Poor Lou Gerstner.
A widely respected executive credited with leading RJR Nabisco and American Express to corporate glory, the 51-year-old had just accepted the job nobody wanted.For nearly a century, IBM had risen practically unfettered from bland holding company to industrial-strength powerhouse. A premier technology provider globally, IBM was credited most recently with ushering in the personal computer revolution.
But that was then. By 1993, as Gerstner took over as CEO, “Big Blue” was in free fall.
Bloated and teetering on bankruptcy, the company posted an eye-popping $8.1 billion loss the year before. IBM under Gerstner quickly returned to profitability. But stopping the bleeding was one thing, restoring relevance was another.
Read more about the ‘innovation mindset’ and the 8 keys you can use to unlock it here.
