Thursday, January 22, 2009

IBM


There was a reason why I chose to read Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? by Louis V Gerstner Jr a few weeks back. A book on how he transformed IBM and how he took his first step on April Fool's Day in 1993.
Lou wore a blue shirt on his first day in the meeting and the executives all were wearing white ( IBM then was driven by Basic Beliefs of its founder). Then the following day when he wore white, the rest wore colored shirts. On a more serious note, we could see how he changed the mindset of the IBM culture and exiting from their mainframe System 360 business or how IBM coined the term "E services" but decided not to patent it so that the world today can use and harness the term.
I took on this book at this turbulent times knowing that this company and this book can give me an insight on how all hopes are not lost. And true to my prediction, IBM's relevation today beat Wall Street's forecast putting many at disbelief. IBM reported a profit in Q4 although sales were down.
With its amazing transformation more than a decade ago from a mainframe company becoming a software and service company, Big Blue has yet proven gain to the naysayers that they are a force to be reckoned with for a long time to come.
.

No comments: