Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?: Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround by Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
About the Book:-
Format: Paperback, 304pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, Dec 2003
ISBN-13: 9780060523800
ISBN: 0060523808
Firnando Chau Review
Table of Contents:-
Foreword
Introduction
Pt. I Grabbing Hold
1 The Courtship
2 The Announcement
3 Drinking from a Fire Hose
4 Out to the Field
5 Operation Bear Hug
6 Stop the Bleeding (and Hold the Vision)
7 Creating the Leadership Team
8 Creating a Global Enterprise
9 Reviving the Brand
10 Resetting the Corporate Compensation Philosophy
11 Back on the Beach
Pt. II Strategy
12 A Brief History of IBM
13 Making the Big Bets
14 Services - the Key to Integration
15 Building the World's Already Biggest Software Business
16 Opening the Company Store
17 Unstacking the Stack and Focusing the Portfolio
18 The Emergence of e-business
19 Reflections on Strategy
Pt. III Culture
20 On Corporate Culture
21 An Inside-Out World
22 Leading by Principles
Pt. IV Lessons Learned
23 Focus - You Have to Know (and Love) Your Business
24 Execution - Strategy Goes Only So Far
25 Leadership Is Personal
26 Elephants Can Dance
Pt. V Observations
27 The Industry
28 The System
29 The Watchers
30 Corporations and the Community
31 IBM - a Farewell
App. A: Employee Communications
App. B The Future of e-business
App. C: Financial Overview
Index
Synopsis (2003)
In 1990, IBM had its most profitable year ever. By 1993, the computer industry had changed so rapidly the company was on its way to losing $16 billion and IBM was on a watch list for extinction -- victimized by its own lumbering size, an insular corporate culture, and the PC era IBM had itself helped invent.
Then Lou Gerstner was brought in to run IBM. Almost everyone watching the rapid demise of this American icon presumed Gerstner had joined IBM to preside over its continued dissolution into a confederation of autonomous business units. This strategy, well underway when he arrived, would have effectively eliminated the corporation that had invented many of the industry's most important technologies.
Instead, Gerstner took hold of the company and demanded the managers work together to re-establish IBM's mission as a customer-focused provider of computing solutions. Moving ahead of his critics, Gerstner made the hold decision to keep the company together, slash prices on his core product to keep the company competitive, and almost defiantly announced, "The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision."
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? tells the story of IBM's competitive and cultural transformation. In his own words, Gerstner offers a blow-by-blow account of his arrival at the company and his campaign to rebuild the leadership team and give the workforce a renewed sense of purpose. In the process, Gerstner defined a strategy for the computing giant and remade the ossified culture bred by the company's own success.
The first-hand story of an extraordinary turnaround, a unique case study in managing a crisis, and a thoughtful reflection on the computer industry and the principles of leadership, Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? sums up Lou Gerstner's historic business achievement. Taking readers deep into the world of IBM's CEO, Gerstner recounts the high-level meetings and explains the pressure-filled, no-turning-back decisions that had to be made. He also offers his hard-won conclusions about the essence of what makes a great company run.
In the history of modern business, many companies have gone from being industry leaders to the verge of extinction. Through the heroic efforts of a new management team, some of those companies have even succeeded in resuscitating themselves and living on in the shadow of their former stature. But only one company has been at the pinnacle of an industry, fallen to near collapse, and then, beyond anyone's expectations, returned to set the agenda. That company is IBM.
Lou Gerstener, Jr., served as chairman and chief executive officer of IBM from April 1993 to March 2002, when he retired as CEO. He remained chairman of the board through the end of 2002. Before joining IBM, Mr. Gerstner served for four years as chairman and CEO of RJR Nabisco, Inc. This was preceded by an eleven-year career at the American Express Company, where he was president of the parent company and chairman and CEO of its largest subsidiary. Prior to that, Mr. Gerstner was a director of the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Co., Inc. He received a bachelor's degree in engineering from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
The New York Times Book Review
The book leaves the reader thinking that a few more Gerstners around in the '90s might have prevented the bubble from swelling so large -- and popping with such a bang.
About the Author (2003)
Lou Gerstner, Jr., served as chairman and chief executive officer of IBM from April 1993 until March 2002, when he retired as CEO. He remained chairman of the board through the end of 2002. Before joining IBM, Mr. Gerstner served for four years as chairman and CEO of RJR Nabisco, Inc. This was preceded by an eleven-year career at the American Express Company, where he was president of the parent company and chairman and CEO of its largest subsidiary. Prior to that, Mr. Gerstner was a director of the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Co., Inc. He received a bachelor's degree in engineering from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
