The legacy of positive power

Former IBM chief Virginia Rometty's memoir is not the typical account of a leader's achievements, deals, and glory days. It stands out with its focus on how things were accomplished

After the last chapter of this book, a small, two-paragraph handwritten note by the author has been reproduced. After thanking the reader for giving her the most important asset — attention — Virginia “Ginni” Rometty, former CEO and chairman of IBM, reminds the reader that a person will be remembered not just for his or her achievements alone. The greatest legacy a person leaves may actually be “how” it was achieved.

This is really the central message of Ms Rometty’s book, which is quite unlike the autobiographies or memoirs most US CEOs pen when they retire. The quintessential US CEO memoir focuses on his/her glory days, the deals he or she pulled off, and often vastly exaggerates his/her achievements as leader. The better business autobiographies/ biographies also put into context important changes in the corporation’s strategy during a leader’s tenure.

Ms Rometty’s predecessor as IBM chief — Lou Gerstner — captured his efforts to pull IBM from hurtling into oblivion, for example, in his own memoir Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance. Ms Rometty’s book also recounts the changes at IBM she carried out as the CEO as well as other significant events that occurred during her rise in Big Blue, as the company was known. But those are not really the focus of this book. Good Power is more about doing good —to people and to the world — if you have the power to do so.

The book is divided into three parts. The first deals with her early life. Her father, one fine day, walked out on her mother leaving the latter with no money, a lot of debt, and four children to bring up. Ginni was the oldest at 16 when her father walked out and she became Mama Bear for her siblings as her mother worked two jobs to make ends meet.

The author does not sound bitter and the tale is told in a matter-of-fact way with the good being highlighted and the bad being just recounted without any emotion. Her father’s brother and his family helped out — Ginni’s uncle did not approve of what his brother had done. Her mother’s relatives were pillars of strength, though they too had to bear many hardships.

Ginni was determined to do well and attend college — and she did. A scholarship from General Motors allowed her to study the last two years without constant financial worry and she joined that company when she graduated with an engineering degree.

The second part of the book is about her career with IBM — her husband encouraged her to join the company. She rose steadily, breaking one glass ceiling after another till the board chose her to become the ninth CEO and chairman of IBM because of her role in helping the computer giant buy, integrate and run PWC’s consulting arm.

Ms Rometty’s tenure as IBM leader earned more brickbats than bouquets in the business press. She was not flashy as some of her more high-profile contemporaries — think Sheryl Sandberg or Marissa Mayer or even Carly Fiorina. More importantly, her tenure saw IBM becoming a smaller corporation because she exited many businesses, including making computer chips, because they no longer made sense to the company’s strategy for the future. IBM had been slow to see the changes in the computing world and was hurtling towards its death when Mr Gerstner was hired to help a turnaround. Though Mr Gerstner had made the elephant get back on its feet, it was still not dancing when he handed over the reins to Ms Rometty.

Ms Rometty did not make the elephant dance either but she certainly made it leaner and fitter. She would preside over many changes, including shrinking the firm drastically, and then buying Red Hat for $34 billion. But she could never please IBM’s shareholders. The stock stagnated during her tenure, no matter what she did. When she announced her successor, Arvind Krishna, the stock markets celebrated and the IBM share price rose 5 per cent.

Now though there is some rethinking in the tech world about her record as CEO. The Red Hat acquisition has helped it become a significant player in the hybrid cloud market.

But the corporate tale is really only the background in this book. What stands out are the people Ms Rometty meets, the mentors she finds and the lessons in Good Power that she imbibes from them. She is generous with her praise of all those who helped her in ways small and big.

Part three is about what large corporations can do to make society and communities better and how they can help in changing the world. Ms Rometty does not preach — she gently nudges the reader.

There aren’t too many CEO autobiographies that deal with doing good to the world. The only one this reviewer can think of is former Unilever CEO Paul Polman’s Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More than They Take.

Though the central messages were similar, they are very different books. Ms Rometty’s tale is simply told and an easier read in many ways. And it resonates in an era which has seen some of the worst examples of alpha leaders and unbridled capitalism being celebrated in the business media.

The reviewer is former editor of Business Today and Businessworld, and founder of Prosaic View, an editorial consultancy