IBM – the Big Blue is 100 years today – from Thomas J. Watson Jr to Samuel J. Palmisano the company has successfully transcended leaders and leadership styles and has grown in size and stature as a shining example of a –
” Living Company ” explained by Arie De Geus in his 1997 book .
The habits for survival in a turbulent business environment are very well evident in IBM as the organization has gone through years of glory [ mainframe , PC , productivity , R&D , innovation, software development , global market share , sustainable growth in emerging markets and a culture of business resilience. ] and have also experienced business failures over and over again [ IBM PC jr , Os/2 and Prodigy] . What held the company in good stead is its shared corporate culture , institutionalizing why the organization does what it does ,and managing for the long term .
Great lessons in organizational leadership to emulate !!