The Maverick and His Machine 255
The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM | |
author | Kevin Maney |
pages | 512 |
publisher | Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated |
rating | 7 |
reviewer | roomisgloomis |
ISBN | 0471414638 |
summary | How IBM came to be, and to succeed. |
At age 40, Watson was thrown a curve ball that, like that first sentence says, nearly ruined him. In fact, it sent him so low that this shaped his character more than anything that had happened to him earlier in his lifetime. It sent him to the lower depths and resulted in him being given the reigns of an equally down-in-the dumps loser business just to get rid of him. He was banished to a corporate Siberia. He was considered a loser, and given a loser's position in a loser's business.
It's at this point that he reshaped and remade that company into what is today known as IBM. The blue suits and white shirts that were the uniform of IBM men became so because he wore one every day. There was no written rule that employees had to wear them; they did it because he did it. That says something: he led by example and his employees admired him.
Just as an aside, it seems that Watson's big thing was that things didn't happen (or went wrong) because people didn't think hard enough. To encourage employees to think he had big "THINK" signs put all over the company. This evolved into "Think" buttons, and employees were even allowed and encouraged to kick back and think. Eventually, small notepads were emblazoned with "Think" and they were called "Thinkpads." Hence, the name of the laptop.
THINK, by the way, is the reason that the company created so many technological innovations.
Now, just because Watson started IBM and largely shaped it into one of the most successful companies in the world doesn't mean he was a saint. Some of the most interesting parts of the book have to do with his home life and how he treated his wife and kids. It seems that he was somewhat of a manipulator who knew how to shape people by breaking them and remaking them.
One story about his son (who would later become CEO of the company) shows Watson's mean streak. It seems that, early in the younger Watson's career, after dinner together at home, the elder asked him what his impression was of one of his executives.
The younger Watson dutifully answered, seeking to impress his father with his skill at observing people. The elder paused and then berated the young man for daring to form an opinion about a seasoned executive who had years of experience behind him. Who did the young man think he was to judge someone who had been in the business since before he was born?
While this isn't the stuff of Ward Cleaver, Watson was, all the same, a courageous and enterprising individual who took risks and (most of the time) succeeded. Especially engrossing is the episode during the depression when IBM was in danger of bankruptcy and shutting its doors. Watson, contrary to what most intelligent people would do, gave a rousing talk to his top executives, telling them that instead of cutting back on manufacturing and personnel, they should increase both.
Luckily (for Watson), a few months later, Pearl Harbor happened and, with the sharp increase in troops, materials and logistics, the U.S. government needed "calculating machines" and needed them fast. While major competitors like NCR and Burroughs had to ramp up production to meet demand, IBM, with its ready stockpile of machines won the contract and delivered, saving them from possible bankruptcy.
There is a lot more I could say about the book but because I don't want to spoil anything, I won't go into it here. However, if you're a Big Blue fan (and I am), you might want to follow up this read with Lou Gerstner, Jr.'s book, Who Says Elephants Can't Dance. It's a great read about how, for the second time in its history, the company was saved from becoming history.
You can purchase The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
did this maverick (Score:2, Funny)
It did not really start with IBM... (Score:5, Insightful)
IIRC Thomas Watson learnt his art at NCR, where the ability to smash a rival's machines was one of the job requirements for an ambitious cash register salesman. These days, I'd guess that translates into being able to produce VR TCO studies proving that Windows is cheaper.
Re:It did not really start with IBM... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Innovators from Ohio, IBM, NCR,the Wright Broth (Score:2)
Old Evil Empire (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:5, Funny)
But when there is no external danger around, he likes to pin you down to the ground and give you nuggies.
Fear the IBM nuggies!
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:2, Funny)
But when there is no external danger around, he likes to pin you down to the ground and fuck you.
Fear the IBM ass raping!
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Even Evil Empires can change... Maybe... (Score:3, Funny)
It's silly to hold a mutable group of persons responsible for the sins of past members of this group.
If tomorrow, MS board kicks Ballmer into the used car salesman career for which he's born, and they tie Bill Gates on a chair in his 3-acre rec room, and they reform MS corporate culture, and they stop being bastards, then MS will probably become a decent corporation. Provided they get rid of the people who ooze the current MS culture, of course.
However, such a strategy might have
Re:Unredeemable Companies (Score:5, Funny)
This is SCO we're talking about - does anyone here really expect them to be around in 20 years?
If they win their stupid lawsuits they will (Score:3, Interesting)
evils of the past (Score:3, Insightful)
If Microsoft did a turnaround and started supporting Linux, becoming part of the solution rather than the 800 pound gorilla of a problem then you're damned right I'd do business with them. You're a fool if you refuse to do business with a company because of what it did 20 years ago, provided that company has changed.
Re:Old Evil Empire - Mac users too? (Score:3, Insightful)
Just 20 years after the Superbowl ad where Big Blue was smashed by the Apple girl, the top-of-the-line PowerMac G5 sports an IBM-manufactured 64-bit processor.
Near death experiences.... (Score:3, Insightful)
In desperation, the board brought in Lou G., who had no previous experience in IT, to take the helm. Lou remade the company, in particular, making it more customer focused. Employees were so scared of the company dying, that they pretty much went along with his plans. The IBM of today reall
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:5, Insightful)
The difference with Microsoft is not its size or monopoly position, but rather its inane mediocrity. IBM innovated. Microsoft does not. IBM produced quality products, Microsoft produces shoddy products. IBM made computing available to the masses, while Microsoft merely dumbed computing down. We consider Microsoft to be an "evil empire" because it could be so so much better. It's like a Wolfgang Puck selling hotdogs, or a Shakespeare writing Hallmark greeting cards.
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:2)
I'm old enough too. And I read. IBM not only was considered an evil empire, it was a convicted monopolist and made only proprietary systems. Guess who incubated William Gates III?
Not really. All of IBM's "innovations" are actually someone else's, they just managed to make money off it by virtue of their monopoly.
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:3, Informative)
Even discounting the fact that SPARC and POWER are far more open than x86 stuff, and that x86 stuff is popular enough to be even easier to work with than IBM proprietary stuff, I was referring to operating systems. It took a government decision to make IBM license MVS, and even so they kept changing hardware specifications to kill third-party hardware plugin vendors. MVS to this day is a dog to work with b
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:2)
Where did you live? Boca Raton, or Armonk, NY?
Which tellingly was applied later to M$.
You are thinking the IBM PC, which was never so important. See that only Dell really makes money on PCs nowadays, not even M$ does. The real money is and was on
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:2)
M$ doesn't make that much money. It actually earned a lot in the stock exchange game.
So you are not qualified.
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:2)
What's so evil about (so-called) 'Big' Tobacco? People want cigarettes; the cigarette companies make them. What's wrong with that?
Now, my personal opinion is that Marlboro, Benson & Hedges, Pall Mall & al. produce a rather foul-tasting product, but that's also my opinion of Anheuser-Busch and Coors: apparently a good number of people disagree.
And why is it always called 'Big' Tobacco anyw
Re:Old Evil Empire (Score:2)
The irony here of course is that Kraft is owned by RJ Renyolds... er Altria. The problem with "Big Tobacco" is the lies and complete disregard for human life that is rampant in the industry.
WTF? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, praise be to $DEITY for that event.
Re:WTF? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:WTF? (Score:5, Funny)
Pfft, the best thing that happened to computing is Python Harbor. Perl Harbor sucks
Re:WTF? (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh, and Perl Harbor was a joke. Perhaps IHBT? Either way, I plan to HAND.
Some usual grammar nazism (Score:2)
Main Entry: Pearl Harbor Function: noun
going to takes a verb in infinite mode, something quiet, but not altogether, different from a noun.
here's a spoiler... (Score:2, Funny)
IBM stands for International Business Machines. Ok, I just gave away the ending. sorry.
Re:here's a spoiler... (Score:5, Funny)
If you're gonna spoil it, at least do it right. The following is copied from the end of the book:
Re:here's a spoiler... (Score:2)
Re:here's a spoiler... (Score:3, Funny)
With those words, Watson hurled his last business card at Darl McBride. Darl's head snapped back with the impact, producing a loud cracking noise eminating from his neck area. Darl took a step backwards and collapsed, the card still sticking part way out of his head.
Great... here comes another SCOX press release about death threats against Darl.
As seen on a computer screen in Mad Magazine.... (Score:2)
UBM
We all BM
(circa 1981?)
Mod the partent up! (Score:2)
What would life have been like (Score:1)
Gratuitous puns (Score:2)
Intu what?
I don't want to go intuit right now.
Is that anything like a round tuit?
IBM and geeks (Score:5, Insightful)
A true geek doesn't necessarily care much about IBM. IBM is a lot more relevant to suits. In fact, IBM redefines the concept of "corporate culture" and "standardized outfit". They also embody the culture of centralized computing (or at least used to) and the company used to be seen as a "benevolent dictator", with its policy of renting computers instead of selling them.
All these things are quite opposite to the world of geeks. Of course, curious and open-minded geeks read about everything, and therefore should read this book as well.
Re:IBM and geeks (Score:4, Informative)
Re:IBM and geeks (Score:4, Insightful)
They're spending quite a bit of money doing the right thing, and they should be applauded for it.
D
Re:IBM and geeks (Score:2)
If we show appreciation to them for doing the right thing, they may well keep on doing it. I buy IBM server hardware explicitly because they support Linux development.
The great thing about capitalism is that we can help out companies friendly to us by buying their products, and we can hurt those who are not our friends by not buying theirs.
Easier to have a champion who wants to keep being one than to find another.
D
Computer Architecture (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Computer Architecture (Score:2)
That is, to some degree, an apples-to-oranges comparison, as you're comparing microprocessors to complete computer systems.
I can think of one microprocessor [ibm.com] that, by definition, is used in systems "with the reliability, availability, and maintenance features of IBM's large systems", as it's the microprocessor used in the CPUs of those systems.
Now, it might be that the z900 micro
Re:IBM and geeks (Score:2)
Re:IBM and geeks (Score:2, Informative)
IBM was not homogenous in that respect. Our offices were in a diverse area, near manufacturing, final roll-out facilities (a room bigger than a football field, filled with mainframes running test suites--very cool), and an executive suite, and there were many and varied cultures.
Re:IBM and geeks (Score:2)
A "true geek" would want to wander thru IBM's research labs, looking behind all the doors, reading what is on the whiteboards, and talking to Senior Scientists. A "true geek" would recognize that much of what stirs his geek-beating heart
Obligatory IBM Nazi Connection References (Score:3, Interesting)
News.Com [com.com]
Re:Obligatory IBM Nazi Connection References (Score:3, Informative)
Re: Obligatory Edwin Black revenge link (Score:2)
For those who don't know, David Irving is a prominent Holocaust denier [bbc.co.uk]. After an extensive libel trial it was officially decided in court that he is also a racist and anti-Semite, and he was denied permission to appeal the case.
Amusingly, it was reported in the UK press that at one point in the trial Irving absent-mindedly addressed the judge as "mein Fuhrer"...
Re: Obligatory Edwin Black revenge link (Score:2)
Sorry, my English grammar parser failed on that sentence. What were you trying to say? What does David Irving have to do with Edwin Black?
I have been to a lecture by Black and read some of his book on eugenics, and let me tell you, he has absolutely no sympathy for neo-Nazis. His entire point, both in the IBM book and in the eugenics one, was that America was complicit in some of the worst ex
Re: Obligatory Edwin Black revenge link (Score:2)
What does David Irving have to do with Edwin Black?
Excuse me, I didn't realise what the parent of your post was (it was score 0 and below my threshold). So we don't disagree.
Perhaps, like in email, it's preferable to quote in slashdot postings too, otherwise it really does look like you were replying to the original post with this subject line...
Meanwhile, in the land of racism... (Score:5, Insightful)
Because heaven knows one could never have an interesting book about a "dead white man".
Re:Meanwhile, in the land of racism... (Score:2)
I'm white, against affirmative action, aware of the double standard applied to appreciating white culture and so forth, but that doesn't mean that every negative reference to a white person is racism, even if it points out the person's race.
A stuffy, boring book about a dead black man would be different in context and motif from the same book about a dead white man. The dialogue, colloqialisms, humor, attitude, and statement about the world would be differen
If you like this... (Score:5, Informative)
Ultimate international business machine (Score:5, Funny)
Don't forget that IBM also manufactured
Re:Ultimate international business machine (Score:2)
Pan
Re:Ultimate international business machine (Score:2)
We wouldnt be at this time if it wasnt for WW2 and the ills it brought..
Re:Ultimate international business machine (Score:3, Informative)
Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941. The Wannsee conference, where the Nazis decided on the genocide of the Jews, was on Jan 20, 1942.
Re:You are so wrong (Score:2)
I think you'll find that the main thing that triggered US entry into the war in Europe was Germany declaring war on the US. The only ones who did the right thing right away were the British, who declared war on Germany after Germany invaded Belgium.
Re:You are so wrong (Score:2)
Belgium? Or Poland? Also, France declared war on Germany at the same time.
Re:You are so wrong (Score:2)
Poland. Belgium was World War I.
-sam
Re:You are so wrong (Score:2)
Indeed, however it's hard for a counter-offensive to start a war, especially when that counter-offensive takes place 5 years after the war was declared.
-sam
Re:Ultimate international business machine (Score:2)
A Shame, Really (Score:5, Interesting)
Then there was the round-the-world tech support, which is so reminisent of today's outsource-to-India trend.
I like what I read about IBM these days, but haven't been in a position to buy from them lately, so don't have much current knowlege.
IBM And The Holocaust (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:IBM And The Holocaust (Score:2)
Re:IBM And The Holocaust (Score:5, Insightful)
GPL'ed software doesen't play sides:
GPG is available to me, as well as rat-bastard terrorist types.
In additon, it's increasingly coming out that American businesses that were engaged with the Nazi's were great fronts for American espionage. Don't be so quick to jusge IBM - ther'es a lot more than meets the eye.
I learned this from the Swiss: The Swiss wer'e not nearly so neutral as they'd like you to beleive during WWII - their "neutrality" gave them a lot of room to really fsck over the Nazi's as bet they could without getting caught.
What? (Score:2)
Like I said, I don't have anything for or against the Swiss, and neither the Germans, but mis-information is always harmful.
Re:IBM And The Holocaust (Score:2)
I read the book (err, listened to it on tape) and was fascinated. But one question remains.
If this is the case, has IBM had its pants sued for participating in the holocaust?
Re:IBM And The Holocaust (Score:2)
And the Communists used to say that the capitalists would "sell us the rope to hang them".
So they did. And got rich. While the communists' economies collapsed and they eventually hung THEMselves.
Amazing how that works.
"Real Communism" (Score:2)
Yeah, we've heard that all before.
Real communism hasn't been tried yet. The people calling themselves communists are actually x.
Real socialism hasn't been tried yet. The people calling themselves socialists are really y.
Real capitalism hasn't been tried yet. The people calling themselves capitalists are really z.
Real Christia
Re:IBM And The Holocaust (Score:2)
Edwin Black even reviews his own book. What a talented guy.
What is he from Ork? (Score:4, Funny)
In a log cabin that he built with his own hands?
Re:What is he from Ork? (Score:2)
Re:Dayton Ohio, party town? (Score:2)
Interestingly i just took a History class at the U of Dayton last semester, and we talked about this a bit. I believe that he pretty much got screwed out of a job at NCR (National Cash Register), where he'd been working a long time and had gotten a lotta patents for. This is just offhand memory though, so don't quote me on anything.
Dayton used to be awesome for development of stuff... from the airplane, to tetraethyl lead, freon, GM's reasearch labs, all kinds of stuff. Now it's just boring.
Re:Dayton Ohio, party town? (Score:2)
Check Big Blue [amazon.com], AFAIR he served time in jail for criminal monopoly creation and maintenance at NCR.
timeslip (Score:2, Interesting)
Wrong! Long before that, FDR's New Deal and the new Social Security Administration were the source of IBM's turnaround during the depression.
Best Watson quote.... (Score:2, Interesting)
and
We forgive thoughtful mistakes.
They used to chant these at assemblies....
My Review... (Score:3, Informative)
This is a must read for anyone who wants to get a sense of what real leadership is all about. Watson was leading before there were books on leadership and studies on communictation. He was managing corporate culture before there were words for it. He saw his company -- and his employees -- through transitions that go well beyond mainframe vs. PC. When his technologies were rendered obsolete, he simply invented new ones.
Anyone with aspirations to lead should read this book. It's so action-packed that you may forget it's a true story. But it is. And I can't wait to see the movie.
Why else a geek would care (Score:5, Funny)
Yawn! (Score:4, Funny)
--b
Re:Yawn! (Score:5, Funny)
World War II didn't rescue IBM... (Score:5, Interesting)
The WW II connection is that IBM turned over its manufacturing plants to the government to make war materiel at a 1% profit. Carbines, gun sights, small cannons, other things, were all made in IBM's plants in Poughkeepsie, Endicott, and elsehwere.
Not just IBM. Also Rockola, GM, ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Not just IBM, either. You'll find M1s made by fGM and Rockola, as well.
Mechanical computers (which is what much of the mechanism of a gun, distributor, carburator, or jukebox of the era actually is), and the products that make them, are also very flexible - eve
Re:Not just IBM. Also Rockola, GM, ... (Score:2)
Funny thing is that a custom gunsmith who lives near me uses axels out of Ford pickups made between '47 and '52 for his rifle barrels because they are the right kind of chrome/moly steel.
Is it that much better outside of Dayton? (Score:3, Funny)
I live in Dayton. I never thought of it as a particularly difficult place to live. Perhaps if I move, I can take over the world and you can all bow down and worship me.
But don't rush out to buy my septer and throne just yet... I'm kinda stuck with having a negative equity mortgage, so the escape velocity to overcome the sucking power of Dayton is a little out of my reach at the moment. ;-)
IBM's people and management are dinosaurs . . . (Score:2, Informative)
Huh? (Score:2)
Sure, there's lots of bureaucracy and politics in some parts of IBM, but the company's not generally a slouch when it comes to technical standard
I think you're missing a (Score:2)
Important paragraph (Score:5, Insightful)
Interesting. Even more interesting is this quote:
"No matter what the provocation, I never fire a man who is honestly trying to deliver a job. Few workers who become established at the Disney Studio ever leave voluntarily or otherwise, and many have been on the payroll all their working lives."
Guess who? Walt Disney.
These men built two of the most enduring companies in history, and neither of them endorsed mass layoffs. Coincidence? Guess not.
Will current middle management learn from this? Probably not. They're too "sophisticated" for that.
Re:Important paragraph (Score:4, Insightful)
You see, we never do the same thing twice around here. We're always opening up new doors.
I wonder what he would think of Lion King 1 1/2?
Other T.J. Watson biographies (Score:5, Informative)
Watson was a salesman, and was at one point NCR's top salesman, working for Patterson, the head of National Cash Register. The whole Patterson/NCR story is worth understanding. NCR's entire top management was convicted of criminal antitrust violations. Their tactics make Microsoft look like small timers. NCR built defective duplicates of competing cash registers and sold them to make the competition look bad. Their sales reps were instructed on how to sabotage competing cash registers.
Old-school review process (Score:2)
Fuck that 360 degree review process.
hate to invoke hitler, but... (Score:2)
Short memory protects criminals (Score:2)
I can't believe how acritical this review was. There are several books (and magazine articles and personal anedoctes and so on) documenting how IBM is bad and was even worse, and how they incubated Microsoft and its culture.
The best I ever read was "Big Blue [amazon.com]: IBM's Use and Abuse of Power", by a DoJ's economist who actually worked fighting IBM's monopoly. He tells us some interesting facts like Thomas J Watson being a convicted monopolist for practices at NCR that'd make Bill Gates blush, and once at IBM
TJ Watson started IBM? Not quite! (Score:4, Informative)
IBM didn't start with Thomas Watson. IBM was originally the Computing-Tabulating-Recording (CTR) Company, founded by Charles Flint in 1911. CTR was made up of three acquisitions:
The latter is most important; it was founded and owned by Herman Hollerith, who invented the electric tabulating machine made famous by the 1890 U.S. Census. Thomas J. Watson wasn't hired as CTR's president until 1915, and the name change did not come until 1924.
Book suggestion: Austrian, Geoffrey D. Herman Hollerith: Forgotten Giant of Information Processing.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1982.
Re:First Litigous Bastards (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Favorite Watson quote (Score:2, Funny)
The world worked just fine for thousands of years without 'em.
WHY IS THIS MODDED DOWN?? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:NCR (Score:2)
They shrinked. They just work now selling complete packages to business with high transaction volumes, instead of competing in the general purpose computing market.
And they've become yet another Wintel reseller cum proprietary systems vendor.
Re:Watson, a Captain of Enterprise (Score:2)
Sheesh, after Kirk, Picard, Garrett from that alternate universe/time travel TNG episode and Archer, I'd have thought that we'd had enough of them. But no, now we have Captain Watson. Enough already!