Lou Gerstner wrote, "People truly do what you inspect, not what you expect." … Lest we forget, these "inspection pages" exist because chief executives are "people" too.
Arvind Krishna's Overview Home Page
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Published July 22, 2021
Updated April 6, 2022 |
This page was initially published on February 3, 2020. It has been updated to reflect the loss of James (Jim) Whitehurst. One has to wonder how many Red Hat employees have followed the former IBM President's example? Since IBM paid $3,000,000 per Red Hat employee for the company, the losses could mount up pretty quickly. No one apparently knows all the reasons for Jim's departure.
Maybe he is saving the details for his "Who Ever Thought That Elephant Danced?" memoir.
It would be a best seller!
Maybe he is saving the details for his "Who Ever Thought That Elephant Danced?" memoir.
It would be a best seller!
Evaluating Arvind Krishna: IBM’s Tenth Chief Executive Officer
- Arvind Krishna Does Not Have Time to Waste
- Arvind Krishna's Critical Performance Metrics
Arvind Krishna Must Act Quickly
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As Arvind Krishna was determining what he would do first, he should have considered prioritizing three activities:
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- Take goodwill impairments now and start with a clean slate: neither IBM nor Kyndryl should start their new life apart with intangible assets of over 50%.
- Ensure that James M. Whitehurst sticks around.
As always, the perspectives shared here are not Wall Street quarterly perspectives but a businessman’s perspective of years, decades, and, at times, centuries. So, don't expect to find insights into minor bumps on the business roadmap like one or two quarters of revenue growth. After all, Ginni had some of these positive, short-term growth "irregularities" too, but she still turned in horrible year-over-year and long-term revenue growth numbers.
Two other American industrialists who believed in adapting the Golden Rule to business were Thomas J. Watson Sr. and J. C. Penney.
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IBM’s way forward is contained in this quote of Owen D. Young, former Chief Executive Officer of General Electric and a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank.
"What is right in business requires, in highly complicated situations, that the golden rule be applied by men [and women] of great understanding and knowledge, as well as conscience. They must be technicians in the sense of making the connecting link between the golden rule on the one side and the most complicated business transaction on the other."
Owen D. Young, Delivered from Dr. Fosdick's New York Church, 1929
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Mr. Arvind Krishna has a hard task in front of him: restoring the engagement, passion and enthusiasm of 307,600 employees—already down from 383,000 employees at the end of his first year. If he is to bring IBM back, he will have to be a technician in Mr. Young’s sense: an individual who understands human nature first and technology second. This should be—no, must be—his overriding first initiative.
Unfortunately, I have worked in one of Arvind's organizations. Unless he has transformed "himself" in the last decade, he may have the desire but lack the ability to transform "his corporation." Although he is a "pleasant" individual, he is first and foremost a technologist with little sales sense.
It is in this respect that Jim's loss will be most felt: Salesmanship.
Cheers,
- Pete
Unfortunately, I have worked in one of Arvind's organizations. Unless he has transformed "himself" in the last decade, he may have the desire but lack the ability to transform "his corporation." Although he is a "pleasant" individual, he is first and foremost a technologist with little sales sense.
It is in this respect that Jim's loss will be most felt: Salesmanship.
Cheers,
- Pete
Arvind Krishna's Critical Evaluation Points and Key Performance Metrics
Hopefully, when he retires I will publish the third update in the "THINK Again" Series from "THINK Again: The Rometty Edition" to "THINK Again: The Krishna Edition."
Until then, enjoy this information. |
Let’s graph Krishna’s 2020 performances, and then put those performances within the context of the corporation’s 21st Century results.
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Is there an IBM “New Deal?” Or is Arvind serving up the same old Gerstner-Palmisano-Rometty (GPR) stuff?
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Reality will set in soon enough because when it comes to business fundamentals, Main Street and corporate stakeholders have proven themselves better able to understand long-term realities than Wall Street.
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Does his track record as IBM's CFO indicate that he was a good choice?
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