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Who Were IBM's Greatest Chief Executives?

IBM's Greatest Chief Executive Officers

Published August 5, 2021
A Chart that provides the key performance indicators (KPIs) for determining
Watson Sr. in his old fashion way used to tell IBMers that they needed to "read, listen, discuss, observe, and then take the time to sit down and think" about what they had learned to arrive at a proper conclusion that was their own. He believed that anything that was made personal "is strong to you."

May you come to an opinion based on reading, listening, discussing, observing, and then thinking. Then it will be strong to you. You will find that discovering the differences between the 20th Century and 21st Century IBMs can be informative and fun and, at times, heartbreaking.


Without holding us hostage, the past can teach us much.
 IBM's Greatest Chief Executive Officers by the Numbers
In late 2011 IBMers on LinkedIn's "The Greater IBM Connection," which no longer exists, discussed "Who was the Greatest Chief Executive of the last century?" It was the end-of-year's hottest topic. Through this discussion, I came to realize that there were generational differences between IBMers. I identified them in my second book, A View from Beneath the Dancing Elephant as the elder, transition, and younger generations.

​It was a discussion between those with an experiential knowledge of IBM history, those with little knowledge of IBM history, and those who had experienced the transition between the 20th and 21st Century IBMs.

Almost down to every comment, I could tell if an IBMer had retired before the mid-90s, had experienced the transition of the '90s, or was hired after the mid-90s. The ones that threw me for a loop were those from two or three generations of IBM families. Even though they were hired after the '90s, their families made them fully aware of IBM's past, its culture, and the basic beliefs. This is not to say that there was agreement within the generations, just that there were similarities of thought.
A chart of all IBM's CEOs with timeframe and years of service.
​So I started gathering information and trying to figure out how to present this information graphically, so everyone could first of all visually see the information and hopefully consume the details accurately and quickly.
Much of this information (with data through 2013) was in the Appendices of the 2014 A View from Beneath the Dancing Elephant. It was significantly enhanced and incorporated into the text of the 2017 publication of THINK Again!. More detailed information was added through the end of 2019 with the THINK Again! refresh in May, 2020: The Rometty Edition.

​Below are individual topic headings with links to the web page that documents the applicable key performance indicator (KPI). Each site is being updated with key performance metrics for all of IBM's chief executive officers. We are always willing to discuss the information or reformat the information for press, analysts and consultants.

A contact form is provided above as a menu and and below in the footer information.
 IBM CEO Historical Key Performance Indicators
Shareholder Returns
Today, there is a raging debate among corporate stakeholders as to the wisdom of Wall Street's shareholder-first and -foremost fanaticism.

​Let's start this evaluation of IBM's Chief Executive Officers with their historical shareholder returns.
Picture of hand holding a tree and tagline:
It takes a holistic perspective and this is just a starting point.

Shareholder Risk
(Goodwill & Intangible Assets)
The game of hot potato is similar to the game of musical chairs. In IBM’s game of "goodwill" hot potato, the winners keep exiting the game leaving a potential loser behind. ​There is a goodwill reckoning coming at IBM.
Picture of bubbles in the air with the tagline:
The questions are: who will get caught, with how much, and when?

Economic Headwinds
An economic downturn tests a Chief Executive Officer's mettle. Capitalist economies weed out the mediocre during tough economic times, leaving only the most fit. Economic downturns are, if anything, a capitalistic certainty.
Picture of a tornado going down a street with the tagline:
Let's chart the U. S. Business Cycle Contractions against these executives.

Economic Tailwinds
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. In some of these cases, IBM's Chief Executive Officers rarely saw cloudy skies, much less stormy weather.​
Picture of a rising sun with the tagline:
Let's discover whose economic ships were lifted as the "rising tide lifted all boats."

Stock Market Headwinds
Bear markets are no fun. As the quote on the chart reflects, Tom Watson Sr. reminded his salesmen in the trough of the Great Depression (1933) of what was at stake. It wasn't the stock price, but the very survival of many who depended on the corporate dividend to pay bills, eat, and keep a roof over their heads.
Picture of a hungry bear with the tagline:
Let's map the largest declines in U. S. Stock Market history against each IBM CEO.

Revenue Growth
When revenue drops, it is a "canary in the coal mine." As Teddy Roosevelt would say, "A chief executive needs to speak softly but carry a big stick to find and fix the cause." In the past century there have been wars, recessions and depressions, all of which affected revenue growth.
Picture of dandelion spreading seeds to the wind with the tagline:
These charts map some of these critical historical events that are economically significant against revenue growth numbers.

Revenue Per Employee
Sales productivity, when it drops, is a symptom of bigger problems than a lazy sales force, especially during a time frame like "The Great Expansion" of the '90s. Revenue per employee is a common productivity metric that determines how effectively a corporation is supporting its sales organization.
Picture of hand on a whiteboard with the tagline:
How well did each of these chief executives put people, processes and products in place to make sales "productive."

Profit Growth
Profit is necessary to keep a business functioning. But long-term increasing profitability must come from higher productivity, not short-term aggressive booking or financial engineering projects like raiding pension plans, right-sizing, resource actions, or workforce rebalancing.
Picture of fireworks with each of IBM's CEOs near a burst in the air with the tagline:
How does the performance of IBM's twenty-first century leadership stack up against their twentieth century counterparts?

Profit Per Employee
Net income per employee is a common productivity metric that determines how effectively a corporation is managing its bottom line. It is an effective method to visualize management effectiveness over time, but unlike revenue per employee, profit per employee can be easily manipulated.
Picture of hand on a whiteboard with the tagline:
Let's chart out each chief executive and their productivity performance and also map out some of the aggressive bookkeeping and financial engineering games.

Market Valuation
Until 1999, market value was “the most important measure of progress to investors.” Since shareholders' quit inspecting this metric, guess what happened?

​One chief executive through some pretty amazing slight of hand changed the focus to earnings per share.
Picture of balloons in a blue sky with the ten IBM CEOs names and the tagline: IBM CEOs' Market Value.
The Board of Directors might consider going back to a market share metric.


Return to "IBM's Twentieth Century Corporate Performance" 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
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        • Two R.A. Days Hit Home
        • R.A. Day Kills Productivity
      • Business Talk Interview
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      • Preface
      • Introduction
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          • Edison: My Friend
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        • 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
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          • Overview
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          • Overview
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          • Men Who Are Making America
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          • 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
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        • 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
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  • 21st Century IBM
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          • A $35 Billion Gamble
          • IBM + Red Hat 2019 Results
        • Acquisitions: Goodwill
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      • 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
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