DISCERNING READERS
  • Home
  • About
  • Books / Bibliography
    • THINK Again! >
      • Preface
      • Foreword
      • Introduction
      • Business Talk Interview
      • Book Trailers and Videos
    • A View from Beneath >
      • Preface
      • Resource Actions >
        • Two R.A. Days Hit Home
        • R.A. Day Kills Productivity
      • Business Talk Interview
      • Book Trailers and Videos
    • The World's Greatest Salesman >
      • Preface
      • Introduction
      • Workplace Safety
      • Images and Quotes
      • Book Trailers / Videos
    • Essays on Leadership >
      • Democracy in Business
      • We Are All Assistants >
        • Frank Venner: We Are All Assistants
      • We Forgive Thoughtful Mistakes
    • Bibliography Overview >
      • IBM >
        • IBM Books >
          • IBM Classics
          • IBM Executives' Books
          • IBM Employees' Books
          • IBM Outsiders' Books
        • IBM Publications >
          • THINK Magazine
          • Business Machines
          • IBM Heart and Soul >
            • Endicott Memorial Day
            • Poughkeepsie Memorial Day
          • IBM Art Books
        • IBM Situational
      • Industrialists >
        • Anthologies >
          • The Book of Business
          • New Ideals in Business
          • Master Workers' Library
          • The Age of Big Business
          • Famous Leaders Series Home Page >
            • Leaders of Character
            • Leaders of Industry: 1st Series
            • Leaders of Industry: 2nd Series
            • Leaders of Industry: 3rd Series
            • Leaders of Industry: 6th Series
          • Forbes' Anthologies
        • Armour, J. Ogden >
          • The Packers
          • The Packers: Second Look
        • Baldwin, William H.
        • Beatty, Edward
        • Bell, Alexander Graham
        • Carnegie, Andrew >
          • Carnegie Quotes
          • Carnegie Autobiography
          • Carnegie Biography by B. J. Hendrick
          • Round the World
          • The Empire of Business
          • An American Four-in-Hand
        • Eastman, George
        • Edison, Thomas A. >
          • Edison: His Life and Inventions
          • Edison: My Friend
        • Farquhar, A. B.
        • Filene, Edward A. >
          • The Way Out >
            • Captains of Industry vs. Captains of Finance
          • Successful Living >
            • Rules of Success
        • Firestone, Harvey S. >
          • Men and Rubber
          • Making an Organization
        • Flint, Charles R.
        • Ford, Henry >
          • Books by Henry Ford
          • The Last Billionaire
        • Gary, Elbert H.
        • Guggenheim, William
        • Hill, James J.
        • Hollerith, Herman
        • Johnson, George F.
        • Patterson, John H.
        • Penney, James C. >
          • Fifty Years With the Golden Rule
        • Procter, William C.
        • Rockefeller Sr., John D.
        • Rosenwald, Julius
        • Sloan Jr., Alfred P.
        • Swope, Gerard >
          • Swope of G.E.
          • The Swope Plan
          • Selected Addresses
        • Verity, George M. >
          • True Steel
          • Character & Success
        • Wanamaker, John >
          • A Business Biography
          • Retail Firsts
        • Watson Jr., Thomas J. >
          • A Business and Its Beliefs
          • Management Briefings
          • Father, Son & Company
        • Watson Sr., Thomas J. >
          • Human Relations
          • Men-Minutes-Money
          • The Lengthening Shadow
        • Young, Owen D. >
          • Selected Addresses
          • New Industrial Leader
      • Capitalists >
        • Baruch, Bernard M. >
          • My Own Story
          • The Public Years >
            • A Review
            • Second Thoughts
        • Schiff, Jacob H.
      • Journalists >
        • Baker, Ray Stannard >
          • Autobiography
          • The Color Line
          • Woodrow Wilson
        • Crowther, Samuel >
          • Articles >
            • Bantam Ball Bearing
          • Biographies
          • Industrialist Anthology
        • Gunther, John >
          • Eisenhower
        • Steffens, Lincoln
        • Sullivan, Mark >
          • Overview
          • Our Times
        • Tarbell, Ida M. >
          • Overview
          • Lincoln Centennial
          • Lincoln Publications
          • Corporate Publications
          • Fiction Publications
          • Other Publications
      • Publishers >
        • Forbes, B. C. >
          • Men Who Are Making America
          • Men Who Are Making the West
          • Automotive Giants of America
          • Little Bits about Big Men
          • America's 50 Foremost Business Leaders
          • Scrapbook of Thoughts on Business of Life
          • America's Twelve Master Salesmen
          • 101 Unusual Experiences
        • Shaw, A. W. >
          • Handling Men >
            • Why We Are Hiring Women
          • The Companion Series
      • Politicians >
        • Eisenhower, Dwight D.
        • Hoover, Herbert >
          • The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson
          • The Problems of Lasting Peace
        • Lincoln, Abraham
        • Mesta, Perle
        • Roosevelt, Teddy
        • Wilson, Woodrow >
          • The New Freedom
          • The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson
          • Life and Letters >
            • Volume IV: President
            • Volume V: Neutrality
            • Volume VI: Facing War
          • Woodrow Wilson's Last Words
      • Educators >
        • Booker T. Washington >
          • Up From Slavery
          • Character Building
    • Research Sites
    • Acknowledgements
  • 21st Century IBM
    • Corporate Performance >
      • Comparing KPIs
      • Brand Performance >
        • Forbes' Best Employer
      • Patent Performance >
        • 2021 Patent Performance
        • 2020 Patent Performance
        • 2019 Patent Performance
        • 2018 Patent Performance
      • Revenue Performance
    • Corporate Practices >
      • Acquisitions >
        • Acquisition: Red Hat >
          • A $35 Billion Gamble
          • IBM + Red Hat 2019 Results
        • Acquisitions: Goodwill
        • Acquisitions: Since 2001
      • Centralization >
        • A Lost Federation
        • The Need to Decentralize
      • Divestitures >
        • Kyndryl Analysis
        • Kyndryl Top Questions
        • Martin Schroeter
      • Employees >
        • Resource Actions
        • Age Discrimination >
          • Cutting Old Heads
        • Employee Engagement
        • Aren't Buying Into IBM
        • Massive Work Slowdown
        • Failure of Work at Home
      • Financial Engineering >
        • Workforce Rebalancing
        • Aggressive Bookkeeping
      • Shareholders >
        • Share Buybacks
        • Shareholder Risk
        • Employee Engagement
        • Warren Buffett's Mistake
        • Do Share Buybacks Work?
    • CEO Performance >
      • Arvind Krishna Overview >
        • Overall Performance >
          • Revenue & Profit
          • Revenue & Profit Growth
          • Revenue & Profit Productivity
          • IBM Market Value
          • Shareholder Returns & Risk
          • Employment Security
        • First Year Performance >
          • Revenue & Profit
          • Revenue & Profit Growth
          • Revenue & Profit Productivity
          • IBM Market Value
          • Shareholder Returns & Risk
          • Share Buybacks
        • The First 100 Days
      • Ginni Rometty Overview >
        • Shareholder Value
        • Shareholder Risk
        • Share Buybacks
        • Dividend Strategy
        • Acquisition Strategy
        • Revenue & Profit Productivity
        • Revenue & Profit Growth
        • Revenue & Profit
  • 20th Century IBM
    • Corporate Performance >
      • IBM's Greatest CEO >
        • Shareholder Returns
        • Revenue Growth
        • Revenue Per Employee
        • Profit Growth
        • Profit Per Employee
        • Market Value
        • Goodwill
        • Economic Contractions
        • Economic Expansions
        • Stock Market Headwinds
        • CEO Historic Footnotes >
          • IBM's Founding Team
          • Financial Engineering
          • The Greatest Gamble
    • Corporate Practices >
      • IBM Anniversaries
      • IBM Benefits
      • IBM Creativity >
        • IBM Cartoons
        • IBM Song Books
        • IBM UK Dictionary
        • IBM Computing Dictionary
      • IBM Wild Ducks >
        • The Wild Goose
        • Royal Dissenters
        • Corporate Constitution
        • Respect for the Individual
        • Service to the Customer
        • Pursuit of Excellence
    • Corporate Products >
      • 1890: U.S. Census
      • 1920: Dayton Scales
      • 1940: The Electromatic
    • Thomas J. Watson Sr. >
      • Articles by Watson >
        • On World Peace
        • On the Cost of War
        • On Public Education
        • On Thomas Jefferson
        • On Thoughtful Mistakes
        • On Stakeholder Relations
      • Articles about Watson >
        • The $1,000-A-Day Chief Executive Officer
        • Employees are Valued
        • Democracy's Man o' War
        • Human Relations in 1956
        • A CEO Who Earned His Pay
        • The Lengthening Shadow
      • Slice of Life Stories >
        • Dali, Salvador
        • Drucker, Peter F. >
          • Authority and Power
          • Short-Term Thinking
          • A Corporate Culture
          • Raising Business Issues
          • Focus on Principles
          • Character and Manners
          • Knowledge Workers
          • Recognizing Ability
          • Individual Respect
          • Employee Paternalism
        • Eastman, George
        • Penney, J. C. (James Cash) >
          • Watson Homestead
          • Golden Rule Businesses
        • Fighting Discrimination
      • Pre-World War II >
        • A Lost Dream of Peace
        • USO Camp Show Founder
      • World War II Effort >
        • Selling War Bonds
        • Production Awards
        • Controlling Profits
        • Machine Records Units
        • Wartime Contributions
        • Widows & Orphans Fund
        • Declaring Human Rights
        • Supporting Home Morale
        • Employee Military Service
        • War's End & Reconversion
      • Post-World War II >
        • Endicott Memorial
        • Poughkeepsie Memorial
        • Rehiring WWII Veterans
      • A Pajama Party
      • A 1943 Tax Problem
      • The Story of "THINK"
      • A Gift of Retirement
      • Learning from Crises
      • IBM Employee Housing >
        • Construction Timeline
      • Two Journalists "THINK"
      • A Buddy Davis Interview
      • Quotes of Watson
      • Quotes about Watson
      • Women in the Workplace
      • A Successful Rebranding
      • Tom Watson's Wild Ducks
  • Articles
    • Corporate Articles >
      • High-Performance Corporations
      • The Art of the Restart
      • Crises, Recoveries & Lessons Learned
      • Strategy Should Create Human Relationships
      • A Time-Tested Corporate Constitution
      • IBM, JC Penney and The Golden Rule
      • How IBM Created its 20th Century Brand
      • The Greatest Business Risk of the 20th Century
      • How to Grow a Business
      • The Importance of Sales Productivity
      • How Much Is a Great CEO Worth
      • Let Your Guard Down
    • Business Articles >
      • Business Witticism
      • The Golden Rule in Business
      • Who and What Built Early American Capitalism
      • Capitalism Needs Industrialist Minded CEOs
      • Producing Corporate True Steel
      • CEO Perspectives >
        • Rules of Success
        • Top Employee Qualities
        • Industrialist vs. Capitalist
      • An Open Letter to the World's CEOs
      • Henry Ford Takes Control
      • The Razor Blade Business Model
      • Two Successful 20th Century Businesswomen
      • Sears: A Dead Franchise Walking
      • A LinkedIn Incognito Mode
      • Value a College Education
    • Political Articles >
      • Political Witticisms
      • Memorial Day
      • Pursuing The "American Way"
      • America: Home of the Brave
      • Securing the Borders of the Americas
      • General Grant's Stand for Justice
      • America's Heartland Stands Strong
      • The New Freedom
      • Teddy Roosevelt on Socialism
    • Spiritual Articles >
      • Inauguration Day Prayer
      • Wilson's Last Words
      • Spiritual Songs
    • Fiction Articles >
      • A Father's Love
      • Introducing a Friend to God
      • Hyphenated Relationships
  • Contact
  • Blog
A CEO Tradition of Forgiving Mistakes

At IBM, We Forgive Thoughtful Mistakes

Published August 23, 2021
Picture of multi-colored blue puzzle pieces with various Watson beliefs and the tagline: The Origin of
 We Forgive Thoughtful Mistakes
Tom Watson Sr. possessed honorable beliefs, deep convictions and a desire to speak to a man’s heart but he lacked an orator's elegance and stage presence. Watson Sr. performed off-stage; his actions more than his words changed opinions and produced an unshakeable loyalty that touched the IBMer‘s heart.

This is one of those off-stage stories.

​Handed down by tradition.

​ A Salesman's Mistake
IBM had survived The Great Depression. Gambling on a post war boom, Watson Sr. had maintained IBM’s employment levels by increasing inventories when there was little demand. Excess machinery and parts crowded basements and filled every nook-and-cranny of Endicott's warehouses.
​
Some on the board of directors, because of this, were lobbying to remove Watson as IBM's President. He needed these inventories sold.

A very large government bid, approaching a million dollars, was on the table. The IBM Corporation—no, Thomas J. Watson Sr.—needed every deal. Unfortunately, the salesman failed. IBM lost the bid. That day, the sales rep showed up at Mr. Watson’s office. He sat down and rested an envelope with his resignation on the CEO’s desk. Without looking, Mr. Watson knew what it was. He was expecting it.

He asked, “What happened?”

The sales rep outlined every step of the deal. He highlighted where mistakes had been made and what he could have done differently. Finally he said, “Thank you, Mr. Watson, for giving me a chance to explain. I know we needed this deal. I know what it meant to us.” He rose to leave.

Tom Watson met him at the door, looked him in the eye and handed the envelope back to him saying, “Why would I accept this when I have just invested one million dollars in your education?”

Many authors build their stories on Watson Sr.'s volatile temper or authoritarian manner; he had one and, at times, he could be. Like most of us he was a human being with faults. His temper though, was reserved for those in management that failed to think. Stories, like the one above of Watson Sr.'s support of the common salesman, surrounded his leadership. His actions, like a great orator's words, were of a higher type. He did not need oratory, as we were his story tellers. His stories were our spoken tradition.

As with any unwritten tradition, over the decades, a story’s who, what and where will change with every telling. The theme of this one story, though, never changed: At IBM we forgive thoughtful mistakes. Of course, to clarify, it probably needs to be said, "Don't fail to THINK before making a decision, don't make the same mistake twice, and never - - no never - - make a mistake of integrity or character."
​
Peter E. Greulich, Volume III of Tom Watson Sr. Essays on Leadership: We Forgive Thoughtful Mistakes
Picture of the front dust cover of Tom Watson Sr.'s Essay on Leadership: We Forgive Thoughtful Mistakes.
Free download available
Return to the Thomas J. Watson Sr. History Home Page
© 2022 Peter E. Greulich. All Rights Reserved
​
Information posted on this site recognizes the legal right of copyrighted material. The following material is considered in the public domain effective January 1, 2022: (1) works published in the United States prior to 1927, (2) works published in the United States after 1926 but before 1964 with a proper © copyright notice that were not renewed in their 28th year, and (3) works published in the United States before 1978 that have no © copyright notice, and (4) all unpublished works created over 120 years ago. Other documents used here that do not fit these criteria are used in good faith and a belief that such usage would withstand a test of fair use. Any concerns with the public domain or fair usage of material on this site will be removed until a discussion can resolve the matter with its permanent removal or republication. Just use the "Contact" menu item above or the "Contact Us" hyperlink provided here: [Contact Us]
  • Home
  • About
  • Books / Bibliography
    • THINK Again! >
      • Preface
      • Foreword
      • Introduction
      • Business Talk Interview
      • Book Trailers and Videos
    • A View from Beneath >
      • Preface
      • Resource Actions >
        • Two R.A. Days Hit Home
        • R.A. Day Kills Productivity
      • Business Talk Interview
      • Book Trailers and Videos
    • The World's Greatest Salesman >
      • Preface
      • Introduction
      • Workplace Safety
      • Images and Quotes
      • Book Trailers / Videos
    • Essays on Leadership >
      • Democracy in Business
      • We Are All Assistants >
        • Frank Venner: We Are All Assistants
      • We Forgive Thoughtful Mistakes
    • Bibliography Overview >
      • IBM >
        • IBM Books >
          • IBM Classics
          • IBM Executives' Books
          • IBM Employees' Books
          • IBM Outsiders' Books
        • IBM Publications >
          • THINK Magazine
          • Business Machines
          • IBM Heart and Soul >
            • Endicott Memorial Day
            • Poughkeepsie Memorial Day
          • IBM Art Books
        • IBM Situational
      • Industrialists >
        • Anthologies >
          • The Book of Business
          • New Ideals in Business
          • Master Workers' Library
          • The Age of Big Business
          • Famous Leaders Series Home Page >
            • Leaders of Character
            • Leaders of Industry: 1st Series
            • Leaders of Industry: 2nd Series
            • Leaders of Industry: 3rd Series
            • Leaders of Industry: 6th Series
          • Forbes' Anthologies
        • Armour, J. Ogden >
          • The Packers
          • The Packers: Second Look
        • Baldwin, William H.
        • Beatty, Edward
        • Bell, Alexander Graham
        • Carnegie, Andrew >
          • Carnegie Quotes
          • Carnegie Autobiography
          • Carnegie Biography by B. J. Hendrick
          • Round the World
          • The Empire of Business
          • An American Four-in-Hand
        • Eastman, George
        • Edison, Thomas A. >
          • Edison: His Life and Inventions
          • Edison: My Friend
        • Farquhar, A. B.
        • Filene, Edward A. >
          • The Way Out >
            • Captains of Industry vs. Captains of Finance
          • Successful Living >
            • Rules of Success
        • Firestone, Harvey S. >
          • Men and Rubber
          • Making an Organization
        • Flint, Charles R.
        • Ford, Henry >
          • Books by Henry Ford
          • The Last Billionaire
        • Gary, Elbert H.
        • Guggenheim, William
        • Hill, James J.
        • Hollerith, Herman
        • Johnson, George F.
        • Patterson, John H.
        • Penney, James C. >
          • Fifty Years With the Golden Rule
        • Procter, William C.
        • Rockefeller Sr., John D.
        • Rosenwald, Julius
        • Sloan Jr., Alfred P.
        • Swope, Gerard >
          • Swope of G.E.
          • The Swope Plan
          • Selected Addresses
        • Verity, George M. >
          • True Steel
          • Character & Success
        • Wanamaker, John >
          • A Business Biography
          • Retail Firsts
        • Watson Jr., Thomas J. >
          • A Business and Its Beliefs
          • Management Briefings
          • Father, Son & Company
        • Watson Sr., Thomas J. >
          • Human Relations
          • Men-Minutes-Money
          • The Lengthening Shadow
        • Young, Owen D. >
          • Selected Addresses
          • New Industrial Leader
      • Capitalists >
        • Baruch, Bernard M. >
          • My Own Story
          • The Public Years >
            • A Review
            • Second Thoughts
        • Schiff, Jacob H.
      • Journalists >
        • Baker, Ray Stannard >
          • Autobiography
          • The Color Line
          • Woodrow Wilson
        • Crowther, Samuel >
          • Articles >
            • Bantam Ball Bearing
          • Biographies
          • Industrialist Anthology
        • Gunther, John >
          • Eisenhower
        • Steffens, Lincoln
        • Sullivan, Mark >
          • Overview
          • Our Times
        • Tarbell, Ida M. >
          • Overview
          • Lincoln Centennial
          • Lincoln Publications
          • Corporate Publications
          • Fiction Publications
          • Other Publications
      • Publishers >
        • Forbes, B. C. >
          • Men Who Are Making America
          • Men Who Are Making the West
          • Automotive Giants of America
          • Little Bits about Big Men
          • America's 50 Foremost Business Leaders
          • Scrapbook of Thoughts on Business of Life
          • America's Twelve Master Salesmen
          • 101 Unusual Experiences
        • Shaw, A. W. >
          • Handling Men >
            • Why We Are Hiring Women
          • The Companion Series
      • Politicians >
        • Eisenhower, Dwight D.
        • Hoover, Herbert >
          • The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson
          • The Problems of Lasting Peace
        • Lincoln, Abraham
        • Mesta, Perle
        • Roosevelt, Teddy
        • Wilson, Woodrow >
          • The New Freedom
          • The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson
          • Life and Letters >
            • Volume IV: President
            • Volume V: Neutrality
            • Volume VI: Facing War
          • Woodrow Wilson's Last Words
      • Educators >
        • Booker T. Washington >
          • Up From Slavery
          • Character Building
    • Research Sites
    • Acknowledgements
  • 21st Century IBM
    • Corporate Performance >
      • Comparing KPIs
      • Brand Performance >
        • Forbes' Best Employer
      • Patent Performance >
        • 2021 Patent Performance
        • 2020 Patent Performance
        • 2019 Patent Performance
        • 2018 Patent Performance
      • Revenue Performance
    • Corporate Practices >
      • Acquisitions >
        • Acquisition: Red Hat >
          • A $35 Billion Gamble
          • IBM + Red Hat 2019 Results
        • Acquisitions: Goodwill
        • Acquisitions: Since 2001
      • Centralization >
        • A Lost Federation
        • The Need to Decentralize
      • Divestitures >
        • Kyndryl Analysis
        • Kyndryl Top Questions
        • Martin Schroeter
      • Employees >
        • Resource Actions
        • Age Discrimination >
          • Cutting Old Heads
        • Employee Engagement
        • Aren't Buying Into IBM
        • Massive Work Slowdown
        • Failure of Work at Home
      • Financial Engineering >
        • Workforce Rebalancing
        • Aggressive Bookkeeping
      • Shareholders >
        • Share Buybacks
        • Shareholder Risk
        • Employee Engagement
        • Warren Buffett's Mistake
        • Do Share Buybacks Work?
    • CEO Performance >
      • Arvind Krishna Overview >
        • Overall Performance >
          • Revenue & Profit
          • Revenue & Profit Growth
          • Revenue & Profit Productivity
          • IBM Market Value
          • Shareholder Returns & Risk
          • Employment Security
        • First Year Performance >
          • Revenue & Profit
          • Revenue & Profit Growth
          • Revenue & Profit Productivity
          • IBM Market Value
          • Shareholder Returns & Risk
          • Share Buybacks
        • The First 100 Days
      • Ginni Rometty Overview >
        • Shareholder Value
        • Shareholder Risk
        • Share Buybacks
        • Dividend Strategy
        • Acquisition Strategy
        • Revenue & Profit Productivity
        • Revenue & Profit Growth
        • Revenue & Profit
  • 20th Century IBM
    • Corporate Performance >
      • IBM's Greatest CEO >
        • Shareholder Returns
        • Revenue Growth
        • Revenue Per Employee
        • Profit Growth
        • Profit Per Employee
        • Market Value
        • Goodwill
        • Economic Contractions
        • Economic Expansions
        • Stock Market Headwinds
        • CEO Historic Footnotes >
          • IBM's Founding Team
          • Financial Engineering
          • The Greatest Gamble
    • Corporate Practices >
      • IBM Anniversaries
      • IBM Benefits
      • IBM Creativity >
        • IBM Cartoons
        • IBM Song Books
        • IBM UK Dictionary
        • IBM Computing Dictionary
      • IBM Wild Ducks >
        • The Wild Goose
        • Royal Dissenters
        • Corporate Constitution
        • Respect for the Individual
        • Service to the Customer
        • Pursuit of Excellence
    • Corporate Products >
      • 1890: U.S. Census
      • 1920: Dayton Scales
      • 1940: The Electromatic
    • Thomas J. Watson Sr. >
      • Articles by Watson >
        • On World Peace
        • On the Cost of War
        • On Public Education
        • On Thomas Jefferson
        • On Thoughtful Mistakes
        • On Stakeholder Relations
      • Articles about Watson >
        • The $1,000-A-Day Chief Executive Officer
        • Employees are Valued
        • Democracy's Man o' War
        • Human Relations in 1956
        • A CEO Who Earned His Pay
        • The Lengthening Shadow
      • Slice of Life Stories >
        • Dali, Salvador
        • Drucker, Peter F. >
          • Authority and Power
          • Short-Term Thinking
          • A Corporate Culture
          • Raising Business Issues
          • Focus on Principles
          • Character and Manners
          • Knowledge Workers
          • Recognizing Ability
          • Individual Respect
          • Employee Paternalism
        • Eastman, George
        • Penney, J. C. (James Cash) >
          • Watson Homestead
          • Golden Rule Businesses
        • Fighting Discrimination
      • Pre-World War II >
        • A Lost Dream of Peace
        • USO Camp Show Founder
      • World War II Effort >
        • Selling War Bonds
        • Production Awards
        • Controlling Profits
        • Machine Records Units
        • Wartime Contributions
        • Widows & Orphans Fund
        • Declaring Human Rights
        • Supporting Home Morale
        • Employee Military Service
        • War's End & Reconversion
      • Post-World War II >
        • Endicott Memorial
        • Poughkeepsie Memorial
        • Rehiring WWII Veterans
      • A Pajama Party
      • A 1943 Tax Problem
      • The Story of "THINK"
      • A Gift of Retirement
      • Learning from Crises
      • IBM Employee Housing >
        • Construction Timeline
      • Two Journalists "THINK"
      • A Buddy Davis Interview
      • Quotes of Watson
      • Quotes about Watson
      • Women in the Workplace
      • A Successful Rebranding
      • Tom Watson's Wild Ducks
  • Articles
    • Corporate Articles >
      • High-Performance Corporations
      • The Art of the Restart
      • Crises, Recoveries & Lessons Learned
      • Strategy Should Create Human Relationships
      • A Time-Tested Corporate Constitution
      • IBM, JC Penney and The Golden Rule
      • How IBM Created its 20th Century Brand
      • The Greatest Business Risk of the 20th Century
      • How to Grow a Business
      • The Importance of Sales Productivity
      • How Much Is a Great CEO Worth
      • Let Your Guard Down
    • Business Articles >
      • Business Witticism
      • The Golden Rule in Business
      • Who and What Built Early American Capitalism
      • Capitalism Needs Industrialist Minded CEOs
      • Producing Corporate True Steel
      • CEO Perspectives >
        • Rules of Success
        • Top Employee Qualities
        • Industrialist vs. Capitalist
      • An Open Letter to the World's CEOs
      • Henry Ford Takes Control
      • The Razor Blade Business Model
      • Two Successful 20th Century Businesswomen
      • Sears: A Dead Franchise Walking
      • A LinkedIn Incognito Mode
      • Value a College Education
    • Political Articles >
      • Political Witticisms
      • Memorial Day
      • Pursuing The "American Way"
      • America: Home of the Brave
      • Securing the Borders of the Americas
      • General Grant's Stand for Justice
      • America's Heartland Stands Strong
      • The New Freedom
      • Teddy Roosevelt on Socialism
    • Spiritual Articles >
      • Inauguration Day Prayer
      • Wilson's Last Words
      • Spiritual Songs
    • Fiction Articles >
      • A Father's Love
      • Introducing a Friend to God
      • Hyphenated Relationships
  • Contact
  • Blog