Lou Gerstner Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
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“Fixing culture is the most critical − and the most difficult − part of a corporate transformation… In the end, management doesn’t change culture. Management invites the workforce itself to change the culture.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“If life was so easy that you could just go buy success, there would be a lot more successful companies in the world. Successful enterprises are built from the ground up.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“Computers are magnificent tools for the realization of our dreams, but no machine can replace the human spark of spirit, compassion, love, and understanding.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“It is not about bits, bytes and protocols, but profits, losses and margins.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
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“Watch the turtle. He only moves forward by sticking his neck out.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“In the end an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.”
-- Lou GerstnerSource : "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?". Book by Lou Gerstner, 2002.
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“You can never be comfortable with your success, you've got to be paranoid you're going to lose it.”
-- Lou GerstnerSource : "In Focus: Lou Gerstner". Interview with Richard Quest, edition.cnn.com. July 2, 2004.
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“I just think we should look at this as a chess match," he said, "between the world's greatest chess player and Garry Kasparov.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
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“We built this company from the customer back, not from the company out.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“I'm leery of legislative solutions to what is morality.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“What I'm trying to do is deliver results, not promises; results, not vision; results, not concepts. The world is cynical about IBM's promises.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
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“I initially wanted to be a teacher, and then I was going to become an engineer and build bridges and highways, but pretty soon I went into the business world. I never did get to be a teacher except in a different way.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“I've been accepted at Cambridge University. I want to study Chinese history and archaeology. I want to become a student. I want to read Chinese history and go on a dig.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“Quite frankly, I am not very comfortable in chitchat. When I go to board meetings, I arrive two minutes before and leave when it's over. I don't stay for lunch or go early and have coffee.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“We do not need Departments of Commerce, Labor, and Education; we need a single Department of Skills that will promote an integrated approach to global competitiveness.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
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“What we believe is going to be very important is the delivery of traditional software and services and hardware over the Net. That's a form of electronic marketplace.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“When a manufacturing company in Spain looks to IBM for a solution to a problem, they expect us to bring the best of IBM worldwide to it, not just the experience of IBM Spain.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“If the practices and processes inside a company don't drive the execution of values, then people don't get it. The question is, do you create a culture of behavior and action that really demonstrates those values and a reward system for those who adhere to them?”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“The rewards system is a powerful driver of behavior and therefore culture.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
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“For the first month, I listened, and I tried very hard not to draw conclusions”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“The thing I have learned at IBM is that culture is everything.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“I want to become a student. I want to read Chinese history and go on a dig.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
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“No institution will go through fundamental change unless it believes it is in deep trouble and needs to do something different to survive.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“This really is a merger of equals. I wouldn't have come back to work for anything less than this fantastic opportunity. This lets me combine my two great loves - technology and biscuits.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“You don't get points for predicting rain. You get points for building arks.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“If CEO compensation was performance-driven, which I believe it was in IBM's case, nobody would ever argue. If the shareholders didn't make billions and billions of dollars, I wouldn't make millions of dollars. My salary was the same for 10 years. It was all performance-based.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
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“Visit USA.gov and you'll find thousands of directorates, agencies, boards, offices, and services replete with overlapping responsibilities, ancient priorities, and divided accountability.”
-- Lou Gerstner -
“The more successful enterprises are the more they try to replicate, duplicate, codify what makes us great. And suddenly they're inward thinking. They're thinking how can we continue to do what we've done in the past without understanding that what made them successful is to take risks, to change and to adapt and to be responsive. And so in a sense success breeds its own failure. And I think it's true of a lot of successful businesses.”
-- Lou Gerstner
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