Good day. It’s my favourite day of the week. Business book review day…
Today’s book review is about a business turn around on a gigantic scale. Lou Gerstner biographies his epic challenge in keeping IBM from extinction.
After decades of unrivalled success. In 1993 when Lou Gerstner joined as CEO. IBM were set to lose $16 billion & well on the way to becoming extinct.
Gerstner immediately halted the previous strategy of breaking up IBM & demanded 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 bold decision to keep the company together & slashed prices on their core product to keep the company competitive.
Over the next 10 years he worked tirelessly on IBM’s competitive & cultural transformation. Moving them from an arrogant & unfriendly product focused low margin elephant who can’t dance. Into a fluid customer centric & service-based elephant that can dance. With healthy margins too.
This is a story of an extraordinary turnaround. Taking you deep into the IBM world. Recounting the high-level meetings. Explaining the pressure-filled no-turning-back decisions that had to be made.
Over his 10-year tenure Lou Gerstner took IBM from a failing & fragmented hardware focused giant, losing billions. To a trusted, market leading & highly profitable global integrated solutions provider.
Many organisations have gone from being industry leaders to the verge of extinction. But only IBM has been at the top of an industry, fallen to near collapse, and then returned to set the agenda.
This is a fantastic read & most people with take something from it. Leaders wishing to transform their own organisation. Managers looking for tips & ideas to motivate their teams. And anyone in a customer facing role who’s interested in how cultural change can impact customer interactions.
‘Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance’ gets a thumbs up with a 5-rating stars. I love the title too.
If you’ve got any questions about the book, connect & message me on LinkedIn or drop me an email to darren@mytotalofficesolutions.com
Watch all our business book reviews at https://mytotalofficesolutions.co.uk/business-book-reviews
Thank you for watching & see you next week.
