Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

People don't do what you expect but what you inspect.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

Computers are magnificent tools for the realization of our dreams, but no machine can replace the human spark of spirit, compassion, love, and understanding.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

Watch the turtle. He only moves forward by sticking his neck out.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

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.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

The real mechanism for corporate governance is the active involvement of the owners.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

It's about communication. It's about honesty. It's about treating people in the organization as deserving to know the facts. You don't try to give them half the story. You don't try to hide the story. You treat them as - as true equals, and you communicate and you communicate and communicate.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

Successful enterprises are built from the ground up. You can't assemble them with a bunch of acquisitions.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

I think that my leadership style is to get people to fear staying in place, to fear not changing.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

This really is a merger of equals. I wouldn't have come back to work for anything less than this fantastic opportunity. This lets me combine my two great loves - technology and biscuits.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

I firmly believe that IBM's size can be used to its advantage.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

If life was so easy that you could just go buy success, there would be a lot more successful companies in the world.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

The Internet is ultimately about innovation and integration, but you don't get the innovation unless you integrate Web technology into the processes by which you run your business.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

The next thing is: we can make IBM even better. We brought IBM back but we're gunning for leadership.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

The fundamental issue is: In the world of the Internet, is there a place for a packager of services? Does the customer want to go surf the Net and go to every one of 50,000 Web sites? Or will people pay a reasonable amount for somebody to go out and preselect and package what they want? My guess is they will both coexist.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

If CEO compensation was performance-driven, which I believe it was in IBM's case, nobody would ever argue. If the shareholders didn't make billions and billions of dollars, I wouldn't make millions of dollars. My salary was the same for 10 years. It was all performance-based.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

I want to take IBM back to its roots.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

The world is full of CEOs that think that just because they write a memo or they write a letter inside an annual report or they give a little video speech that gets sent around the company, they think that's what's really going to affect employees.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

Our military should be trained and structured around missions, not the elements of air, water, and land.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

Quite frankly, I am not very comfortable in chitchat. When I go to board meetings, I arrive two minutes before and leave when it's over. I don't stay for lunch or go early and have coffee.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

We do not need Departments of Commerce, Labor, and Education; we need a single Department of Skills that will promote an integrated approach to global competitiveness.