Lou Gerstner Born : March 1, 1942 Browse All Authors Top 58 quotes by Lou Gerstner Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization's makeup and success - along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like... I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value. Lou Gerstner makeup business games Fixing culture is the most critical − and the most difficult − part of a corporate transformation… In the end, management doesn’t change culture. Management invites the workforce itself to change the culture. Lou Gerstner fixing management culture If life was so easy that you could just go buy success, there would be a lot more successful companies in the world. Successful enterprises are built from the ground up. Lou Gerstner success motivational life You can’t mandate [cultural change], can’t engineer it. What you can do is create the conditions for transformation. You can provide incentives. You can define the marketplace realities and goals. But then you have to trust. In fact, in the end, management doesn’t change culture. Management invites the workforce itself to change the culture. Lou Gerstner goal culture reality Vision is easy. It's so easy to just point to the bleachers and say I'm going to hit one over there. What's hard is saying, OK, how do I do that? What are the specific programs, what are the commitments, what are the resources, what are the processes we need in play to go implement the vision, turn it into a working model that people follow every day in the enterprise. That's hard work. Lou Gerstner play work commitment I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game; it is the game. Lou Gerstner aspect games culture People don't do what you expect but what you inspect. Lou Gerstner people In the end an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value. Lou Gerstner organization ends people You don't get points for predicting rain. You get points for building arks. Lou Gerstner ark building rain I don't want to use the word reorganization. Reorganization to me is shuffling boxes, moving boxes around. Transformation means that you're really fundamentally changing the way the organization thinks, the way it responds, the way it leads. It's a lot more than just playing with boxes. Lou Gerstner change mean moving Computers are magnificent tools for the realization of our dreams, but no machine can replace the human spark of spirit, compassion, love, and understanding. Lou Gerstner compassion dream inspirational The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision. Lou Gerstner vision lasts needs Everything starts with the customer. Lou Gerstner great-customer-service customer-experience customers Never confuse activity with results. Lou Gerstner activity results Watch the turtle. He only moves forward by sticking his neck out. Lou Gerstner perseverance turtles moving The thing I have learned at IBM is that culture is everything. Lou Gerstner i-have-learned excellence culture I have always believed you cannot run a successful enterprise from behind a desk. Lou Gerstner business successful running I think that my leadership style is to get people to fear staying in place, to fear not changing. Lou Gerstner style people thinking We built this company from the customer back, not from the company out. Lou Gerstner company customers business The rewards system is a powerful driver of behavior and therefore culture. Lou Gerstner powerful leadership culture
