need to be set up, that need to be started just makes it really exciting. Given the size, scale and complexity of Kyndryl, plus, the team that our CEO was assembling, made it a really exciting opportunity for me and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to do it. Kyndryl CFO David Wyshner. What are some of the things that are unique to a company going through a spin that you have experience in handling? There are so many opportunities to decide who you want to be when you grow up, and to start the process of getting there. In the case of Kyndryl, there were two really important elements. The first was: Culturally, how do we want to operate? How do we want to act and feel? The fact that Kyndryl's color is red, and that Kyndryl is spelled in a way that's a little bit funky and all lowercase. The fact that we're based here in New York City, not up in Westchester [County, New York] are all little signals that Kyndryl is different from IBM, its former parent company, that were all done intentionally. The culture we set up to be flat, fast, and focused, which aren't always things that our former parent was known for. It was a really important part of what we've set up and tried to organize leadership behaviors around. The second element was establishing our strategy as an independent organization. Our rationale for becoming an independent company is one of the best I've ever seen. Previously, we were a captive managed services provider, and that strategically was just not a good place to be. But as an independent company, we became an end-to-end services provider across a range of interconnected technologies. That independence to operate across a technology estate, rather than being constrained to a single parent company's technology, was a game changer. It increased our addressable market, changed what we could do for our customers. We weren't there just to provide help on IBM-related stuff. We were there to be a provider of services across their infrastructure and their tech estate, and we put in place a series of strategies to take advantage of the opportunity associated with that. You talked about going from working solely in the IBM ecosystem to across all providers. How do you build and scale a strategy based on going from a small tank to the open ocean? How have you done it? We're very focused early on building alliances with other leading technology providers, including the cloud hyperscalers: AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, and a number of other technology firms as well. It was a natural thing for us to do because as an infrastructure services provider, large organizations are all using hybrid IT technologies. The constraint around us as a captive didn't make sense, and our customers wanted us to be able to do more for them. Alliance partners wanted access to our customers and our customers wanted to do it. We all wanted to be moving in this same direction because it's a win-win-win for all of us. We devoted time and effort and resources to being a good partner to the alliance partners that we signed up. You talked about alliances, one of the three A's in your strategy. What are the other A's, and how does this strategy lay the groundwork for your plans? About three years ago, we announced the three A's: alliances, advanced delivery and focus accounts. I've established strategies before. Sometimes they're three parts, and you look back and say: One of them was exactly right, one was okay, one I might do all over again. The three A's were perfect for us. They were the things that strategically were important that would move the needle in terms of our results and competitive position. And the execution on them has been really strong. One was alliances, in building out our positioning across the tech estate. Advanced delivery was about driving automation and efficiency in how we deliver infrastructure services to customers. We've freed up thousands of people and saved over three quarters of a billion dollars a year by automating elements of what we do: Delivering services in a more automated and sophisticated way, and taking our service quality, which was always really strong to begin with, and making it even better than it was. That's been a huge win for us. It's been a driver of both margin expansion and continuing to have very strong customer satisfaction scores. The third element was our accounts initiative. When we became independent, we looked across our customer base and found that about 40% of our revenues were coming from accounts where we weren't making any money on a gross margin basis, which means we were losing money on a fully allocated pre-tax basis. Was it just because we were unlucky on 40%? No, it's actually because that's the way those deals had been priced and set up initially, often when our services relationship was part of a broader IBM relationship. That insight was some of the best news ever because it made it a fixable problem. We needed to get those accounts back to market pricing and levels of margin, and that's what we've been executing against ever since, adding to date, about $900 million of annual profit for us. Of all the initiatives I've been involved with, it's one of the best in terms of impact that it's had and the execution we've delivered. We still have some runway there because we operate under long-term contracts, so not all of our contracts have come up for renewal yet. The idea that we're at $900 million and still have some opportunity to deliver more is incredibly exciting. Two years ago in calendar 2023, our stock was up 87%. Last year, it was up another 67%. This year, we're up in the mid-teens. The three A's have been the core driver because we told people exactly what we were going to do. We've reported on it each quarter, and people were able to see the progress that we've made in a way that really has been great in terms of our do-to-say ratio: What we've done relative to exactly what we said we were going to do. What are some of the biggest challenges that you faced with Kyndryl, the spinoff, and getting through the first few years as an independent company? Three things come to mind. The culture that we had in mind was different from the culture we inherited as a spinoff. On the day that we spun off, by definition, our 90,000 Kyndryls were also 90,000 former IBMers. Driving cultural change in an organization of that size has been a good challenge for us to work on. We made a lot of progress, and we still have work to do there. The second challenge was in terms of setting up our strategy, landing on it, and then executing against it. That's where it made a lot of progress on the three A's. The three A's were primarily focused on fixing and turning around business that was break-even at the time of the spin. Now we're much more focused on growth, including revenue growth. That's the opportunity we're aggressively tackling now. We reported our first quarter in a while of positive constant currency revenue growth in March. We're targeting growth for this current fiscal year and fiscal '26 as well. That's the challenge that's front and center for us right now. Where do you see the company going in the next three years? I see us continuing to be a really important part of meeting our customers' IT needs. I like to think of a chief information officer as having two hats. One of them is [responsibility for] all the stuff that needs to run well, 24/7, efficiently, and with security and resiliency around it. The other hat that a CIO wears is helping to drive her organization's business outcomes. How do they drive growth? That whole first part—of making sure everything runs, is modernized, optimized, and is secure, resilient and supporting all the things that need to be done to help drive business outcomes—that's where we can play a larger and larger role. We do that at scale. We invest in it, innovate in that space. Any one of our customers, they're running one infrastructure, not hundreds or thousands of them. Given the scale we have, we are good at innovating in that space, driving positive outcomes there. As a result, I think we can be even more helpful to our customers. At the same time, that creates growth opportunities for us. It creates profit opportunities for us, and it makes us more important to the customers that we serve, in a way that can be very valuable to them as well. That's the opportunity that we're going to be going after. I'm really confident in our ability to seize that opportunity and play that role. We're a leader in our space right now. We've invested in AI, in particular around Kyndryl Bridge, to help drive additional benefits associated with our leadership. That's going to help us seize this opportunity over the next several years. How important is it to work with other members of the C-suite, especially with a CEO who was the CFO of IBM before the spinoff? It is so important for us as a team to be working together. For the finance team, the word that I tend to stress the most is collaboration, both within the finance team and with other parts of the organization. I try to lead by example there, in terms of the relationships I have with senior colleagues, but it needs to be much more multifaceted than that. We don't want to operate solely as silos that are connected at the top. We need this collaboration to happen at multiple levels, and across levels and functions as well. The aspiration is that I would like for people to report that interacting with finance is fun. I don't think we're ever going to get to that aspiration, but by having that as a goal and the aspiration, we can get to: At least they were collaborative. They had my back, they were looking out for me. They were responsive, they understood what I was trying to achieve. They asked questions, they were okay to work with. If we can achieve those things, they'll be really helpful. Even if we don't get 100% of the way there, we can drive a lot of collaboration and live the type of culture that we want to have. If you were to give some advice to other financial leaders, what would you say? One of the roles of finance is to drive great, impactful decision making across the organization. Where finance could be helpful is by analyzing, collaborating and prioritizing, and those are the areas I focus on. The quality of analysis that we can provide can support decision making. In fact, a lot of times, a good analysis makes what makes a decision really rather obvious. And so good objective analysis is really helpful. In organizations of almost any size, particularly larger organizations, collaboration is so critical to making progress. The third thing on my list is prioritizing. I think people and organizations can so easily get distracted by shiny objects, or devote more resources to things that are good or beneficial, but aren't as good or as beneficial as other things. And as a result, the idea of ruthless prioritization and making sure we're spending our resources—sometimes it's money, but it's often time, or organizational bandwidth for change—in a way that's really optimal. Analyze ruthlessly, collaborate ruthlessly—that's not an oxymoron—and prioritize ruthlessly.
