85 Quotes by Lou Gerstner

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

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

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.

You can never be comfortable with your success, you’ve got to be paranoid you’re going to lose it.

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.

I’m leery of legislative solutions to what is morality.

What we believe is going to be very important is the delivery of traditional software and services and hardware over the Net. That’s a form of electronic marketplace.

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

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?