I’ve had a lot of experience turning around troubled companies, and one of the first things I learned was that whatever hard or painful things you have to do, do them quickly and make sure everyone knows what you are doing and why.

Many IT companies that have built their businesses on some proprietary product have tried to leap across that chasm. Few have made it across successfully.

This kind of wrenching cultural change doesn’t happen by executive fiat. As I found, I couldn’t flip a switch and alter behaviors. It was, by any measure, the hardest part of IBM’s transformation, and at times I thought it couldn’t be done.

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

26: ELEPHANTS CAN DANCE

“Too Expensive, Too Slow

I believe that in today’s highly competitive, rapidly changing world, few if any large enterprises can pursue a strategy of total decentralization. It is simply too expensive and too

slow when significant changes have to be made in the enterprise.