That was a difficult time for me. I love building businesses, not disassembling them. However, we all have an opportunity to learn in everything we do. I came away from this experience with a profound appreciation of the importance of cash in corporate performance—“free cash flow” as the single most important measure of corporate soundness and performance.

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.

I have worked in services companies (McKinsey and American Express) and product companies (RJR Nabisco and IBM). I will state unequivocally that services businesses are much more difficult to manage.

There are fundamentals that characterize successful enterprises and successful executives.

• They are focused.

• They are superb at execution.

• They abound with personal leadership.

Great companies cannot be built on processes alone. But believe me, if your company has antiquated, disconnected, slow-moving processes—particularly those that drive success in your industry—you will end up a loser.