Lou Gerstner Quotes

Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization's makeup and success - along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like ... I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.

— Lou Gerstner

“The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.”

— Lou Gerstner

“We built this company from the customer back, not from the company out.”

— Lou Gerstner

“You don't get points for predicting rain. You get points for building arks.”

— Lou Gerstner

The rewards system is a powerful driver of behavior and therefore culture.

— Lou Gerstner

“It is not about bits, bytes and protocols, but profits, losses and margins.”

— Lou Gerstner

“Vision is easy. It's so easy to just point to the bleachers and say I'm going to hit one over there. What's hard is saying, OK, how do I do that? What are the specific programs, what are the commitments, what are the resources, what are the processes we need in play to go implement the vision, turn it into a working model that people follow every day in the enterprise. That's hard work.”

— Lou Gerstner

Technology has limitations on what it can accomplish. You do not ...

— Lou Gerstner

“I think values are really, really important, but I also think that too many values are just words.”

— Lou Gerstner

“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

“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

“I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game; it is the game”

— Lou Gerstner

“IBM needed - an enormous sense of urgency.”

— Lou Gerstner

“Every now and then, a technology comes along that is so profound, so powerful, so universal, that its impact will change everything. It will transform every institution in the world. It will create winners and losers, will change the way we do business, the way we teach our children, communicate and interact as individuals.”

— Lou Gerstner

Customer complaints are the schoolbooks from which we learn.

— Lou Gerstner

“Lou Gerstner knows how to do a deal, and George Bush Sr., less so.”

— Lou Gerstner

“Everything starts with the customer.”

— Lou Gerstner

“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

“I look for people who work to solve problems and help colleagues, I sack politicians.”

— Lou Gerstner

“For the first month, I listened, and I tried very hard not to draw conclusions”

— 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

“The thing I have learned at IBM is that culture is everything.”

— Lou Gerstner

“I have always believed you cannot run a successful enterprise from behind a desk.”

— Lou Gerstner