Too Hard for IBM to Keep Everybody Silent About How the Company Has Gone South
IBM became a pile of trash, in some sense literally
Today it is generally some part of a long weekend, but recent comments from alleged insiders (in B10) said there would be mass layoffs soon - or "RAs" large enough that IBM cannot hide them, unlike the "silent layoffs".
Some hours ago somebody wrote about "IBM Fake Leadership", stating that IBM Consulting is made up of phonies: "In all my years in consulting i have come across multiple fake leaders (aka.. A fake leader is an individual who prioritizes personal image, power, and self-interest over the well-being of their team and organization) but nothing like IBM consulting. Per my experience apart from a handful of leaders every other leader i encountered at IBM consulting is very close to a fake leader. seems like its very much engrained into the culture what have you seen during your time ?"
Ignoring the troll that keeps contaminating pages with LLM slop, one of the comments said: "In large part because in 2002 The G Man Gerstner used $3,500,000,000 of IBM shareholder money, way overpaid, for PwC Consulting and those people did not want to move to IBM nor ever got engrained and assimilated to learn what it means to be IBM. This was 9 years after G Man came into IBM and burned the culture which to this day, IBM is still wandering in the woods with no culture. None. Here is a laptop. He is an un attainable quota. Here are a bunch of "contacts" not customers, to fatigue with SalesLoft to spam then 7 times a week "...would you like to buy something today...?). After 6 months, miss the number and quit or go on PIP and be forced out with mental abuse. Rinse and repeat. I guess IBM thinks technology is now bought and used the way you download apps for your phone from Apple and Google stores. ALL of the LEADERS at IBM are clones of Ron Burgundy in Anchorman. Not smart. Not funny. No self awareness. Love to seem themselves on TV or in ridiculous "town hall" mtgs etc etc. "I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal.""
"Take a visit to Albany", a later comment said. "That site has been leveraged by a small group for their own personal gain and advancement for over a decade. It’s egregious and widely known open secret on-site. Yet it continues under a thinly veiled pretense of R&D."
Another thread, this one about mega-facilities of IBM in the US being abandoned completely (despite being relatively new), has 4 longer comments that similarly being up Gerstner's bad legacy.
One comment said "there's probably 100 RAs worth of cr-p in these places. such a waste of money."
"Made me cry," said another comment. "Joined in the early 80s. IBM should R.I.P."
In many ways, to a lot of people IBM is already dead because not many people buy anything from IBM or made by IBM. In practice, IBM relies on things like banks and governments. That too shall pass.
From the longer comments (sans trolls who use LLMs):
It helps to understand what was going on at the time. As IBM shrank over the decades, Somers and Palisades were no longer required. Just like RA'd employees were declared as "surplus", so was the real estate. IBM sold each of those sites to real estate speculators who hoped to make a ki-ling.The problem was...those speculators couldn't do it. It's extremely difficult and extremely expensive to redevelop "formerly single-use" properties, which Somers and Palisades definitely are. The counties have their hands out (Westchester and Rockland), putting all sorts of restrictions and expectations on what can be done in those places. In the meantime the physical plants at both sites were left idle, the infrastructure was left to rot, and there are now major environmental issues to clean up before any sort of rebuilding can begin.
People often talk about abandoned car factories near Detroit, or old steel mills falling apart. These places are no different. IBM is not the company that it once was, and so these places are now bygone relics.
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I have been with IBM for just under 15 years. What drew me to this company was its heritage, values and culture. I actually cried when I arrived at HQ on my first day. However, I am crestfallen by what I see with RAs, endless acquisitions and partnerships, and extremely low morale. This breaks my heart. I hope this is all temporary and we will rise to the occasion of greatness like before.
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I see it differently (25 years there) 12 before the G Man Gerstner and 13 after.
This from 2018...Imagine now India is 3 to 4x the size of US population. Chasing cheap labor offshore while IBM fades to black. Sad. India displaces the US as home of IBM's largest workforce. https://www.consultancy.in/news/432/india-displaces-the-us-as-home-of-ibms-largest-workforce
Tens of thousands of great IBM US folks sacrificed for Arvind's homeland with a caste system.
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NOPE. It was Lou Gerstner who intentionally vaporized the IBM Basic Beliefs that every IBMer cherised for 70 years when he came in 4-1-93. 57 of those years under IBM founder Thomas J Watson Sr 42 years and his some Thomas J Watson Jr for 15. 1. Respect for the Individual. The Watsons TRULY LOVED their employees because Watson Sr had a tough upbringing in upstate NY and even began his career selling organs and sewing machines door to door in a horse drawn carriage. He then did well at NCR only to be humiliated and fired. Respect meant ANY IBMer could request a mtg with ANY IBM EXEC with no retribution thru their Open Door and Speak Up Pgms. Gerstner was a pompous and arrogant man coming from McKinsey where they are taught they are the smartest people on the planet. I can see the first time somebody brought up RESPECT to Lou and he went irate. 2. Excellence in everything we do. Always the best. None of today's IBM's nonsense of "progress over perfection". BS. 3. Best Customer Service in the world. IBM was pretty much all hardware back then and the CEs customer engineers now SSR system support reps were the best of the best and highly trained and adored by customers. IBM today is like the boiler room on a steam ship. Do not hope or think it will get better.
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As one who grew up in an IBM (computing) world, seeing what IBM has turned into convinces me that Ginny was the last CEO to see or organise a major anniversary event.
IBM is busy trying to keep disgruntled or ex workers silent using NDAs, but there are enough people out there who can anonymously write about what IBM has become. IBM paying the media for anomalous garbage/misinformation isn't cheap. Some of it invites scorn/suspicion. █