85 Quotes by Lou Gerstner

Every now and then, a technology comes along that is so profound, so powerful, so universal, that its impact will change everything. It will transform every institution in the world. It will create winners and losers, will change the way we do business, the way we teach our children, communicate and interact as individuals.

For the first month, I listened, and I tried very hard not to draw conclusions

The thing I have learned at IBM is that culture is everything.

I just think we should look at this as a chess match," he said, "between the world's greatest chess player and Garry Kasparov.

No institution will go through fundamental change unless it believes it is in deep trouble and needs to do something different to survive.

If the practices and processes inside a company don't drive the execution of values, then people don't get it. The question is, do you create a culture of behavior and action that really demonstrates those values and a reward system for those who adhere to them?

Everything starts with the customer.

I think values are really, really important, but I also think that too many values are just words.

The more successful enterprises are the more they try to replicate, duplicate, codify what makes us great. And suddenly they're inward thinking. They're thinking how can we continue to do what we've done in the past without understanding that what made them successful is to take risks, to change and to adapt and to be responsive. And so in a sense success breeds its own failure. And I think it's true of a lot of successful businesses.