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Saving Big Blue

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Saving Big Blue

Leadership Lessons and Turnaround Tactics of IBM's Lou Gerstner

McGraw-Hill,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

IBM was moribund, hidebound, and shopworn when Lou Gerstner rode in and revived it with revolutionary tactics: firing entrenched employees, flattening established bureaucracy, and selling solutions instead of products.

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Well Structured
  • Background

Recommendation

Listen, my children, and you shall hear the incredible saga of how IBM nearly died and was revived by Lou Gerstner. Robert Slater tells the tale of IBM’s turnaround after it nearly sank under the weight of institutionalized arrogance and failure to heed advancements in the industry it had dominated. Gerstner broke company tradition, fired employees who believed they had a sinecure, slashed a decade-old bureaucracy, and switched IBM’s focus from products to solutions. This action portrait shows a man smart enough and tough enough to rebuild an empire. The book’s lessons are artfully woven into the fabric of Gerstner’s personal story and IBM’s corporate history. getAbstract recommends this book to any high level executive whose organization needs a revolution or to any businessperson who wants a juicy reminder of what it takes to win the war of independence.

Summary

Institutionalized Arrogance: The Case of IBM

IBM was the Big Blue giant, dominating the computer market from the late 1940s until well into the 1980s. Its corporate culture set it apart in the early days. If you worked for IBM, you were a symbol of excellence, the epitome of a businessman, right down to your garter and fedora. As such, you would feel a part of something special - a business elite, an invincible company. No one got fired; that was a house rule. Change was not in anyone’s vocabulary.

IBM became famous in the mainframe business. But its success and corporate culture blindfolded its management, who seemingly never saw the personal computer revolution riding down upon them. The very assets that distinguished IBM in the early days - size, image, and focus - almost crushed it as the 1980s closed. IBM rode high for a long time, but refused to look outside of itself. Management was arrogant to a fault, and when the world of computers began to stampede in a new direction, IBM almost got left in the dust.

Turning it Around: Enter Lou Gerstner

The press called Lou Gerstner a man without a vision for a long time. When he took over IBM in 1993, he ...

About the Author

Robert Slater has written for Time, Newsweek, and United Press International. He has also written a number of best selling business books.

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