Congratulations to new IBM CEO, Ginni Rometty. A year ago, I heard her give a presentation to the analyst community; afterward, I told several people that she was definitely CEO timber.
Can you name the CEO considered by many to be the worst in IBM’s history? A majority would say John Akers, who was at the helm during IBM’s darkest hour and resigned because of 1992 losses of almost $5B. Portfolio.com slammed him as being one of the worst CEOs in history, writing: “While the rest of the world was moving toward personal computing, Akers remained stuck in the mainframe age, never quite figuring out what to do with IBM at a critical point in the tech industry’s evolution. Many outsiders viewed Akers as being in over his head. IBM was paralyzed by his lack of decisiveness.” I would counter that Akers was failed by his subordinates and an overstuffed bureaucracy.
In February 1993, I had just returned from a 10-day speaking tour across Europe and possessed some extremely valuable intelligence gathered first hand from hundreds of IBM customers encountered during the trip. A consultant at the time, I had been hired by Boole & Babbage to deliver a one-day intensive seminar on workload optimization; in those 10 days, we conducted 10 seminars in nine countries, starting in the U.K. and ending in Spain. Upon returning home, I boldly reached out to John Akers, sending him a thoughtful letter, introducing myself and offering to share my plan that would rejuvenate the mainframe’s sagging sales and tarnished image.
IBM invited me to While Plains, and on March 24, 1993, I found myself sitting around a conference room table with about a dozen mainframe division sales execs and I didn’t know a soul. A few minutes into the meeting, I realized I was being given the bum’s rush by some proud but embattled execs whose tone and demeanor seemed to say, “How dare you contact our CEO; just who do you think you are?” One person kept interrupting me while I was speaking, and became such a nuisance, I actually requested he leave the meeting and have someone fill him in later. Soon after, I decided to keep my plan to myself, so I declared the meeting was over and expressed my disappointment in their behavior. One exec lingered to chat and asked me a few questions on how I defended the mainframe. That led to an engagement to speak a few weeks later at an IBM customer event in New York City, followed by a multi-city road show. Over the next seven years, I was a featured speaker at more than 50 IBM events, traveling to five continents in the process. Ironically, I never did convey some of the best ideas that I went to White Plains that day to share.
When Lou Gerstner succeeded Akers in 1993, I was pleased to learn he immediately scrapped the plan that was already in motion to break the company into several operating units. Like me, Gerstner recognized that the whole of IBM was greater than the sum of its parts. In his biography “Making Elephants Dance,” Gerstner acknowledged this was the most important business decision he ever made—not just at IBM, but in his entire career.
During the remainder of the ’90s, mainframe detractors (and there were many) time and again were proved wrong. Ironically, 18 years later, the intelligence I never shared with IBM is still relevant because people who have misconceptions and have been misinformed about mainframe technology are still among us. If you’re an embattled mainframe executive who deals daily with some crazies who think the mainframe is obsolete, lock your doors and feel free to give me a call.
I have some valuable intelligence you are welcome to use. Then again, perhaps I should send Ginni Rometty a letter ...
