When Lou Gerstner took over as CEO of IBM in 1993, the tech giant was struggling and in dire need of reinvention. In his memoir “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?”, Gerstner shares his approach to orchestrating IBM’s historic turnaround, with insights that remain highly relevant for transforming corporate cultures today.
The Central Role of Culture Gerstner recognized that a company’s culture and values are among its most powerful assets. IBM’s culture at the time was insular, bureaucratic, and slow to adapt. To drive change, Gerstner made instilling a new culture centered on customer-centricity, accountability, and innovation his top priority.
This aligns with the reality that successful transformations hinge on evolving attitudes and behaviors, not just restructuring and new processes. As Gerstner put it, “I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game—it is the game.”
Breaking Down Silos One of Gerstner’s key moves was consciously breaking down the insular, silo mentality pervasive at IBM. He encouraged greater collaboration across business units and functions that had previously operated in isolation.
In transformations of any kind, silo thinking represents a major hurdle. It breeds tunnel vision, territorialism, and resistance to taking a enterprise-wide view. Overcoming this requires deliberate efforts to tear down organizational boundaries and unite people around shared goals.
Customer Obsession as a Unifying Force
Gerstner made an “unwavering focus on the customer” a pillar of IBM’s revitalized culture and rallying cry for the company’s 300,000+ employees. This single-minded dedication provided clarity of purpose and alignment.
For transformations to gain widespread adoption and achieve intended outcomes, initiatives must create value that is explicitly clear to those being asked to change. An obsessive customer focus keeps teams oriented on delivering meaningful benefits.
The Roles of Leadership “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?” illustrates how leadership serves as the main catalyst and embodiment of cultural change. As the face of transformation, leaders must vocally and visibly model desired behaviors. As Gerstner realized, “Culture isn’t just defined by values or mission statements—it’s the way an organization acts.”
In Gerstner’s case, he lead by example as IBM embraced more risk-taking, faster decision-making, open communication and corporate-wide accountability standards he espoused. Leaders who authentically “walk the talk” provide invaluable consistency that allows new cultures to take root.
While the book recounts IBM’s specific journey, the principles of Gerstner’s bias for action, commercial focus, and emphasis on corporate culture as the core driver of transformation apply widely. By making culture the centerpiece and trusting the capabilities of its people, iconic firms like IBM prove that even the most deeply established corporate giants can undergo profound reinvention.
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