Ibm’s Values and Corporate Citizenship
Refreshing the Values
In 2003, CEO Sam Palmisano authorized a bold effort to refresh the values via an IBM “values jam,” two 72-hour Web chat sessions about what IBM stands for, open to every IBMer in the world.
When he presented the plan to the IBM board, one of the directors, a former CEO, questioned him about whether this was “socialism.” Palmisano explained that this was the only way to build an enduring institution in which IBMers embraced and owned the values. “It wouldn’t do to create values from the top, like Watson did; today people are too sophisticated, global, and cynical. We want people to connect to the entity in a way that’s relevant to them.” He wanted people to have pride in IBM as an institution, not merely to be following a leader: “To have a culture that connects people’s success to the success of the entity, we have to be faceless. Then they have pride in the entity’s success and will do what is important to IBM. Management is temporary, returns are cyclical. The values are the connective tissue that has longevity. We are the only ones in technology to have lasted more than 25 or 30 years.”
The values jam was a test of IBM technology (massive scale required innovation) and a test of the culture. People could say what they thought. But negativity on some people’s part was countered by many others. Noha Saleem, who ran software support for the Middle East out of Dubai, did just that:
“Someone had a problem with the openness of management, so I commented and said, you cannot blame it on your manager; it’s a two-way thing.”
Over 140,000 people participated. A team took the results and eventually boiled them down to three overarching values: Dedication to every client’s success. Innovation that matters for customers and the world. Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships.
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Professor Rosabeth Moss
In 2003, CEO Sam Palmisano authorized a bold effort to refresh the values via an IBM “values jam,” two 72-hour Web chat sessions about what IBM stands for, open to every IBMer in the world.
When he presented the plan to the IBM board, one of the directors, a former CEO, questioned him about whether this was “socialism.” Palmisano explained that this was the only way to build an enduring institution in which IBMers embraced and owned the values. “It wouldn’t do to create values from the top, like Watson did; today people are too sophisticated, global, and cynical. We want people to connect to the entity in a way that’s relevant to them.” He wanted people to have pride in IBM as an institution, not merely to be following a leader: “To have a culture that connects people’s success to the success of the entity, we have to be faceless. Then they have pride in the entity’s success and will do what is important to IBM. Management is temporary, returns are cyclical. The values are the connective tissue that has longevity. We are the only ones in technology to have lasted more than 25 or 30 years.”
The values jam was a test of IBM technology (massive scale required innovation) and a test of the culture. People could say what they thought. But negativity on some people’s part was countered by many others. Noha Saleem, who ran software support for the Middle East out of Dubai, did just that:
“Someone had a problem with the openness of management, so I commented and said, you cannot blame it on your manager; it’s a two-way thing.”
Over 140,000 people participated. A team took the results and eventually boiled them down to three overarching values: Dedication to every client’s success. Innovation that matters for customers and the world. Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Professor Rosabeth Moss