Quick Notes: Who Says Elephants Can't Dance
Chapter 1- IBM offers Lou the CEO position. Their financial situation doesn’t look good.
They want a leader that can organize change, “a change agent.” They don’t care as much
about technical knowledge. Lou takes the job.
Chapter 2- They arrange the transition from Nabisco to IBM. Lots of press. Lour is now
a public figure because IBM is a “global institution.” Lou’s first meeting with the
important people: He wants to decentralize as much as possible and remove
bureaucracy. His management philosophy and practice! Noteworthy: Very strategy
focused, hates hierarchy, importance of honesty and candid conversation.
Chapter 3- The administrative assistant problem (hundreds of AAs that don’t do much).
Meeting with Burdick (director of HR). Discussed search for his replacement and for a
new CFO. Meeting between Lou and his brother Dick. Dick thinks the mainframe isn’t
dead and argues against the company allocating all of its resources to winning the “PC
war.” Brother also gave leadership advice. Hired Jerry as CFO. Initial one on one
meetings with senior executives. Meets researchers. Overarching theme: Lou plans to
move quickly and get back to being customer-centric.
Chapter 4-