On paper, IBM looked like a model tech company — until it didn’t. “Big Blue” positioned itself on the vanguard of the Information Revolution in the 1970s and early ’80s. Yet by 1990, it was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
What happened? The facts were plain enough: Once a hotbed of talent, Big Blue tended to hold up its most creative leaders. Its sclerotic infrastructure made it hard to bring innovations to market. In short, it had failed to keep up with the latest trends because its organizational culture had stagnated.
