Book Review: Who Says Elephants Can't Dance by Gerstner

Introduction to the Book and Its Author

Louis Gerstner's book Who Says Elephants Can't Dance chronicles the dramatic turnaround of business giant IBM under his capable leadership. When Gerstner took over the company's reins in 1993, it was on the brink of being sold off in parts. Through his determined vision, he changed the company's culture to one that once again responded to the needs of the marketplace. In this book, Gerstner demonstrates that a giant company like IBM can be rescued from the brink of extinction and made responsive to the ever-changing marketplace — proving, indeed, that elephants can dance.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. has a long history of success in both the worlds of business and education. He received an MBA from Harvard in 1965 and a BA from Dartmouth College in 1963. After graduating from Harvard, he joined the management consulting firm McKinsey and Co., Inc. Following his time at McKinsey, he spent eleven years as president of American Express' parent company and as president and CEO of American Express Travel Related Services Company. After leaving American Express, he served as CEO and chairman of RJR Nabisco, Inc. for four years. It was in 1993 that Gerstner officially began his career at IBM (IBM).

Gerstner has been actively involved in the field of education for many years. He co-authored a book in 1994 entitled Reinventing Education: Entrepreneurship in America's Public Schools. He has also been involved in a number of initiatives aimed at improving performance in public schools, including Achieve and an IBM initiative also called Reinventing Education (IBM).

He has received numerous awards and honors related to both his excellence in business leadership and his involvement in education. Among these are the American Museum of Natural History's Distinguished Service to Science and Education Award and the Visionary Award from New Visions for Public Schools. In June 2001, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the prestigious designation of honorary Knight of the British Empire (IBM).

IBM's Crisis and Gerstner's Mission

Gerstner's book is organized into five main sections. First, he describes his beginnings at IBM and the specific challenges he faced in turning the company around. Second, he delves into the strategy he implemented to help IBM change its fortunes. Third, he examines the corporate culture of IBM itself, and to a lesser extent the culture of the industry in general. Fourth, he describes some of the important lessons learned from his experience at IBM. Finally, Gerstner offers a discussion of general observations about business and society.

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance tells the story of the business giant IBM from 1992 to 2001. When Gerstner came to IBM, the company was losing billions of dollars each year and on the brink of being sold off in parts. IBM had once been one of the IT industry's dominant forces, but massive changes in the marketplace had reduced it to near ruin. The company had grown almost unhealthily large, was slow to change, and appeared hindered by its own monolithic size.

Many people thought Gerstner was simply coming in to oversee the demise of the former IT giant. Instead, he was determined to make IBM once again "a company that mattered." He was resolved to show that a giant company could indeed respond to the marketplace — in other words, that elephants could, in fact, dance. Gerstner's book is the story of a company that once ruled the business world, crashed into near oblivion, and rose from the ashes to become a business giant again.

Strengths of the Book

Gerstner's position as CEO of IBM gives the book a wealth of interesting and valuable insights. The ultimate effect of these insights is a feeling that the reader is on the very front lines of the decisions Gerstner makes. As a result, the book is both engaging for a wide variety of readers and easy to read. It is never a dry history of a corporate turnaround; instead, Gerstner's perspective draws the reader into the story and makes for a genuinely engaging experience.

The book's crisp prose makes it a true joy to read. Gerstner intelligently resists the impulse to use mindless business jargon, and avoids unnecessary computer and IT terminology as well. The result is a book that manages to be informative while remaining clear and interesting. Much of the book's success lies in how effortlessly the text can be read and absorbed.

Gerstner's insights into industry and society in the book's final section are particularly revealing about his personality and belief system. He offers analysis of a number of groups, and his assessment of investment bankers is especially interesting. When Gerstner joined IBM, one of his first bold moves was to dismiss the investment bankers who had been readying to sell off the disintegrating company piece by piece. Gerstner characterizes investment bankers as opportunistic providers of "hooch for all of the wild speculative periods in our economic history."

Gerstner's account of the decisions that had to be made to keep IBM afloat is vivid and compelling. He recounts pressure-filled, high-level meetings where he encountered considerable opposition to his strongly held views. His portrayal of the stress and weight of these moments is engaging, giving the reader a genuine sense of the finality and consequence of many of his decisions.

When Gerstner took over the reins of IBM, the company faced the challenge of selling mainframe computing to a marketplace that viewed the technology in a negative light. Competitors had created a climate in which mainframe technology was seen as obsolete, expensive, or at best inaccessible. IBM knew that their technology was reliable, powerful, and useful, yet the company seemed unable to communicate this to customers. It took Gerstner's leadership to reengineer the company and win back customers through expanded service and software offerings.

Conclusion

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance is an insightful and well-written look into IBM's dramatic turnaround under the capable hand of CEO Louis Gerstner. Gerstner's mission was to completely change IBM's corporate culture and make the company viable once again. While there are some inconsistencies in his reported willingness to listen to employees, there is no denying that his approach was effective — and possibly even worth his reported $600 million compensation. Gerstner took a failing, lumbering giant and transformed it into a company that was responsive to the highly volatile IT marketplace. In doing so, he truly proved that elephants could dance.