Lou Gerstner

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.

The world is full of CEOs that think that just because they write a memo or they write a letter inside an annual report or they give a little video speech that gets sent around the company, they think that's what's really going to effect employees. No, you can't assume anything but very smart. They understand when you're really communicating with them, they understand when you're treating them as adults, as equals. And it takes a lot of effort to go out. You've got to be candid, you've got to be fair, you've got to give the bad news as well as the good news. Communicating with your employees is a very sophisticated and very time-consuming activity.

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.

The world is full of CEOs that think that just because they write a memo or they write a letter inside an annual report or they give a little video speech that gets sent around the company, they think that's what's really going to effect employees. No, you can't assume anything but very smart. They understand when you're really communicating with them, they understand when you're treating them as adults, as equals. And it takes a lot of effort to go out. You've got to be candid, you've got to be fair, you've got to give the bad news as well as the good news. Communicating with your employees is a very sophisticated and very time-consuming activity.

Vision is easy. It's so easy to just point to the bleachers and say I'm going to hit one over there. What's hard is saying, OK, how do I do that? What are the specific programs, what are the commitments, what are the resources, what are the processes we need in play to go implement the vision, turn it into a working model that people follow every day in the enterprise. That's hard work.

The more successful enterprises are the more they try to replicate, duplicate, codify what makes us great. And suddenly they're inward thinking. They're thinking how can we continue to do what we've done in the past without understanding that what made them successful is to take risks, to change and to adapt and to be responsive. And so in a sense success breeds its own failure. And I think it's true of a lot of successful businesses.