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Books : Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic TurnaroundIn association with Amazon.com Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: Audio CassetteDewey Decimal Number: 004.068 EAN: 9780060529444 Format: Audiobook, Unabridged ISBN: 006052944X Label: HarperAudio Manufacturer: HarperAudio Number Of Items: 8 Publication Date: November 01, 2002 Publisher: HarperAudio Release Date: November 12, 2002 Studio: HarperAudio Sales Rank: 1572488 Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description: In 1990, IBM had its most profitable year ever. By 1993, the company 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. Enter Lou Gerstner. The presumption was that Gerstner had joined IBM to preside over its continued dissolution into a confederation of autonomous business units -- effectively eliminating the corporation that had invented many of the industry's most important technologies. Instead, Gerstner took hold of the company, making the bold decision to keep it together, defiantly announcing, "The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision." Told in Lou Gerstner's own words, this is a story of an extraordinary turnaround, a case study in managing a crisis, and a thoughtful reflection on the computer industry and the principles of leadership. Summing up his historic business achievement, Gerstner recounts high-level meetings, explains the no-turning-back decisions that had to be made, and offers his hard-won conclusions about the essence of what makes a great company run. Read by Edward Herrmann Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Is it the same when it's changed?The critics were predicting IBM's demise when he took the rains, apparently after much prodding. He took the bold step of listening to customers and cutting the price of their cash cow, the 360, to raise cash. He also decided that the business model (proprietary) that had worked for IBM in the 50s-70s just wasn't going to work, and he made a big bet on middleware and services. What's important to his management philosophy? First, he considers big to be good: IBM doesn't have to scrounge ... Read More Rating:  - Elephants Can't DanceNever forget that Gerstner was one of the big dog tobacco executives before he came to IBM. One of the tobacco executives who took an oath and swore before Congress that he did not believe that tobacco was addictive. Tobacco was known to be addictive since at least 1932 according to the tobacco companies' own records. Before you believe anything that Gerstner wrote or (more likely) had ghostwritten for him, always keep that in mind. Rating: - Great leaderWhen I started the book, I have no idea about the history of IBM. I am not an IT person, so I have heard IBM but that is basically it. I learned a lot from the book about IBM, what they did wrong and how he changed it. But besides everything he revised the company culture and organizational structure. I think that is the hardest thing a CEO can achieve. His vision, his attention to details but still seeing the big picture amazed me. No wonder they picked him as the great saver of the IBM legend. ... Read More Rating:  - What Life at the Top is Really Like--As Told By a Superb LeaderHaving spent twenty-three years in management before I became an entrepreneur, I recognize that moving from one side of the desk to the other side may be the longest journey a professional person ever makes. When we shift into a leadership spot, not only do we find that our prior perceptions might have been totally inaccurate, we have to address personal and professional challenges we would have never imagined. I applaud this book as one man's record of what life at the top is really like. He won ... Read More Rating: - Where Were the Details?Throughout this book Gerstner discusses the changes IBM made and how he helped turned the company around. I have no doubt that he was a large part of the dynamic shift at IBM to again make it the successful, global company that it is today, but I felt that I went through the book without completely understanding what those changes were. There was a lot of discussion of how IBM was operated and managed when Gerstner took control of the company in 1993 as it was falling apart before the public's eyes, and there ... Read More Browse for similar items by category:
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