"Consider your life a book.  . . .  Be sure that everything written upon the pages of that book is . . . of a constructive nature. If you do that, you will be read. If not, you will be . . . placed on the shelf."

Tom Watson Sr., Bryant College, 1945

Reviewing Three Centuries of American and IBM Leadership

Published June 1, 2021
​Updated July 2, 2022

 THINK Again!: IBM CAN Maximize Shareholder Value

The Rometty Edition:  Published 2020 (Amazon)
The First Edition:    Published 2017 (Out of Print)

IBM developed unusual techniques to not just survive but thrive during economically, politically, and socially difficult times. Many of its unique leadership practices have never been captured in any business book about IBM.

​Most books focus on the eccentricities of Thomas J. Watson Sr., the transitionary leadership of Watson Jr., or the company’s technological advancements. The chapters in THINK Again! cover all the chief executive officers from Watson Sr. to Rometty, and their interactions with their stakeholders: customers, employees, shareholders and societies.

​IBM's great leaders quickly identified needed changes, did not hesitate to change the policies of their predecessor when necessary, and made mid-course corrections as needed. Lesser CEOs maintained a foolish consistency—even of obviously misguided policies of their predecessors. This is a study of how a CEO's actions can maximize or minimize shareholder value. IBM's history documents that it isn't the goal of maximizing shareholder value that has been IBM's mistake for the last two decades, but the path or "roadmap(s)" it has implemented to attain that goal.

THINK Again!: Read Preface and Foreword, and Watch Book Trailers

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 A View from Beneath the Dancing Elephant

• Published 2014 (Amazon)

Many individuals believe that Louis V. Gerstner was the savior of IBM—indeed, Lou sees himself that way. Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? expresses his perspective quite well. What Lou never realized is that much of his success came from tapping into an eighty-year-old culture that he never understood. IBM’s founders, the Watsons, created this culture around three Basic Beliefs: Respect for the Individual, Service to the Customer, and the Pursuit of Excellence.

​A View from Beneath the Dancing Elephant is an IBM employee's perspective of today's IBM and an evaluation of Lou's leadership at the company. If Lou Gerstner’s book is the yang, this book is the yin—that quintessential opposing and balancing force that every academic should put in front of their MBA students. IBM has lost its culture, its constitution and its way. The downhill slide started with Lou. Great leaders do not seek to abolish a people’s constitution, rather they seek a return to its original intent. This book captures how IBM's two-decade-long decline started—A View from Beneath Lou Gerstner's Dancing Elephant.

A View from Beneath: Read Preface and Excerpts, and Watch Book Trailers

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 The World's Greatest Salesman

• Published 2011 (Amazon)

The New York Times and Time Magazine called Thomas J. Watson Sr., the founder of IBM, the “World’s Greatest Salesman.” Newsweek wrote that he was a philanthropist, where “none gained more from his beneficence than his own employees.” President Eisenhower said he was a man “marked by a deep-seated concern for people.” The World's Greatest Salesman is an IBM employee-owner's perspective of Tom Watson Sr.'s leadership during the Great Depression. In the midst of today's global economic turmoil, it is time to reexamine the thoughts, words and actions of IBM's founder, who led a good company to greatness during the darkest economic times of the 20th Century.

The World’s Greatest Salesman reveals the business philosophies and idealism of one of America’s greatest industrialists through his speeches and an Peter E. Greulich's commentary on the IBM founder’s leadership during the Great Depression. This book follows the speeches of Tom Watson starting the day after the stock market crash on Black Tuesday and ends three days before Christmas in 1933--nine months after the Great Depression’s trough.
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It is time to re-examine the thoughts, words and actions of IBM’s traditional founder. He set an example of great leadership during one of the darkest economic times in world history and led a good company to greatness.

The World's Greatest Salesman: Read Preface and Introduction, and Watch Videos

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 Thomas J. Watson Sr.'s: Essays on Leadership

• Published 2011 (free downloads)

​Tom Watson Sr. "Essays on Leadership" are a series of works by Peter E. Greulich. Each volume explores a single topic of the IBM founder’s Depression-era writings, speeches and articles.

Democracy in Business

This first in the series analyzes Tom Watson’s views on "Democracy in Business" and its benefits, individual responsibilities, and the future. It explores the answers to questions such as: Is democracy-in-business possible; ​Is democracy-in-business inclusive of all men; How does democracy-in-business relate to the individual and the executive; ​What are the responsibilities of the individual and the executive in democracy-in-business?

We Are All Assistants

This second in the series analyzes Tom Watson's views on being an assistant to men. This volume highlights his view on “We Are All Assistants.” It answers such questions as: What is the role of an executive; What is the role of the Chief Executive Officer; What is the best way to teach a man or woman; ​Where does he turn in late 1932 to make up a revenue shortfall?

Forgive Mistakes

This third in the series highlights Tom Watson Sr.’s handling of employee mistakes during the Great Depression. It answers such questions as: How do you encourage innovation and creativity even during economic recessions; How did Tom Watson Sr., through his stories, create an atmosphere of thought and action; What was Tom Watson Sr.’s advice to corporate controllers during the Great Depression; When a mistake occurred what did Tom Watson look for before anything else; What was his advice to young men entering the business world?

Read Essays about Tom Watson's Leadership Thoughts

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 Peter E. Greulich's Research Bibliography

Peter E. reads voraciously and with a focus on early American business, politics and society. This link provides information on those books he has found useful in his IBM research specifically, and others that provided a general knowledge of the times, the business conditions of the day, and insights into the earlier leadership whose shoulders Tom Watson stood upon and those leaders he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with to survive some pretty tough times.

Peter E. has developed a format over the years for his book reviews. He first captures a few of the reviews when the book was published to document how the book was received when it was released. He then publishes a few of the quotes, insights, or unique perspectives from the book--letting the author or biographer speak for him- or herself. Finally, he closes out with his impressions of the book. This flow is not available for all the books.

Here is a short sample of the books reviewed in this bibliography:

• John H. Patterson: Pioneer in Industrial Welfare [Take me there]
• Charles R. Flint: Memories of an Active Life [Take me there]
• George F. Johnson and his Industrial Democracy [Take me there]
• The Lengthening Shadow: The Life of Thomas J. Watson [Take me there]
• The Life of Elbert H. Gary: The Story of Steel [Take me there]
• Owen D. Young: A New Type of Industrial Leader [Take me there]
• The New Freedom by Woodrow Wilson [Take me there]
• My Years with General Motors: Alfred P. Sloan [Take me there]
• Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery  [Take me there] and Character Building [Take me there]
• Gerard Swope, George Eastman, Alexander Graham Bell, John Wanamaker, George M. Verity … and hundreds more.

Bibliography and Book Reviews: IBM, Industrialists, Capitalists, Journalists and more ...