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Rescuing an ElephantFebruary, 2003 IT TOOK AN OUTSIDER TO point to IBM Corp.’s problems and a crisis to solve them. So says Louis Gerstner, the architect of the Big Blue comeback, who retired in 2002 as CEO. Gerstner, author of a new book, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?, spoke to a Business School audience in November. Gerstner says that culture—not the product nor the manufacturing process—is the most important element in an enterprise. He said it is impossible to change an institution—be it private or nonprofit—without changing the culture. “The levers you have to pull are cultural, not directional. It’s how people think, what they value, what they do.” Dean Robert Joss, who with CNET reporter Dan Farber interviewed Gerstner, pointed out management can’t unilaterally change a business’s culture. Gerstner agreed, but said you can tell employees that if they don’t support change, the company they work for won’t exist. When he retired, Gerstner had convinced the highly intellectual, individualistic $80 billion working culture at IBM to work as a team. “We understood what made us successful was our size,” he said. “When the elephant dances, all the rest on the dance floor leave.” |
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