“You saw our preliminary results… The first step is just to own it.” We already do. Every single one of us on the ground owns our number, every quarter, no matter how the goalposts moved that quarter. So let’s talk about ownership both ways: what exactly do you own here? Not the words “own it” in a Monday message : the actual outcome. What’s the consequence for you when the results miss? Who’s putting you on a PIP?
Nobody around you says this out loud, so I will: we had real leaders who could have told you this a year ago, and they didn’t leave for a better offer .... they got pushed out because they tried to correct you. You don’t get to say “no deflection, no excuses” while the people most likely to challenge the plan are the ones no longer in the building, because they challenged it.
Maybe IBM’s software problem isn’t the market, isn’t the customers, isn’t even the products. Maybe it’s you. Look at the CROs and software leaders actually winning out there right now. do you really think they run their orgs the way you run this one? Reshuffling structure every six months, pushing out anyone who isn’t aligned, surrounding yourself with people too scared to push back? That’s not how growth companies behave. That’s how companies behave right before they lose the people who could have saved them.
And look at how these decisions actually get made: under panic, not conviction. Every reorg lands like an emergency reaction to a bad quarter, not a plan anyone thought through. And somehow, in that panic, we’re the ones treated like zero, like we can’t understand a reorg, like we’re not agile enough, like we’re the ones resisting transformation. We are exactly those things. We adapt every single time you ask us to, on a shorter timeline than any of you have to answer for. What we’re fed up with is taking transformation advice from the worst-performing leadership in the room, delivered in a panic, and then being blamed when the panic doesn’t produce results.
And on that note: when you write “we are putting more attention on software consumption,” who exactly is “we”? You and McKinsey in a slide deck, or you and the people actually sitting in front of customers who could tell you months ago that this was coming? Because from where I sit, “we” hasn’t included us in a long time : it’s included consultants who get paid regardless of whether the plan works, and employees who inherit the plan with no say in it.
“Every Second Counts” is a good line for a kitchen sign. It’s a bad operating model for enterprise software. Nobody sells real value in one or two quarters. Value takes time to build because it’s built on trust, and trust takes longer to earn back than it takes to lose. Nobody deploys software in one or two quarters either, because deployment runs on the customer’s timeline and their business needs, not ours. If every second really counts, the first thing that should buy us is more discipline before changing structures, incentives, and coverage models mid-year : not less.
Here’s my Monday growth message back to you: a leader is accountable to the people below him, not just to the market above him. That means listening to employees and customers before restructuring around them, not after. It means being able to say “I was wrong” and “this is going to take longer than I promised,” out loud, without spinning it into a hype line for the next town hall. We show up accountable every day, on our numbers, on our customers, on our word. I’m asking you to show the same thing back .... not another recap of initiatives, but an honest account of what you got wrong and what you’re doing to fix it, including how it affects the people asked to execute it with less time and fewer resources than the plan pretends.
We’re not asking for perfection. We’re asking for the truth, and for someone to actually be willing to hear it.
8 replies (most recent on top)
Bob will break IBM up!
OP. Spot on . Very well said. This has been a smoke and mirrors show for some time now. It follows much what is going on in the world today. . Corruption is the new black. So very trendy. Duplicity abounds in IBM. With the right hand , Let’s pretend all is great. We are doing the best we ever have. Our future is so bright. Sell the hype. While with on the left hand , leaders squeeze as much cash as they can in their pockets, not pay much attention to the pleebs below them…. and everyone is below them. When things go bad. Its the other guys fault. Our workers don’t execute to our plan. (What plan?)
This is a sinking ship. Not sinking quite as fast as the titanic did. But it is taking on water much faster than the pumps can keep up with.
@OP Excellent growth message but if it doesn't result in any changes with management at the top and down, then it's message is lost. IBM will never become a growth company as long as it remains tied to a corrupt culture where leadership is worshipped even when it is responsible for huge career and soul destroying destroying changes and mistakes. Anyone who used to speak up at IBM has gone for good. Most of the Speakup programs are little more than corporate talk-the-talk, nothing more. All you have now are the blind leading the blind. And where is the accountability which should start at the top of IBM ? It is simply not there - it's just "pass the buck" from Arvind and his management down to the rank and file.
Asking for truth and acting on what you hear back are two separate things. The management at IBM (including the board of directors) appear to be only interested in filling their pockets, and not doing the job they were put in place to do. They get paid a lot for doing very little and attending a few meetings a year. The same thing happened under Gin 'n Tonic (Ginny) when she deliberately filled the board with geriatric businesses leaders who were incapable of making good business decisions. This "Stacking the deck so that things align and work in your favor" really needs to change. Maybe the CEO and Chairman's jobs need to be held by separate people too. It might be too late for any sort of future growth unless the entire management is changed at IBM. Finally, McKinsey consultants need the boot for destroying a once great company.
Bob pwns it!
Arvind has been telling a fairy tale to the board and investors for the last 2-3 years and needs to go. Rob has failed at running SW and is not the guy to replace him. Mohamad has failed at running Consulting (other than running it into the ground). Jim, Joanne, and Nickle are not the right people to lead Ops. That's the message that needs to be heard. The entire top needs to be lopped off and replaced with fresh blood. Even the BoD is mainly a bunch of geriatrics completely out of touch with the market. It's going to take the stock dropping below $160 (and believe me, it's coming) to force a revolt from BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard to clean house.
Like others have pointed out, data and facts are often ignored when they don’t fit leadership’s narrative. This has been especially true at the Albany site, where all of us have seen objective evidence dismissed in favor of a story that better serves individual leaders’ agendas and personal objectives.
@OP Rob T never struck me as the type of person who understands or cares that the engine of a good business is an employee base who feels appreciated. He also never struck me as the kind of person who has the ability to admit that he made a huge mistake. He DOES strike me as the type who will always blame others for things he messed up. He lacks humility and he just doesn’t get it. Typical poor executive. He ruined the entire Sales organization. All that’s left is to see how many IBMers and their families will now pay for his mistakes.
@OP Can I get an AMEN!!! This is exactly how many of us feel today. Too bad Rob will never read this, because he needs to...badly. You know what though? Even if he DID read this, he wouldn't actually understand it. He's to self-important to think the problem is actually him, which it is. We watched him destroy the Sales, Tech Sales and CSM organizations without batting an eye. Now we're all paying for his complete and utter incompetence. I wish the guy would just resign and let someone who knows what they're doing step in, but it's probably too late for many of us.