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Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Leading a Great Enterprise through Dramatic Change (精装)
by Louis V. Gerstner
| Category:
Turnaround, Corporate Restructuring, Change, Leadership |
| Market price: ¥ 288.00
MSL price:
¥ 268.00
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| MSL Pointer Review:
One of the most astounding successful turnaround cases in the entire business history. Required reading for executives and managers. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
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An American reader, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance: Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround is a very well written account of how Lou Gerstner was able to steer IBM away from the brink of bankruptcy in 1993 back to profitability and growth. It is the story of IBM's amazing strategic and cultural transformation within a very short period of time from the man who is responsible for being the chief decision maker during this process. Who Says Elephants Can't Dance is a basically a very thorough case study in crisis management. It contains an impressive collection of keen observations about the challenges of operating a very large corporation, a set of fundamental lessons on how to create and execute business strategies and a lot of common sense.
The first thing that impressed me about the book was its very direct and concise style. Apparently, Gerstner wrote this book without the aid of a coauthor or a ghost-writer, so it is truly a first-hand story. Gerstner does not waste any of the reader's time. Each chapter has a very clear goal of what he is trying to communicate, and he gets to the point right away. I am usually disappointed by non-fiction authors that make excessive use of repetition in an attempt to drive important points home. Gerstner knows how to say it only once but precisely and lucidly.
The second notable aspect of the book was the modesty of the author. His humbleness starts from the very first page of the book:
This book is dedicated to the thousands of IBMers who never gave up on their company, their colleagues, and themselves. They are the real heroes of the reinvention of IBM Gerstner continues to give proper credit to the people who were responsible for some of the most critical decisions throughout the rest of his book. It is refreshing to see that a person with respect for others and an emphasis on ethics can still rise to the top position in one of the largest companies in the world and succeed in this age of megalomaniac CEOs and backstabbing corporate cultures.
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? is required reading material for executives or people who are contemplating a career in corporate management. Though Gerstner's tone is surprisingly down to earth, he presents a set of strategies that are crucial for running a successful business. Gerstner shows that there is no magical formula for success. The basic tools are a lot of common sense, focus, execution and dedication. Many of the concepts presented in this book are likely to be beneficial not just inside the context of managing a large technology corporation but also for the leaders of any organization with culture, efficiency and execution problems. |
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Hobbie Bryan, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
Lou Gerstner has written an interesting first person study of how organizations can become plagued by inertia, and fall out of step with their industry. As an outsider, Gertsner was immediately able to spot troubling cultural behavior and ask questions about IBM's products, strategy, and way of conducting business that insiders did not. Some of the most interesting material deals with trying to change both strategy and behaviors once he recognized that they were leading IBM towards potential ruin.
The turnaround at IBM has been quite a success story, and Gerstner definitely deserves his share of the credit. In the information technology business, becoming set in your ways can be the a kiss of death, and he explains in an easily readable style how he helped wake up big blue, while others would have preferred to fly it into the ground rather than change.
Still, I wondered if as an outsider, he 'missed something' regarding the cultural at IBM. Clearly tying results to compensation, and removing power and status as key elements of the rewards system created a more market and profit focused company. But while 'Built to Last' outlines the importance of loyalty and continuity in first class companies, this trait seems to be looked down upon in the tech sector (not just at the pre-Gerstner IBM, but also more recently at HP and PeopleSoft.)
In this regard, I enjoyed Andy Grove's book "Only the Paranoid Survive" a bit more, as he discusses fostering a winning culture at Intel that has kept them on top for quite a while, despite competing in an industry that requires constant innovation. You get the feeling that Gerstner was more of a Mr. Fixit...focused on the short-term turn-around. It would have been interesting to hear him talk more about the long-term strategies for IBM to remain competitive, and particularly how to use IBM's size as an asset rather than liability.
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An American reader, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
IBM: Incredible Bunch of Morons.
IBM: Incredible Bunch of Meat-Heads.
IBM was once a Product-Based company. Now, in 2005, it is a Service-based company. Basically, it has nothing to sell.
What is a Corporation? Have you ever talked to or had lunch with a corporation. A Corporation is a legal fiction created out of thin air. To survive, it has to have Product-Service, Service-Product to sell to the world.
What is IBM selling theses days. What do you use from IBM daily. Not much of anything.
Great companies have great Revolutionary Products that change the world. That's True for Xerox, Apple, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft and Google. A corporation has to have a Product-Service we use on a daily basis.
IBM lost the relational database business to Oracle, IP networking to Cisco, Unix servers to SUN, and the PC hardware business to Dell.
Then what does IBM have to sell. Not much of anything, IBM is now a service company with a group of technicians fixing servers and PC.
True, Real companies have products to sell. What engineers and technicians now are selling are the Brain-Skills of the workers. IBM does not own Brains. They can leave at any time. IBM is going the way of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) or WANG to irrelevance.
Gerstner represents what wrong with U.S. executives. All sales, marketing, finance and public relations. It all "Hot Air" and no Products.
What ever happened to great Products? The English-major who flunked calculus can do the bird-brain, no-brains marketing.
Gerstner middle name was "Frozen Six (6) Months. NO Difference" IBM went from somebody in the tech world to a no-body. All it has now is bunch of techies running around with screwdrivers.
True. Under Gerstner's leadership, IBM went from a great products- company to a service-company. Hence, a company of relevance to a company of no-relevance. |
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Sachin Gaikwad, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
Folks familiar with the theory of Black Holes might know that once a Star outgrows a certain mass, it has a tendency to collapse under its own gravity and become a black hole. This is the kind of state where IBM was in 1993. IBM had outgrown under its own success and was about to dis-integrate and collapse and thereby leave a huge black hole in the world of Information Technology. This book is all about how Lou V Gerstner single handedly saved IBM from its near collapse.
In this book, Lou Gerstner has done an nice job of providing rare insights into the issues(and their causes) that were ailing IBM in pre-1993 era. And how he systematically & methodically addressed those during his nine years at IBM from 1993(when he became CEO of IBM) to 2002 (when he retired from IBM).
Lou Gerstner's narration about his first day as IBM CEO who was left knocking on the doors of IBM is telling of the IBM culture at that time. In 1993, when Lou Gerstner took IBM's reins, IBM had become a collection of small, small fiefdoms where every head of the Business Unit was selfishly guarding his own interest and dreaming of becoming a CEO by going IPO someday. IBM mainframe business was failing. The world seemed to be moving towards Client Server architecture. Instead of being customer focused, IBM was becoming internally focused. IBM stock was plummeting. Stock holders were getting impatient. All in all, there was chaos within the company.
Against this background and against the common wisdom/expectations, Lou Gerstner sticked to his guns and decided on keeping IBM together. He meticulously regrouped IBM by providing one single leadership at the top. Magically reversed the core IBM mainframe business by cutting prices and becoming customer focused. Synergized the IBM messaging division by providing single message to all the world. Intelligently put his bet on Services, Software and eBusiness. Realigned the employee incentive system to encourage the culture that promotes customer oriented actions. All of which paid off tremendously. If Stock Market is any barometer, the IBM stock rose from sub $10 to $140 under the leadership of Lou V Gerstner.
This all may seem trivial but considering the disappearance of big companies like AT&T, the turnaround of company with IBM's size and stature just seems amazing!
This book is really, really good. If at all, the only complaint I have is that it does not talk about any of Lou's failures. The book not only provides good business lessons, it also provides good personal lessons. Specially Lou's passion for winning is infectious.
Overall an excellent, excellent read ... |
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A Canadian reader, Canada
<2006-12-22 00:00>
Lou Gerstner writes this book from the perspective of having worked as a transformational leader at companies during periods of growth and change. At American Express, he oversaw the global adoption of the Amex Traveler's Card and other services. As a consultant, he moved from company to company, making recommendations, and moving on. Finally, as CEO of IBM, he presided over a period of great change - from 1993 to 2002 - before turning over the reins to Sam Palmisano.
Gerstner's experience, then, is as an architect of change; not as one who "stays the course". I recommend this book for managers and leaders in all industries who want ideas on how they might lead change in their own organizations. Gerstner's book mirrors his life in business: It gets your attention in the beginning, holds it through the middle, and wanes at the end.
What Gerstner lacks in penmanship, he makes up in concise, direct, and articulate prose. This is as honest a book on business as any I've read, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
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Ruhi, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
I'm going to be an intern in IBM starting June and I was told to read this book as an introduction to what Gerstner did with IBM. Quite honestly, all I knew of Gerstner was the simple fact that he turned around an ailing IBM and made it into the company it is today. This book certainly gave me more insight into the workings of the company and the man who changed the way it worked.
What struck me most is that I felt like I was learning to hold on to the reigns of IBM as Gerstner described he did. He not only mentioned that he was unfamiliar with the technology coming in as the CEO, but also the large Diaspora of products and services it touched. It felt like both he and I were learning about IBM in that regard, which is something I liked. As a first time reader, I appreciated the fact that I wasn't lost in the daily business jargon and it made me want to read more.
Now like a lot of reviewers have mentioned, it's a self congratulatory work, and he makes no qualms about it. But why should he be modest? He doesn't discredit others when the names need to be mentioned, then why should he leave his name out? After saving a nearly dying 'national treasure' from a never returning point, I think he deserves it all. He also mentions how he had to fire over 130 thousand people and lay down the law when it came to enforcing his way. He didn't hide the fact that he was stern, ruthless, and straightforward with his methods, because they were ultimately methods that worked in a big manner.
Obviously, this is a one sided account of the IBM story of the 90s. But it is a good one-sided story. At the end of the day, the story ends happily, and that's what counts. |
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M. Asselin, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
Louis V. Gerstner's Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? is Gerstner's account of how he managed the turnaround of ailing computer mainframe giant IBM during his years as CEO (1993-2002). The book is at its best when Gerstner gives his personal account of his first experiences with Big Blue. For me, though, the details of the IBM revival are less captivating, and my interest began to flag about halfway through the book.
I picked up Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? for leadership and management training purposes. The section in which he talks about corporate culture - in particular, the chapter "Leading by Principles" - includes what I think are valuable insights into what aspects of IBM's culture were self-defeating, and what principles Gerstner introduced to help turn this moribund culture around. These eight principles, listed on pp. 201-202, are worth reviewing. Like many management principles, they are not particularly earth-shattering, but I have found that organizations that can adhere to such principles as "We never lose sight of our strategic vision" (#5), and "We think and act with a sense of urgency" (#6) are more than likely going to be successful - and be, moreover, places that attract and retain good employees.
It's true that Gerstner is self-aggrandizing at times, for example, in his description of his philanthropic efforts. I'm willing, though, to tolerate a little chest-beating from people who are devoting their personal resources to the greater good. (As an aside, I think he underestimates the good that corporate money can do for charitable efforts - he favors rather the donation of a company's expertise to the community - but this is a minor point.)
Gerstner's book isn't one to be devoured, I think. But it is worthwhile reading in parts, in particular, those sections in which he shares his experience of and knowledge about managing people. If you are interested in learning how to lead an organization to greatness, you should definitely check this book out. |
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Craig Matteson, USA
<2006-12-22 00:00>
Most MBA programs utilize case studies to one degree or another. As you work through them you develop mental habits of analysis that help you get to the nut of the case fairly quickly so you can get prepared for class. One of the problems is that most cases are oriented as marketing cases, or operations cases, or strategy, or finance, or organizational behavior, or accounting, or whatever cases. A few are used by multiple disciplines, but very few integrate all the management disciplines.
This book is a terrific integrated case. I enjoyed it tremendously and feel I have learned a lot from it. What I enjoyed most was the way Mr. Gerstner demonstrated the way all the disciplines are important in leading a great corporation. And especially the difference between the emergency room behavior he had to engage in when he first joined the company and had to start the bleeding and the different emphases he had to have in transforming IBM into an organization that could thrive in today's marketplace while remaining a great corporation.
I am glad to read about his emphasis on corporate culture while retaining a fierce focus on operations and backing strategy with constant, continuous analysis with hard numbers. All fueled with passion to win. I think this is a winning recipe. And it is very easy to write down, but almost impossible to really execute. Mr. Gerstner did a great job and we all owe him thanks for keeping IBM together and making it competitive once more.
People who are angry that the old IBM is gone shouldn't blame Mr. Gerstner. The old IBM was dying and was going to be broken up. Finding the right markets for the organization to compete in and remain together was a bet not many would have made. Certainly, it is not likely that Mr. Gerstner made perfect decisions nor did the people who worked for him act with transcendent brilliance either. The point is not perfection; it is competing effectively, actively, and with some intelligence. Mr. Gerstner shows us how he and his team did that in the 1990s and I thank him for this great book that I encourage all students of business to read closely. |
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1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
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