Amazon.com Review
Lou Gerstner, the man who flipped IBM's fortunes, has what a former colleague calls "a vertical vision of reality." That is, if things aren't moving upward, he's very unhappy. When he took over at IBM in 1993, they were moving downward at a frightening speed, and what he did to turn the company around will probably be studied in business schools in future generations. Until then, we have
IBM Redux, by Doug Carr, a very entertaining and instructive look at Gerstner and the company he revived.
Carr, a former IBM speechwriter, possesses an insider's knowledge about the Gerstner years at IBM: the despair of watching the company sink into the tar pits of ever-deeper red ink; the ruthlessness of the early firings and other cost controls (one woman was downsized--"excessed" is the actual IBM euphemism--when she was eight and a half months pregnant and coming off a stellar performance review; another was given his termination papers while in a coma); the business decisions that led to the turnaround; and finally the elation of seeing the company reinvented as a nimble information-services provider.
This is far from a hagiography of Gerstner, however. Because Carr didn't have access to him, he relies on anecdotes from those who know Gerstner and have worked with him, and the result is a fascinating portrait of the CEO as a young man (one former high school football teammate recalls an errant pass from quarterback Gerstner that led to the teammate's career-ending knee injury); as a man in a hurry (the chapters on Gerstner's years at American Express and RJR Nabisco foreshadow his accomplishments at IBM); and finally as a seasoned businessman who succeeded in overhauling a company that few thought would survive intact. --Lou Schuler
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
The joy of this book doesn't come from ground-breaking reporting. Rather, its appeal comes in the details: how Gerstner decided to forgo splashy graphics at a major computer show, as a way to stand out from all the hype; how desperately the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide needed to win the IBM account, once Gerstner and his new team were in place; and what it was like negotiating the purchase of Lotus. This is no small feat in writing about IBM, a company that is renowned for limiting access to reporters, and Garr's accomplishment is even more remarkable since Gerstner himself is known to keep an even closer eye on his public image than the IBM spin doctors do. Even so, Garr managed to talk to numerous present and former IBM employees, who give first-hand recollections and impressions of Gerstner in actionAmany of which are riveting. Garr is a former IBM speechwriterAa fact that cuts both ways, as he convincingly explainsAbut his reporting is evenhanded, and his eye for detail extraordinary. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
