IBM Should Develop a leadership academy named after Mr Gerstner

When Mr. Gerstner became CEO, IBM was facing one of the most challenging periods in its history. He made difficult decisions, refocused the company, preserved IBM as an integrated enterprise, and helped restore its competitiveness. His leadership demonstrated that successful executives must balance long-term strategy, financial discipline, innovation, and customer focus.

A Lou Gerstner Leadership Academy could teach future leaders about:

Leading through major organizational change.
Making tough decisions under pressure.
Putting customers first.
Driving accountability and execution.
Building a culture focused on long-term success rather than short-term popularity.

Whether someone agrees with every decision he made or not, Mr. Gerstner's turnaround of IBM remains one of the most significant corporate leadership stories of the modern era. There are valuable leadership lessons that today's and tomorrow's IBM leaders can still learn from his example.

#Accountability #Culture #Innovation #Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment

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37 replies (most recent on top)

@w9

Gin and Tonic was an effin DEI Lackay like Alvind. Remember all those declining revenue quarters?

I don't get all the admiration for Gerstner and krishna. In my mind ginni was the best ceo ever. We had watson and smarter planet and datapalooza. This place was rockin. Bring back Ginni!

@v4 sure, IBM India HR liar-bot rage-bait troll shill spanky-pants id--t loser parasite. If you say so.

Now go and comment on this, if you have the cojones

@OP+1kwetaa0s

Because it means you will be here today, gone tomorrow and no promotion even if you have a Growth Mindset, 1000+ Think 100 Hours and 2000 IBM badges. And your mother and sister are performing with your first line to sell the wonderful videos on the Internet marketplace. Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink.

@v4 yawn

@qr

Wow the hate keeps spewing thick and hot. He saved IBM and his legacy will live on.

@p1 Dead Gerbil is pushing up the daisies in he-l. You better believe it, IBM India HR liar-bot rage-bait troll shill spanky-pants id--t loser parasite.

And how about renaming the Leadership Academy to "Dead Gerbil's Home For Innovation for the Lost And Criminally Inclined" .

@p0 you have an excellent idea to get the mini-fridge away from IBM's clutches. If in any doubt of your success, wear a face mask depicting the CEO Arvind Krispy-Kreme. If challenged by Security, state you are taking this fridge to your (Arvind's) office in Armonk and they can check the Bluepages and see your face. There are plenty of other ways to successfully complete your task, it just takes a little brain power. Alternative masks could be for Krabanaugh, Robbie the Hood or even Joanne Wrong the Queen Walrus.

At least you're showing the maturity and initiative to take back some things that are rightfully yours before you go on permanently offline on a PIP from IBM. And if you are currently on a PIP, this is payback for what IBM did to ya. As they saying goes "Payback is a bi--h; IBM takes your job away and you take their mini-bar fridge away" ! Fair is fair.

@n8 What a great idea! One of my IBM sites does have a little refrigerator I could use. And I think there's an accessible trash area outside the building. I could stay late, empty the refrigerator, unplug it, and put a sign on it that says "TRASH - Remove to outdoor trash pickup area immediately." The next morning I arrive with a car to get it. Cameras would be an issue, so I'd wear Groucho Marx glasses.

@n8

At this point, some of these comments aren't about improving IBM—they're about normalizing taking company property. Whether it's chairs, office supplies, or now joking about taking a refrigerator, that's not "sticking it to management." It's encouraging conduct that would violate company policy and could cost someone their job.

Bob Palmers attempted strategy for turning DEC around was two fold; 1. sell off pieces of the company bit by bit, 2. betting the bank on the Alpha chip technology and hoping ISVs and OEMs would develop products based on the chip technology. That never happened, Yes, I was there and at IBM as well and I can say the leadership at DEC was much more technical than IBM leadership. DEC also floundered under Ken Olson for strategic decisions not to move fast to the PC market and Unix market. Ken was an engineer at heart and very technical but he was stubborn and had his own opinions.

@jd but you can't do anything about it, can you IBM India HR liar-bot rage-bait troll shill spanky-pants id--t loser parasite ?

How are those Internet videos selling ?

LOL

@km Congratulations on a well executed job !

You might even beat Arvind and his executives at the theft game when they steal jobs and raises from US employees.

You should now consider taking a fridge home as the next challenge exercise. There no cameras anywhere at the regular IBM office facilities, except in the restrooms. The prevert, IBM India HR liar-bot rage-bait troll shill spanky-pants id--t loser parasite instaleld them and likes to to record and watch. When asked, he claims that he's doing this to get another IBM Security badge.

@km

I can not believe you are proud of that. Aren't there security cameras? you should return that

@jt Oh goodie! More things to steal. Today I stole a microwave oven from one of my IBM sites. I couldn't believe it just fit in my extra large food delivery backpack. Now I can get rid of my old cr-ppy one. Thank you IBM!

@jt :

Agreed - IBM India HR liar-bot rage-bait troll shill spanky-pants id--t loser parasite can take turns to answer the call of nature on these statues.

There should be 2 statues. One for Mr Watson and one for Mr Gerstner

One honoring Mr. Thomas J. Watson Sr., whose vision helped build IBM into one of the world's greatest technology companies.

The other honoring Mr. Lou Gerstner, who took over when IBM faced one of the most difficult periods in its history. He made extraordinarily tough decisions, preserved IBM as an integrated company when many wanted it broken apart, restored profitability, and helped position it for the future.

@j2

Totally classless and hateful. The man rescued IBM and his legacy is being tarnished by hate and bile being spewed thick and hot

The academy will be called Dead Gerbil Layoff Academy and the first one to be fired for misconduct would be no other than the one and only one, the infamous IBM India HR liar-bot rage-bait troll shill spanky-pants id--t loser parasite.

@hv Who the f are you to talk about context? Quit spewing pro IBM BS on a layoff site. Mo--n.

@hm

Nobody denies that the layoffs were painful. Tens of thousands of employees lost their jobs, and that had a real human cost. But it's also important to remember the context. Mr. Gerstner took over IBM when the company was facing one of the most serious crises in its history, and many believed it might be broken up or fail altogether.

Leadership isn't about making easy decisions it's about making the difficult ones that give a company a chance to survive. Mr. Gerstner's restructuring was controversial, but it also helped return IBM to profitability and kept the company together as an integrated enterprise.

Met him at my first Golden Circle in 93 just after he joined. He was an arrogant pompous greedy bully who laid off over 150,000 great IBMers over 18 months. The troll in this blog is in love with him by reading his elephant book and never met him, talked with him, saw him. Troll I have a bridge for sale for you. Full stop.

@e7
Digital did not have an army of useless POS managers. Managers at Digital were technical and performed technical duties.

@dy

QUIT SPEWING BILE

@e7 no IBM never laid me off. Shame on me for what? I never liked layoffs even though I never got laid off. It is terrible. So you think Gerstner could have turned IBM without a single layoff? I am all for wishing for miracles but seriously.

@e6 :

so you benefited at digital because palmer treated you well and did not lay you off, then you came to ibm looking for the same respect by dead gerbill but got laid off, still you would give credit to the one who was evil. shame on you.

Well I have to give Gerstner credit. I worked at both IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation in my career. While Gerstner was able to turn IBM around, Bob Palmer from DEC failed miserably after trying to take over from the founder, Ken Olson. At DEC, Ken did not believe in layoffs and he was forced out by the board. DEC was bleeding red, losing more money every day. Don’t get me wrong, layoffs are not an excuse for poor management and execution but at DEC, we had no choice as we were seeing red.

@dv they shoulda let this shithole break up. this whale is about as useful as krabanaugh's girdle.

@dq

That's a convenient way to dismiss one of the biggest corporate turnarounds in history. Plenty of executives have inherited struggling companies. Very few have successfully turned them around. If it were simply a matter of "being in the right place at the right time," we'd see successful turnarounds all the time. We don't.

Mr. Gerstner made difficult strategic decisions, preserved IBM as an integrated company when many wanted to break it up, restored profitability, and repositioned IBM for the future. Those weren't accidents or products of luck

@dn let's turn the question around, shall we ? Was anyone else given the opportunity to turn IBM around when it was in trouble ?

What I am saying is this - even incremental changes made to the right departments by a loser at IBM at the right time would result in good results. Timing is everything - you just gotta be in the right place at the right time for things to click. I met Dead Gerbil and all he reminded me of was a pugnacious pit bull. Not very bright, but a persistent pit bull nonetheless. And he knew it too. It was ra-e and pillage in lots of places at IBM under the disguise of business transformation.

@dm
Nobody claimed Mr. Gerstner worked for free. CEOs are paid to lead companies, and he was compensated accordingly.

The relevant question is whether he delivered results. When Mr. Gerstner became CEO, IBM was in serious financial trouble and many believed it would be broken apart. Under his leadership, IBM returned to profitability, remained an integrated company, and regained its footing in the technology industry.

@d7 Let's get one thing right about Dead Gerbil when he worked for Legacy IBM at it's CEO - he did not work for FREE. He was typical of other CEOs and Executives. And when he left IBM, he took a whopping $189 million as his severance package. While you will say he saved the IBM company, he didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart or for any charitable reason. That is business.

That $189 million is not exactly chicken feed is it, IBM India HR liar-bot rage-bait troll shill spanky-pants id--t loser parasite ?

@ch Why I am not surprised that Incompetent Business Managers decide to just remove a handful of comments rather than this entire post that simply does not belong on a layoff board.

Reading Mr Gerstners book inspired me to join IBM. At the time of it's impending demise he took the helm and told the doubters IBM is not breaking up.

His leadership and strength saved an American Legacy

PIP Land

@OP when most of the comments in this thread have disappeared due to IBM Managment not being comfortable with them, perhaps they should ban the sicko, IBM India HR liar-bot rage-bait troll shill spanky-pants id--t loser parasite.

But this is entertainment for entertainment's sake....and Dead Gerbil's of course. So let the games continue.

Ew @OP, you sound like a total pervert, a real sicko. But what can you expect from someone who champions a company that treats employees like trash? As long as the executives get their bonuses all is well, right?

Bobacademy.

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IBM Should Develop a leadership academy named after Mr Gerstner

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