Tuesday, 15 May 2007

Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance

by Louis V. Gerstner

Very engaging book by Gerstner on his amazing turnaround of IBM. What really struck me was his amazing use of language and ability to predict/guess what the future held! Many other organisations could benefit from the approach Gerstner took particularly his relentless communication to all parts of IBM and his no nonsense, common-sense approach.

Key points:
  • Constant communication: must meet everyone face-to-face
  • Importance of language
  • Everything must be driven from the customer’s viewpoint
  • Don’t fool yourself/don’t believe your own bullshit
  • Sell/cut all the stuff that doesn’t fit your strategy and isn’t profitable
  • Work on reality
  • People do what you inspect, not what you expect
  • Must respond to marketplace -> think about competitors. Don’t concentrate on internal factors
  • Getting the right culture is the game: get the right behaviours
  • Compensations structure must be based on the performance of the company
  • Don’t go for ‘excellence in everything we do’ -> go for good enough
  • Strategies are everywhere! It’s execution that’s the hard and important part

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