I worked for IBM for 7 1/2 years, from 2001 through mid-2008 when (unlike so many afterward) I voluntarily left to take over a Vice Presidency at another firm in my field (high performance computing, or HPC).
I learned a lot from IBM; it was mostly a tremendous experience. I had some outstanding managers....but at the end of my time there, also had some real duds. I mean seriously clueless putzes.
I was part of a very small team that built a $1.1 billion HPC business almost from scratch in just under four years. You’d think the company and the division I worked for would have been ecstatic, no?
Wrong.
Instead, after lavishing positive attention on us for a few months once they realized what we’d done....they decided to manage the living s**t out of the business. This new crop of idiots waltzed in, an entirely new chain of command with a couple of “extra” management layers, mind you.....and, for example, never gave me 5 minutes of their precious time to ask how to get us to $2 billion...or even HOW we did what we did in the first place. They couldn’t possibly have cared less.
Nada. Zip.
IBM rewarded automotons; clueless bureaucrats who understood process (the author of this piece nailed that part) and could talk the talk. If you stuck your neck out, your head got chopped off.
It stopped being fun....and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough as I watched them starve a huge business that I put blood, sweat, and tears into for years. It was disgusting, sad, and incredibly stupid.
I don’t regret my time there; I’m grateful for the experience. That said, I’d never go back. The company is run by people who are slaves to “the almighty Quarter”; to Wall Street. They could give a damn about the people who MAKE it all happen. Your chart shows impressive shareholder value....but it doesn’t begin to tell the whole story.
When a company becomes a slave to the Street, they forget who they are and what got them to a position of prominence. That is precisely what has been happening to Big Blue.
What makes it doubly sad is that some of the finest people, some of the finest minds I’ve ever known work (or worked) there.
“IBM rewarded automotons; clueless bureaucrats who understood process (the author of this piece nailed that part) and could talk the talk. If you stuck your neck out, your head got chopped off.”
Could read:
“Boeing/Lockheed Martin rewarded automotons; clueless bureaucrats who understood process. . .and could talk the talk. If you stuck your neck out, your head got chopped off.”
Boeing has been going through “downsizing” for quite a while now. As has LM.
Automatons and bureaucrats seem to survive.
While LM has the JSF, for now, don’t see much in the future for them.
Boeing military has the air re-fueling tanker, for now.
When the F-18 line finishes and the Saudi F-15 sale is done. . .there are no programs to keep St Louis alive.
Regardless, I expect the president’s and VP’s of Boeing’s military programs to continue to get bonuses for a job well done.
I probably know you.