Many IBMers see Louis V. Gerstner as the savior of their company—indeed, Gerstner sees himself that way. Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? expresses this perspective quite well. What Gerstner never realized is that much of his success came from accidentally tapping into an eighty-year-old culture that he never understood.
IBM’s founders, the Watsons, created this culture in the 1910s, and then codified it in the 1950s with the creation of three Basic Beliefs: Respect, Service and Excellence. But today’s IBM has lost its culture, its constitution and its way.
Surely a century-old corporation is more than its founding words; but great leaders do not seek to abolish a people’s constitution, rather they seek a return to its original intent.
This book captures how that change occurred—a view from beneath the dancing elephant.
A "must read" for anyone who worked for IBM, or read Gerstner's Elephant book, written by an IBMer, who lived through the transition from a company based upon "Respect, Service and Excellence" to "just another IT vendor".
Pete has done an outstanding job through the use of analogies', personal stories, and historical information; painting a very graphic picture of how IBM grew to be the greatest corporation in the world and then fell to its current spot as an also ran in the US. He makes it easy to understand what went on over the 100 years of life. Under 80 years with the Watsons, IBM became a close knit family of dedicated employees, which was the companies greatest asset, and during the last 20 years, that asset was pushed to an accountants spreadsheet for expense pruning. Reading this book, triggered many memories of my 45 years with IBM, as I was able to directly relate to the actions and events that Pete described. He has done a great job of researching information and facts about the company, and Pete's style of writing makes this an easy, entertaining, and educational experience. I highly recommend this book.
As 33 year IBMer, I hold fond memories of working for IBM. The company gave me enormous opportunities, and a life of constant learning. It was Watson's IBM. When I joined IBM in 1973, they said come join the IBM family. You will never work for another company. That all proved true in name, but by the time I retired in 2006, IBM was no longer the same company at its heart. Pete has captured the pain, causes, and ongoing threats to this once beloved company in a very touching and personal way. I not only enjoyed the reading of this new book, but I found myself with tears welling up in my eyes as I was reminded of what the company and many of us have lost.
Rediscovering IBM's corporate constitution reminds us of the critical importance of innovation, excellence, service, integrity and ethics in maintaining and growing the culture of a successful organization. In fact, these methods of building trust and achieving high levels of internal and external engagement are highly-visible hallmarks of those companies that put long-term values ahead of achieving near-term financial results. The case is made by Peter Greulich that IBM is in the process of losing its way by shortchanging these core values. If this is true, in today's business world it is not hard to find several other huge enterprises that are also losing, or have lost their way in similar fashion. This book is an excellent reminder of how critical true values are to shaping a culture of success.
