Who Says Elephants Can T Dance Summary

The book “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance” authored by Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. is a book about inspiration change and turning hardship into greatness. Gerstner, the Chairman and CEO of IBM obtained his BS in Engineering from Dartmouth College and his MBA from Harvard University. He gained his most important management experience at American Express and Mckinsey & Company as senior management. He then became the CEO of RJR Nabisco and lastly Chairman and CEO of IBM before retiring in 2002. When entering is new position at IBM he was soon to enter a phase of his life that would mark his professional career forever. His book is divided into four different parts; grabbing hold, strategy, culture and lessons learned. These four parts are what signified

There were many steps needed for this to work in Gerstners favor and a few of these important steps were, creating a leadership team, creating a global enterprise, making and evaluating important decisions, reviving the brand and resetting the corporate compensation. Achieving these steps was treacherous and demanding, but with the help of the company as a whole he would see the company beginning to make a grab. He needed to keep the company together as one unit in order to make this large jump into the unknown. He would do this by changing the economic model, reengineer the business, and raise extra cash by selling unproductive assets. All of these major factors gained Gerstner the power he needed to grab

In order to make IBM great again this needed to be one of Gerstners main targets for change. He stated, “I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game; it is the game.” This aspect of culture became the company’s focus for the customer. He worked on achieving outstanding customer service, developing a strong network of teamwork, excellence, and integrity. “All high-performing companies are led and managed by principles, not process.” He made it a focus to know and learn the business inside and out. His company needed to develop a deep understanding of its customers needs. Taking all of these strategy targets into consideration is vital but execution only goes so far. Although it is the most critical part of a successful strategy, “getting it done, getting it done right, getting it done better than the next person is far more important then dreaming up new visions for the