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My parents worked enormously hard to put four children through college. We didn't have a lot of money.

Lou Gerstner

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Lou Gerstner
Age: 82
Born: 1942
Born: March 1
Business Executive
Businessperson
Mineola
New York
Money
Didn
Hard
Enormously
Children
Worked
Parents
College
Parent
Four

More quotes by Lou Gerstner

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People don't do what you expect but what you inspect.
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Watch the turtle. He only moves forward by sticking his neck out.
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Every now and then, a technology comes along that is so profound, so powerful, so universal, that its impact will change everything. It will transform every institution in the world. It will create winners and losers, will change the way we do business, the way we teach our children, communicate and interact as individuals.
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I'm leery of legislative solutions to what is morality.
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Computers are magnificent tools for the realization of our dreams, but no machine can replace the human spark of spirit, compassion, love, and understanding.
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I don't want to use the word reorganization. Reorganization to me is shuffling boxes, moving boxes around. Transformation means that you're really fundamentally changing the way the organization thinks, the way it responds, the way it leads. It's a lot more than just playing with boxes.
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If the practices and processes inside a company don't drive the execution of values, then people don't get it. The question is, do you create a culture of behavior and action that really demonstrates those values and a reward system for those who adhere to them?
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The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.
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I have always believed you cannot run a successful enterprise from behind a desk.
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A lot of people saved IBM. Yes, I was the leader of that team but I could never have done it without a group of IBMers helping me.
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For the first month, I listened, and I tried very hard not to draw conclusions
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We do not need Departments of Commerce, Labor, and Education we need a single Department of Skills that will promote an integrated approach to global competitiveness.
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Everything starts with the customer.
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IBM needed - an enormous sense of urgency.
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You don't get points for predicting rain. You get points for building arks.
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I look for people who work to solve problems and help colleagues, I sack politicians.
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In the end an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.
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The fundamental issue is: In the world of the Internet, is there a place for a packager of services? Does the customer want to go surf the Net and go to every one of 50,000 Web sites? Or will people pay a reasonable amount for somebody to go out and preselect and package what they want? My guess is they will both coexist.
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Visit USA.gov and you'll find thousands of directorates, agencies, boards, offices, and services replete with overlapping responsibilities, ancient priorities, and divided accountability.
Lou Gerstner
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The real mechanism for corporate governance is the active involvement of the owners.
Lou Gerstner