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.
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Book Description
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.
From Publishers Weekly
Gerstner quarterbacked one of history's most dramatic corporate turnarounds. For those who follow business stories like football games, his tale of the rise, fall and rise of IBM might be the ultimate slow-motion replay. He became IBM's CEO in 1993, when the gargantuan company was near collapse. The book's opening section snappily reports Gerstner's decisions in his first 18 months on the job-the critical "sprint" that moved IBM away from the brink of destruction. The following sections describe the marathon fight to make IBM once again "a company that mattered." Gerstner writes most vividly about the company's culture. On his arrival, "there was a kind of hothouse quality to the place. It was like an isolated tropical ecosystem that had been cut off from the world for too long. As a result, it had spawned some fairly exotic life-forms that were to be found nowhere else." One of Gerstner's first tasks was to redirect the company's attention to the outside world, where a marketplace was quickly changing and customers felt largely ignored. He succeeded mightily. Upon his retirement this year, IBM was undeniably "a company that mattered." Gerstner's writing occasionally is myopic. For example, he makes much of his own openness to input from all levels of the company, only to mock an earnest (and overlong) employee e-mail (reprinted in its entirety) that was critical of his performance. Also, he includes a bafflingly long and dull appendix of his collected communications to IBM employees. Still, the book is a well-rendered self-portrait of a CEO who made spectacular change on the strength of personal leadership.
From AudioFile
The former CEO of IBM tells the story of his company's amazing comeback from 1993 to 2001. Challenged by customers and employees worldwide and product-service lines that defied integration, Gerstner implemented solutions to turn the company into the integrated business giant it is today. Edward Herrmann's pacing and understated connection with the material in this memoir makes the audio seem compact and relaxed. The writing is also outstanding, lacking excessive pride or self-congratulation, so you don't have to elbow past the author's ego to absorb the many CEO-level insights offered here. An essential volume for anyone interested in technology, large organizations, or IBM's miraculous rebirth under Gerstner's leadership. T.W.
Book Dimension
length: (cm)19.7 width:(cm)12.8
發表於2024-09-27
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround 2024 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載
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評分最近在讀同事藉給我的老書《誰說大象不能跳舞?》,作者是IBM的CEO郭士納,主題是變革,感同身受。讓一傢有著輝煌曆史的公司重現活力是件很睏難的事情,事實上讓任何一個組織充滿活力都不是很容易的事情,誰說小象就一定能跳舞?年輕的衝動更容易被官僚的體製或者自以為是...
評分一、郭士納闡述瞭他著名的管理哲學8個要點: 1 .我按照原則而不是流程程序管理。 2 .市場決定我們的一切行為。 3 .我是一個深深地相信質量、強有力的競爭戰略與規劃、團隊閤作、績效工資製和商業道德責任的人。 4 .我渴求那些能夠解決問題和幫助同小解決問題的人,我會開除...
評分最近在讀《誰說大象不能跳舞》-IBM董事長郭士納自傳這本書,讓我重新對管理也有瞭一個看法。 作為一名工程師,總是會有一種對技術的崇拜,覺得世界是被技術改變,各種偉大的技術推動瞭整個世界的發展。以蒸汽機為主要特徵的第一次工業革命、以電力電動機為主要特徵的第二次工...
圖書標籤: 財經 管理 商業管理 傳記 美國 經濟投資 人物傳記 專業書.更專業的
很想讀這本書
評分從一開始描述IBM官僚主義的地方起就很有意思
評分從一開始描述IBM官僚主義的地方起就很有意思
評分從一開始描述IBM官僚主義的地方起就很有意思
評分很想讀這本書
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround 2024 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載