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The Maverick and His Machine
At age 40, Watson was thrown a curve ball that, like that first sentence says, nearly ruined him. In fact, it sent him so low that this shaped his character more than anything that had happened to him earlier in his lifetime. It sent him to the lower depths and resulted in him being given the reigns of an equally down-in-the dumps loser business just to get rid of him. He was banished to a corporate Siberia. He was considered a loser, and given a loser's position in a loser's business.
It's at this point that he reshaped and remade that company into what is today known as IBM. The blue suits and white shirts that were the uniform of IBM men became so because he wore one every day. There was no written rule that employees had to wear them; they did it because he did it. That says something: he led by example and his employees admired him.
Just as an aside, it seems that Watson's big thing was that things didn't happen (or went wrong) because people didn't think hard enough. To encourage employees to think he had big "THINK" signs put all over the company. This evolved into "Think" buttons, and employees were even allowed and encouraged to kick back and think. Eventually, small notepads were emblazoned with "Think" and they were called "Thinkpads." Hence, the name of the laptop.
THINK, by the way, is the reason that the company created so many technological innovations.
Now, just because Watson started IBM and largely shaped it into one of the most successful companies in the world doesn't mean he was a saint. Some of the most interesting parts of the book have to do with his home life and how he treated his wife and kids. It seems that he was somewhat of a manipulator who knew how to shape people by breaking them and remaking them.
One story about his son (who would later become CEO of the company) shows Watson's mean streak. It seems that, early in the younger Watson's career, after dinner together at home, the elder asked him what his impression was of one of his executives.
The younger Watson dutifully answered, seeking to impress his father with his skill at observing people. The elder paused and then berated the young man for daring to form an opinion about a seasoned executive who had years of experience behind him. Who did the young man think he was to judge someone who had been in the business since before he was born?
While this isn't the stuff of Ward Cleaver, Watson was, all the same, a courageous and enterprising individual who took risks and (most of the time) succeeded. Especially engrossing is the episode during the depression when IBM was in danger of bankruptcy and shutting its doors. Watson, contrary to what most intelligent people would do, gave a rousing talk to his top executives, telling them that instead of cutting back on manufacturing and personnel, they should increase both.
Luckily (for Watson), a few months later, Pearl Harbor happened and, with the sharp increase in troops, materials and logistics, the U.S. government needed "calculating machines" and needed them fast. While major competitors like NCR and Burroughs had to ramp up production to meet demand, IBM, with its ready stockpile of machines won the contract and delivered, saving them from possible bankruptcy.
There is a lot more I could say about the book but because I don't want to spoil anything, I won't go into it here. However, if you're a Big Blue fan (and I am), you might want to follow up this read with Lou Gerstner, Jr.'s book, Who Says Elephants Can't Dance. It's a great read about how, for the second time in its history, the company was saved from becoming history.
You can purchase The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
also forget to close the italics tag?
Yes, praise be to $DEITY for that event.
True story.
There is a lot more I could say about the book but because I don't want to spoil anything
IBM stands for International Business Machines. Ok, I just gave away the ending. sorry.
Check the links in your post before submitting! This one is not working!
Luckily (for Watson), a few months later, Pearl Harbor happened and, with the sharp increase in troops, materials and logistics, the U.S. government needed "calculating machines" and needed them fast.
.30 cal M1 Carbines during WW2... the ultimate in international business machines (and relations).
Don't forget that IBM also manufactured
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Hey, there's a Microsoft salesman wandering around our server room brandishing a baseball bat! Shit!! There goes our webserver. YOU BASTARD!!! YOU KILLED XENNY!!
"Thomas John Watson began his life at age 40"
In a log cabin that he built with his own hands?
"Derp de derp."
Need, sure. Hell, worldwide we only needed 0.
The world worked just fine for thousands of years without 'em.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
When this comes out on audio book if somebody could go ahead and rip it for me then blog an announcement someplace so I can go pull it down onto my iPod, then I'll care. I tried reading a dead tree while driving to work one morning, damn near killed myself. Spilled my coffee in my lap and everything, had to tell my wife I'd call her back.
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
My dad would love this book. Which is why I'll never read it.
--b
I live in Dayton. I never thought of it as a particularly difficult place to live. Perhaps if I move, I can take over the world and you can all bow down and worship me.
But don't rush out to buy my septer and throne just yet... I'm kinda stuck with having a negative equity mortgage, so the escape velocity to overcome the sucking power of Dayton is a little out of my reach at the moment. ;-)
Exactly. It's like having a big brother. When someone on the outside comes after you, he will defend you.
But when there is no external danger around, he likes to pin you down to the ground and give you nuggies.
Fear the IBM nuggies!
# (/.);;
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What's the alternative? Draw up a big list of "evil" companies who can never be redeemed for the sins of their past, and then hunker down and hate them for the rest of our lives?
I can certainly think of one company to have a permanent place at the top of such list.
Exactly. It's like being a prison bitch. When someone on the outside comes after you, he will defend you.
But when there is no external danger around, he likes to pin you down to the ground and fuck you.
Fear the IBM ass raping!
It's silly to hold a mutable group of persons responsible for the sins of past members of this group.
If tomorrow, MS board kicks Ballmer into the used car salesman career for which he's born, and they tie Bill Gates on a chair in his 3-acre rec room, and they reform MS corporate culture, and they stop being bastards, then MS will probably become a decent corporation. Provided they get rid of the people who ooze the current MS culture, of course.
However, such a strategy might have drawback. For example, people will be so disoriented they'll probably swamp MS' tech support for call about how to make a donation because they'll think it has been bought by the Salvation Army.
There is no danger for now, though. If anything, MS would buy the Salvation Army, distribute antifreeze-laced booze to all the hobos and homeless, and auction their body parts.
Meanwhile, the gouvenment would investigate about their unfair practices of volume-purchasing antifreeze.
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Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/