Complete integrated solutions Gerstner was determined to keep IBM together and convinced that the only way to do so was to change its culture: away from an inward looking bureaucracy to a responsive service company in-tune with customers' needs. Gerstner recognized that IBM's enduring strength was its core competency to provide integrated solutions for customers with complex problems. This, Gerstner judged to be the unique IBM advantage. Gerstner's approach was to drive the Company from the customer view and, "turn IBM into a market-driven rather than internally focussed process-driven enterprise". And it worked. According to Gerstner, keeping IBM together and changing its culture, "was the first strategic decision and, I believe, the most important decision I ever made, not just at IBM, but in my entire business career". Will the new leader of the NHS have Gerstner's strategic clarity, rottweiler focus and determination to execute? Importance of culture During his customer focused transformation, Gerstner learnt not to be fooled by bogus measurements and data associated with customer satisfaction and targets. "People", Gerstner said, "do what you inspect, not what you expect".
Gerstner's most important and proudest accomplishment was cultural change that brought IBM closer to its customers by inspiring employees to drive toward customer defined success. "Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization's makeup and success; along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value". Lessons for the NHS In, Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Gerstner describes three important insights, which helped transform IBM and could help the NHS: 1. A service intergrator controls every major aspect of an industry
2. Every major industry in today's network-centric world is built around open standards 3. It is important to abandon proprietary development, "embrace software standards" and "actively license technology". In 1993, many people criticized IBM for their selection of Gerstner because he was neither an insider nor a technologist. You can hear something similar were the NHS to appoint a CEO from outside the healthcare industry. Based on IBM's transformation and the insights described in Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Gerstner was the right person for the job.
|
Comments