Lou Gerstner Famous Quotes
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Vision is easy. It's so easy to just point to the bleachers and say I'm going to hit one over there. What's hard is saying, OK, how do I do that? What are the specific programs, what are the commitments, what are the resources, what are the processes we need in play to go implement the vision, turn it into a working model that people follow every day in the enterprise. That's hard work.
The more successful enterprises are the more they try to replicate, duplicate, codify what makes us great. And suddenly they're inward thinking. They're thinking how can we continue to do what we've done in the past without understanding that what made them successful is to take risks, to change and to adapt and to be responsive. And so in a sense success breeds its own failure. And I think it's true of a lot of successful businesses.
Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization's makeup and success - along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like ... I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.
I look for people who work to solve problems and help colleagues, I sack politicians.
I think values are really, really important, but I also think that too many values are just words.
Customer complaints are the schoolbooks from which we learn.
You don't get points for predicting rain. You get points for building arks.
The thing I have learned at IBM is that culture is everything.
The rewards system is a powerful driver of behavior and therefore culture.
IBM needed - an enormous sense of urgency.
If the practices and processes inside a company don't drive the execution of values, then people don't get it. The question is, do you create a culture of behavior and action that really demonstrates those values and a reward system for those who adhere to them?
For the first month, I listened, and I tried very hard not to draw conclusions
The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.
I just think we should look at this as a chess match," he said, "between the world's greatest chess player and Garry Kasparov.
Lou Gerstner knows how to do a deal, and George Bush Sr., less so.
