The million-dollar question for IBM market observers? Did Big Blue — in promoting 30-year insider
Arvind Krishna on Thursday night to replace long-time CEO Ginni Rometty in early April — just have
its Microsoft Satya Nadella moment?
No.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ibm-is-looking-for-its-microsoft-satya-nadella-moment-180656763.html
I thought Microsoft made a comeback because of good leadership and products worth paying for.
What I am reading here is: IBM will cut its way to prosperity. Haven't we been doing that for more than 10 years?
I can't follow a leader who thinks only he is right. For at least 5 years, Krishna has been single-handedly instigating the R&D cuts that have put us further behind.
Krishna is no Gerstner. Gerstner had credibility because he was from outside IBM. Krishna is Armonk through and through. He is as responsible as Rometty for IBM's negative growth and lack of innovation.
@ubj - Yes. IBM needs to be leaner and meaner.
Of course, after cutting out the majority of workers over 40, young and vibrant IBMer's will have just two words for Mr. Krishna:
OK Boomer.
@ubj – spot on. They have been planning this for awhile, now it's time to execute. Better get your snorkeling gear ready, as the coming bloodbath is going to be deep.
They didn’t hire him to be liked, or to be everyone’s friend, or because of his good looks. They hired him to make some very hard decisions about IBM’s future. It’s going to get very nasty very fast. He is exactly where Gerstner was, BUT he has a better balance sheet. IBM has been mulling this over for a year, and they know where they want to go, and have a plan to execute to get there. Krishna signed on to be the change agent. Is it going to hurt. YOU BET. Will IBM come out on the other side a leaner and meaner company. We can only hope so. Get ready as what ever plans were discussed before the hiring are well in play, and you are about to see them executed.
As I understand it, IBM has picked a CEO that employees don't like very much and are almost universally afraid of. How is this supposed to work?
Pretty tone deaf of the media trying to compare Krishna to Nadella – because they are both Indians? How stupid is that!
Completely agree. Yet that likely is what happened in Armonk. Someone in marketing suggested the idea, and the IBM board thought it was brilliant. "Let's copy Microsoft!"
"Tone deaf and out of touch" is a good description for IBM senior management in 2020. Based on past behavior, the new CEO is unlikely to change this narrative.
I honestly don't want to offend anyone with this comment. But here goes.
As someone who has met all three, I can suggest: "Arvind Krishna is closer to Donald Trump than Satya Nadella".
That is a good or bad thing depending on you point of view.
Pretty tone deaf of the media trying to compare Krishna to Nadella – because they are both Indians? How stupid is that!
Nadella presided over the explosive and amazing ascent of Microsoft's Azure Cloud. Krishna, the nearly complete sinking of IBM's Cloud and Watson divisions. Where is the parallel?
It's actually a bit racist to try to make such stupid comparisons. Can you imagine some article saying another company was about to have a Rometty moment, just because they hired a new female CEO ?
Don’t know him, but never heard anything positive and the numbers speak for themselves. Let’s hope that Whitehurst is allowed to call the shots and this guy is just a token figurehead.
It will be interesting to see the reaction after Krishna's arrogance and bullying stories leak out. Why didn't IBM ask their employees about this guy?
IBM thinks they have cunningly promoted their own Satya Nadella. Just one problem: Anyone who has worked with him knows this is not true.
The social media blowback will soon be:
"I worked with Satya Nadella. I knew Satya Nadellay. Satya Nadella was a friend of mine. You Mr. Krishna, are no Satya Nadella".