[The key strategic decisions] were:

• Keep the company together and not spin off the pieces.

• Reinvest in the mainframe.

• Remain in the core semiconductor technology business.

• Protect the fundamental R&D budget.

• Drive all we did from the customer back and turn IBM into a market-driven rather than an internally focused, process-driven enterprise.

I have always believed a successful company must have a customer/marketplace orientation and a strong marketing organization. That’s why my second step in creating a global enterprise had to be to fix and focus IBM’s marketing efforts.

This is part of my management philosophy. Executives should know they don’t accumulate wealth unless the long-term shareholders do the same.

A good strategy will always identify critical holes, competitive weaknesses, and the potential to fill them with tactical acquisitions.

It worked, but it was a reminder to me of how difficult it is to get large organizations to give meaningful resources and attention to matters that offer little or no benefit to quarterly results, but which are critical to long-term success.