Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?
 
 
Gerstner’s Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? Leading a Great Enterprise through Dramatic Change has been referenced on one of my previous blog post entitled “culture isn't just one aspect of the game, it is the game” but I never fully profiled the book. Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance offers insights into the changes that overtook IBM in the early 1990’s. Louis V. Gerstner Jr. served as CEO and chairman of the board of IBM from 1993 to 2002, and can thus provide information and reflections upon this time of turmoil and change unique to his own experiences. Businesses large and small should prepare themselves for potential strife and struggle, and this analysis of IBM’s journey and Gerstner’s impact on that journey can provide a basic framework for creating a successful, viable, and thriving business of any size.
 
While your company may not be the size of IBM, the basic fundamental strategies that saved IBM can apply to both small and large businesses. Several clear principles are defined and laid out in Gerstner’s book. These principles are basic to good business. Lou Gerstner implemented the following shortly after taking his position as CEO and chairman at IBM:
 
  1. •he cut costs
  2. •made product production and pricing more efficient and practical,
  3. •strove for better customer service, and
  4. •eliminated unnecessary and damaging bureaucracy within the corporate structure.
 
Efficiency, both in finances and corporate structure was critical to save IBM, and this is a quality that will aid any business in success. Focus, vision (although he was contrary to a “vision thing” at first) and leadership also played a role is saving this major corporation. IBM today remains a leader in technology, in large part to the efforts of Lou Gerstner in the 1990’s. If a large company can be saved with these strategies, then a small one can certainly use these strategies for success. In Gerstner’s words, “It is said that smaller companies are more responsive, more effective. IBM's turnaround is the perfect negation of this idea. It isn't a matter of whether or not ants rule over elephants. If an elephant can dance, ants had better get out of the way.”
 
 
 
 
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
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