Lou Gerstner

Louis V. Gerstner Jr. is an American business executive who served as IBM’s chairman and CEO from 1993 to 2002, leading its recovery from near-breakup.

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IBM: IBM is an American technology company founded in 1911, known for computing hardware, software, and services. Gerstner led IBM through its 1990s recovery and redirected its business toward integrated services.
IBM in the 1990s: IBM in the 1990s was a period of severe losses, restructuring, and strategic change at the computing company. The crisis formed the immediate setting for Gerstner’s appointment and turnaround.
Sam Palmisano: Sam Palmisano is an American business executive who succeeded Gerstner as IBM’s CEO in 2002. Palmisano inherited the strategy Gerstner had established and continued IBM’s shift toward services.
IBM breakup proposal: The IBM breakup proposal was a plan to divide the company into separate businesses during its early-1990s crisis. Gerstner rejected splitting IBM, arguing that customers valued its ability to integrate technology.
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?: Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? is Lou Gerstner’s 2002 account of leading IBM’s turnaround. The book presents Gerstner’s own explanation of the decisions and management principles behind the recovery.
IBM Global Services: IBM Global Services was IBM’s services division, combining consulting, technology implementation, and outsourcing. Gerstner expanded IBM’s services business as a central part of its strategy.
John Akers: John Akers was an American business executive who served as IBM’s chairman and CEO from 1985 to 1993. Akers’s departure opened the way for Gerstner, IBM’s first chief executive recruited from outside the company.
Thomas J. Watson Jr.: Thomas J. Watson Jr. was IBM’s president from 1952 to 1971 and its chairman and CEO from 1961 to 1971. Gerstner’s emphasis on changing IBM’s culture contrasted with the company’s inherited traditions.
IBM compatible: An IBM compatible is a personal computer designed to run software and peripherals made for IBM’s PC architecture. The compatible-PC ecosystem weakened IBM’s control over the hardware business that had once defined it.
Corporate culture: Corporate culture is the shared assumptions, norms, and practices that shape behavior within an organization. Gerstner treated IBM’s internal habits as a central obstacle to changing how the company served customers.