Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs

That's what they measured themselves by.

But the world had shifted.

The future was services and solutions, integrated offerings that solve customer problems.

IBM couldn't see it because they were measuring themselves by the old game while the new game was being played around them.

Two, decentralization is our strength.

IBM was proud of how independent their divisions were.

Each business unit did its own thing.

They thought...

That was agility.

That was entrepreneurship.

But customers didn't want five different IBM salespeople calling them with five different products that didn't work together.

Customers wanted solutions, and IBM's structure made integrated solutions impossible.

Three, the culture can't change.

This is the killer.

Everyone inside of IBM, most people outside, believed IBM's culture was too entrenched to change.

That's just how it got here.

That's just how it is here.

You can't fight the bureaucracy.

The elephant can't dance.

When you believe change is impossible, you stop trying.