Tag: IBM

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The Problem with Values

Many organizations proudly tout them.

But are value statements worth the time taken to write them?

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Here are some examples:

  • “Observe and preserve our core values of open communication, empowerment, inclusion, integrity, and trust.” (Cisco)
  • “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” (Boy Scouts of America)
  • “Explore, enjoy and protect the planet.
… Read the rest
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Think!

IBM founder and CEO Thomas Watson had a sign in his office – and more signs plastered throughout the firm.

Aretha Franklin sang about it in the movies.

Buddha noted “What we think we become.”

So why don’t we think more?

The thought came to mind as I trekked back from a week-long stay at San Francisco’s Camp Mather, a place in the high Sierras near Yosemite.… Read the rest

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[Jurassic Park] The New Big (Company) Kid on the Block

I drove to my client, a company on the Peninsula, past what was formerly Genentech Inc. (acquired by Roche) in South Francisco, on the same day that General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

If I had driven further south I would have passed buildings that formerly housed Bay Networks and 3Com, long gone former or diminished competitors of Cisco, and by a location that was Informix (subsumed by IBM), Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle), and Silicon Graphics , a leader in computer graphics in the mid-1990’s and a recent bankruptcy participant, acquired by Rackable Systems.… Read the rest