Economic Expansions by IBM CEO

Comparing IBM CEO Economic Expansions
Published August 7, 2021
As we say in sales, "Right time, right place sure goes a long way to making quota." Good timing can be mistaken for great salesmanship or even superb leadership. It would be a humble chief executive who would admit that 95% of his or her tenure was supported by one of history's longest and strongest economic expansions.
​IBM Chief Executive Officers' Business Cycle Expansions
In some of the cases below, IBM's Chief Executive Officers rarely saw cloudy skies, much less stormy weather; others barely had time to catch their breath during ever shorter economic expansions with beginning and ending recessionary bookends. ​​Sometimes right time, right place—catching the right tailwind—isn't given enough credit for a company's successful turnaround.

​This is captured in the business expression that "a rising tide lifts all boats." This is why any evaluation of an executive's leadership and business results requires an analysis of both the economic expansions and contractions during their time in the corner office.

These are the economic expansions [Economic Contractions Are Here].
  • Business Cycle Expansion Observations:
    • Louis V. Gerstner had the longest business cycle expansion in recorded U.S. history
    • Thomas J. (Tom) Watson and Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty were close seconds
    • Samuel J. (Sam) Palmisano and John F. Akers were in third place
    • Thomas J. Watson Sr. just lived with the ups and downs.
* Arvind Krishna has not been added to this chart since the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) takes time to determine inflection points such as recessions or expansions in the economy. It is worth noting that Virginia M. Rometty retired before the full effect of the coronavirus situation could be felt.

Many economists feel certain that an economic downturn was taking effect after the 1st Quarter of 2020, but, as always, let's wait on the data.
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- Peter E.