IBM Classic Books

Published June 4, 2021

Updated June 17, 2021

These IBM Classics cover books that any student of IBM should start with to understand the company and its early leadership. Many think that the ideas and ideals of Tom Watson Sr. started with him. He was actually surrounded by like-minded men and women who understood the need for balance in running a corporation.

Tom Watson's beliefs were deeply rooted in other men he worked with like John H. Patterson of the NCR Corporation, George F. Johnson of Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company, and Owen D. Young of General Electric Corporation. Samuel Crowther's biography of Mr. Patterson, John H. Patterson: Pioneer in Industrial Welfare, goes a long way in showing a different side of the NCR executive that has been lost in too many perspectives written without a knowledge of what is between the covers of this book.

In many ways Tom Watson, took the best of Patterson and left his very-human frailties behind.

​Shouldn't that be our goal: to integrate the best of others into our moral fabric, thereby …

​… compensating for our weaknesses.

IBM Classic Books for Research

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 The Early Days: The C-T-R Company and Before

Understanding the early IBM requires some background reading. This is the beginner's primer—​a where-to-begin list.

John H. Patterson: Pioneer in Industrial Welfare

It might seem strange to start off an IBM bibliography with a book from 1923 about John H. Patterson and the NCR Corporation, but to understand Thomas J. Watson Sr. and his ideas about forgiving thoughtful mistakes, sharing the wealth of a corporation, providing leading edge benefits for employees, and his belief in the value of the individual - the place to start is with John Patterson: Pioneer in Industrial Welfare.
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Samuel Crowther does a fabulous job capturing the essence of Mr. Patterson in this book. His skill carries over into his other biographies on a multitude of America's greatest twentieth-century industrialists: Harvey S. Firestone (Men and Rubber: The Story of Business), Henry Ford (My Life and Work, and Today and Tomorrow), and A. B. Farquhar (An Autobiography of A. B. Farquhar).
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Herman Hollerith: Forgotten Giant of Information Processing

To understand IBM and Tom Watson Sr. requires an understanding of the history of the tabulating machine and its inventor and entrepreneur, Herman Hollerith. The singular book available for this task is Geoffrey D. Austrian's Herman Hollerith: Forgotten Giant of Information Processing.
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Mr. Austrian's narrative is a wonderful tale of genius at work. He also connects magnificently Mr. Hollerith and Watson Sr. with some interesting insights unavailable anywhere else. For instance, he writes that while Watson was at NCR, "He had called upon the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York, where he had seen some Hollerith machines in action. Impressed, he had gotten NCR to order some on returning to Dayton, but Hollerith, fearful that the company would pirate his invention, had refused to oblige [a paranoid or realistic genius?]. ... ​

Bell, C. M. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

... Later, after NCR did obtain some machines, Watson proudly demonstrated them to his wife. Although they failed to work on that important occasion, his enthusiasm was undiminished." Even though the demonstration failed—​as so many IBM salesman have experienced—it was a good thing for the C-T-R Company and the future IBM that Watson's enthusiasm was undiminished.

Charles R. Flint: Memories of an Active Life

​Memories of an Active Life by Charles (Chas) R. Flint is his 1923 autobiography. Mr. Flint was quite a character and would be called today by many names he wouldn't care to have repeated: mercenary, opportunist, exploiter and more. In this book you find that he thought very highly of himself.

One author has insinuated that Flint and Watson Sr. were close friends and "cut from the same cloth." By reading this book, George F. Johnson's Industrial Democracy, and Watson Sr.'s Men-Minutes-Money and Human Relations, it becomes self-evident that this is ludicrous.

​Watson Sr. gave credit to those around him for his success; it appears that Charles Flint rarely did. Their historical intersection is a single point in time: 1914, when Chas Flint hired Watson Sr. to save a deeply troubled C-T-R Company.

It is fortunate that he did.

Picture is from book that is now in the public domain

Read the full review of "Memories of an Active Life:" [here]

George F. Johnson and his Industrial Democracy

George F. Johnson and his Industrial Democracy by William Inglis was published in 1935. It will help an IBM researcher understand where Tom Watson Sr. captured some of his earliest thoughts on how to treat workers.

​George F., as he was called by his employee-owners, was of the same mold as Watson Sr. He was Christian, believed in the Golden Rule, ran his business to benefit his workers, paid the highest wages in the shoe industry of his time, vertically integrated his business within his industry and was proud of his record. Watson Sr. often referred to George F. as a friend.

​There are some amazing quotes in this book considering the day, such as "wages alone, no matter how fair, how liberal, won't do it. The chief executive must win worker trust and confidence."

System, Magazine of Business, 1920

"My idea is that the boss is the natural labor leader. If he is not a labor leader, then he has no right to be the boss."

George F. Johnson, System, The Magazine of Business, 1920

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 Capturing the Heart of IBM: The Watsons

There is no other way to put it: These books are at the heart of the early IBM and put it on display for all to see.

Thomas J. Watson Sr.: Men-Minutes-Money

Men - Minutes - Money is a collection of Thomas J. Watson Sr.'s writings and speeches starting in January 1915 and continuing through December 1933. It was published by the IBM Corporation and updated three times: 1927, 1930 and 1934 with each successive year adding new material to the previous publication.

It is rare for any business leader to document their thoughts as thoroughly as Tom Watson Sr. did at the turn of the 20th Century. This book can get repetitious as Watson Sr. spoke many times on the same subject matter. The one-liners and maxims though are worth the read and anyone that truly wants to understand the founder of IBM has to read this book. It is his thoughts and words.

System Magazine of Business, 1915

This was the source of my 2011 book studying Watson Sr. and the Great Depression, The World's Greatest Salesman.

Thomas J. Watson Sr.: Human Relations

​Human Relations continues the Men - Minute - Money collection of Tom Watson Sr.'s speeches and writings. This book, though, rather than being a chronological history of Watson Sr.'s speeches and writings, is grouped by category such as:

• Education
• The Man
• IBM Family
• IBM Policies and Principles

• Pioneering in Business
• Invention and Engineering

Human Relations

​It is also has shorter and more to-the-point quotes revolving around similar topics. Some of this is repeated from Men - Minutes - Money, but this book also covers a time later in Watson Sr.'s life—​through 1948.

The Lengthening Shadow: The Life of Thomas J. Watson

The Lengthening Shadow: The Life of Thomas J. Watson is the definitive resource about Watson Sr. and the early IBM. It is referenced by almost every other book since. It was written by Thomas Graham Belden and Marva Robins Belden and published in 1962 after Thomas J. Watson Sr.'s death.

It is a wonderful read and I believe a balanced perspective on Watson Sr.'s life. No human being is perfect and any book that would try and make a man seem as such has writers that don't understand human nature. This book doesn't shy away from Watson Sr.'s mistakes or peculiarities that made him human, but also offers great insights into a man living and building one of the world's first great corporations.

One weakness with the research contained in this book (and most any of the biographies since) is that the authors researched the files of many newspapers, but most of them were New York City papers; rarely are the Triple Cities area newspapers referenced in any documentation. This was written by Steve Hambalek in his review "Watson Biography Reveals His Weaknesses, Greatness" in The Binghamton Press, July 26, 1962:

There's no mention of the late George F. Johnson, founder of Endicott Johnson Corp., who urged Mr. Watson not to move out of the village so as to obtain a better labor market. Johnson told him that the labor would come to him, and it did just that. The Beldens checked the files of many newspapers, most of them New York City papers but none in the Triple Cities.

​It would be very hard to have a complete picture of Thomas J. Watson Sr. without consideration of the time he spent in his home-away-from-home in Endicott, New York. These newspapers documented almost every move of Watson Sr. from the time he set foot in the Triple Cities area with the C-T-R Company.

The Will to THINK (with Introduction by Tom Watson Sr.)

​The Will to THINK edited by Robert Cousins is a compilation of the best THINK Magazine articles. These are not Tom Watson's Editorials but collections of writings from individuals who were Nobel Prize winners, college presidents, U.S. Senators, editors and authors, reporters, and rabbis and pastors.

It was published in 1957—after Watson Sr.'s death—but has an introduction that Watson Sr. evidently wrote in 1956. Articles included topics that reflected the diversity of thought in the THINK magazines. They included:

• The Fallacy of Fear
• Our Changing Earth
• Frontiers of the Unknown
• Nature Reveals and Man Copies
• Education and the Artist
• Universe and University
• The College of the Future.

A Business and its Beliefs: The Ideas that Helped Build IBM

A Business and its Beliefs: The ideas that helped build IBM, is a collection of speeches (Lecture Series) given by Thomas J. Watson Jr. to the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University. It was published in 1963.

​There is no better book than this one to understand where IBM's Basic Beliefs originated. The basic beliefs of Respect, Service and Excellence were founded in Watson Sr., and the book reflects Watson Jr.'s drive to also build a corporation that would "go on forever." Forever meant a workforce that was engaged (Gallup), passionate (Deloitte) and enthusiastic (Watson Sr.). If you are only going to read one book to understand the 20th Century IBM, this is the must read book. And it isn't an onerous read either, it is an easy 106 pages short.

One of the best quotes of Watson Jr. in this book is:

"I believe the real difference between success and failure in a corporation can very often be traced to the question of how well the organization brings out the great energies and talents of its people. What does it do to help these people find common cause with each other? How does it keep them pointed in the right direction despite the many rivalries and differences which may exist among them? And how can it sustain this common cause and sense of direction through the many changes which take place from one generation to another?"

​ ... ​Is the new IBM bringing out the great energies and talents of its people?

Father, Son & Company: My Life at IBM and Beyond

Father, Son & Co. is an amazing book written by Thomas J. Watson Jr. It is amazing because it reflects his humanity. At times the reader will wince thinking that you might write some of what he did about his relationships with his father, brother and family in general.

​As I talk to more and more IBMers that knew Watson Jr., this just seems typical.
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He, like his, father practiced management by wandering around (MBWA). He talked to everyone like he was one of them. He was anything but aloof. The obligations and associated strains of running a large corporation—for a person that cares—comes through loud and clear in this book.
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Thirty Years of Management Briefings: 1958 to 1988

Thirty Years of Management Briefings was my IBM first line manager "Bible." I received a copy after New Manager's School and it always remained on my desk.

Although it contains management letters from several IBM CEO's (T. Vincent Learson, Frank T. Cary, John R. Opel, and John F. Akers), it is mainly a refreshing insight into the leadership and thoughts of Tom Watson Jr.

​Many of the thoughts are just extensions of his father's expressed in Human Relations (see book entry above).

​Tom Watson Jr. believed in multiple forms of communication with IBMers. One of the ways he communicated with his managers was through Management Briefs. When he saw something that violated company policy, was an especially good or bad management practice, or supported or contradicted the IBM Basic Beliefs, he wrote his management about it.

This was one of the ways he used to ensure his corporation stayed on track.

​One of my favorite Management Briefs is entitled "Object Lesson: The Man Who Grew a Beard." It reads like a Dr. Seuss story and addresses the IBM dress code.

​It ends with this observation:

The corporate design program applies to things like products, buildings, publications and interior decor. Not to people. Obviously we want high standards of behavior and grooming in this organization. ... The object is to make sure we are always able to represent the IBM company in the best possible way. Not that we should all look alike, or be walking, talking replicas of our superiors. Let's not confuse propriety with uniformity.

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