In all my years in consulting i have come across multiple fake leaders (aka.. A fake leader is an individual who prioritizes personal image, power, and self-interest over the well-being of their team and organization) but nothing like IBM consulting. Per my experience apart from a handful of leaders every other leader i encountered at IBM consulting is very close to a fake leader. seems like its very much engrained into the culture what have you seen during your time ?
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Yikes the alb site lives and dies by these JDAs without them they are toast
Rapidus really wants to exit now, very strongly. They feel like maybe they were misled in this deal, or things were not fully clear at the beginning.
From their point of view, they have already made strong progress by themselves, step by step. And now they believe they are reaching, or even exceeding, IBM capability in some areas, on their own effort.
@1vj Aren’t they in Japan right now for the MCMs? I hear Rapidus decided not to renew most of those projects and thus is effectively the end for them.
@21h yes thank is my forecast too. Robbie "I look mahvelous in my hoodie and sneakers" Thomas is known to lurk in Reddit forums etc so I am 98% sure he is lurking here too. IBM is like Bozo The Clown trying to make a comeback.
@bm Well you are talking about the next CEO.
@b3 Yes, I think it doesn't bother him. He got a 51% raise in his compensation. So you tell us. There is not even strategic thought behind RAs. If there were, it would be done way differently and with a better impact to the bottom line.
@a6 HAHAHA, Arvind, get off this channel.
@OP That happened when we bought PWC. That was their culture and unfortunately we adopted it.
@1vj well that’s sort of what went down.
Exactly. He championed the Rapidus deal, celebrated it as a win, and took the credit with his inner circle despite clear warnings it wouldn’t work. But once it started unraveling, they quickly distanced themselves and left others to handle the fallout.
@fj He also leaves a lot of churn in his wake. A lot of unfinished work and leaving his teams hanging that’s for sure. Lots of half baked plans that just fizzle out into nothing and unfulfilled broken promises. Yes still gets accolades and promotions and kudos internally
He will simply be removed and then reassigned and installed as the new director in another department. Question is what will he be the director of in 6 months?
@q3 ALB here. Yes 100% correct. Except he will be just fine. That’s how ALB works.
@fj But what’s the end game? They can’t leverage this to go find a better position else where. Most companies are savy to IBMs quality of leadership at this point. They know it’s fraudulent “pumped up” numbers. They can’t leverage this to get a better position somewhere else. Take Hemnath’s example mentioned by someone in an earlier post. It’s not a good resume. It’s screams I failed so my higher up patrons moved me over and I then failed again so I had to be moved a third time. It’s not a good look. It raises a lot of questions. He has painted himself into a corner and really can’t go anywhere else but work for ibm
The Albany site leadership is very fake and terrible. They have no idea what they are doing and they really do not care. They are very bad leaders. But really, they not there to lead. They not there to move the work forward or help IBM position. They only there to push their own career and personal standing inside IBM system. Good for them maybe, but no mistake — what they do is very intentional.
Can confirm. Albany site have some of most fake and worst leadership I ever see. They all are 100% out for their own gain and not really trying to hide that fact anymore. They make fake efforts to look like team working, but not real. There is a lot of subtle infighting and politics between people and teams. They are very bad at leading, managing, and making good decisions. The situation is very influenced by who they are friends with. Many of these managers should never become managers.
@fj he is succeeding in getting people to quit
Yes just look at HJ. In just three years, HJ was moved or promoted and removed into director roles across four different organizations. Four times in three years! Was there truly no one else capable of stepping into these positions? Across these groups, during his tenure the actual accomplishments have been minimal or flat out none. While smaller efforts were often amplified and presented as major, newsworthy achievements, those working closely within these teams understand that meaningful progress has been limited. This pattern does not reflect a healthy or well-functioning site.
@a7 there is a lot of fake leadership therein fact all of it is just smoke and mirrors
@bm EXTREMELY correct and well stated; thank you. Rob "Bloviate" Thomas is the most embarassing IT person I saw in my 44 years. He could be the MC for Barnum and Bailey Circust but nothing else.
When I think of fake leadership, Rob T comes to mind. There’s a guy who loves the sound of his own voice. Too bad he’s totally destroyed the sales organization. I know multiple sellers and CSEs. They’re all looking to get out. ATLs are in over their heads and most don’t know the products, and the TSLs are just as bad. Everyone’s quotas are ridiculous and nobody actually cares about what the customers might need. They’re all conditioned to sell sell sell - mostly out of fear. It’s all thanks to the bloviated clown at the top of the sales food chain.
@b3
you replaced them because they were white
or to add a few gold coins to your pocket
while hollowing out companies and destroying their future
folks don't owe you a kindness
This place is spiraling out of control. People Happy about Mr Gerstners passing. Or the dehumanizing of Arvind calling him names and spewing hate. These are people with families.
Laying people off is a tough decision and it bears down heavy on CEOs and management. They have the burden of making tough decisions. Do you really think Arvind is happy about RA's?
Take a visit to Albany. That site has been leveraged by a small group for their own personal gain and advancement for over a decade. It’s egregious and widely known open secret on-site. Yet it continues under a thinly veiled pretense of R&D.
Arvind Krishna has proven himself to be a truly visionary CEO by making bold, disciplined bets that position IBM for long-term relevance rather than short-term headlines. Under his leadership, IBM doubled down on hybrid cloud and AI—areas many talked about, but few executed with clarity—while shedding legacy distractions to sharpen focus. He’s not chasing hype cycles; he’s building durable infrastructure around enterprise AI, quantum computing, and mission-critical cloud platforms that major institutions actually rely on. That combination of strategic focus, technical depth, and willingness to make tough portfolio decisions is exactly what separates a caretaker CEO from a visionary one.
In large part because in 2002 The G Man Gerstner used $3,500,000,000 of IBM shareholder money, way overpaid, for PwC Consulting and those people did not want to move to IBM nor ever got engrained and assimilated to learn what it means to be IBM. This was 9 years after G Man came into IBM and burned the culture which to this day, IBM is still wandering in the woods with no culture. None. Here is a laptop. He is an un attainable quota. Here are a bunch of "contacts" not customers, to fatigue with SalesLoft to spam then 7 times a week "...would you like to buy something today...?). After 6 months, miss the number and quit or go on PIP and be forced out with mental abuse. Rinse and repeat. I guess IBM thinks technology is now bought and used the way you download apps for your phone from Apple and Google stores. ALL of the LEADERS at IBM are clones of Ron Burgundy in Anchorman. Not smart. Not funny. No self awareness. Love to seem themselves on TV or in ridiculous "town hall" mtgs etc etc. "I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal."