Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?

In 1990, IBM was a corporate dinosaur on the brink of extinction, with the business world watching what looked like the final chapter of an American icon.

The company was paralyzed by its own bureaucracy, losing billions, and had completely lost touch with its customers. The consensus was clear: IBM was too big, too slow, and had to be broken up to survive.

Then Lou Gerstner was brought in as CEO. In a story that has become a legend in the annals of business, the non-technologist CEO undertook one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in history. This first-hand account details the high-stakes journey of a massive business transformation.

Gerstner reveals the vital management strategy and leadership principles he used to rebuild the company from the inside out, challenging a dysfunctional corporate culture to refocus on the marketplace.

Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? is more than just the story of the revival of IBM; it’s a powerful business case study in crisis management and the relentless execution required for true business leadership. From the decision to keep the company whole to the strategic bet on services and the creation of “e-business,” Gerstner offers a bracingly candid look at what it takes to change a company and an industry.

Gerstner’s hard-won lessons provide a masterclass in high-stakes leadership:

• Leading Through Crisis: Discover the day-one principles Gerstner used to stop the bleeding at a company that was losing billions, and how he made the critical decision to keep IBM together against the advice of nearly every expert.
• Driving Cultural Transformation: Learn how to tackle an entrenched, inward-looking bureaucracy and rebuild a company from the inside out by changing how people think, work, and collaborate.
• Relentless Execution: Go beyond theory with a playbook for turning strategy into action, famously summarized by Gerstner’s statement that ‘the last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.’
• A New Vision for the Tech Industry: Understand the strategic thinking that shifted IBM from a hardware-centric company to a services-led powerhouse and created the concept of “e-business,” changing the industry forever.