The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM

514 Pages·2003·1.75 MB·English

by  Kevin Maney

Maverick
The
Machine
and His
Thomas Watson, Sr.
and the Making of IBM
Kevin Maney
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Maverick
and His Machine

Maverick
The
Machine
and His
Thomas Watson, Sr.
and the Making of IBM
Kevin Maney
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Copyright © 2003 by Kevin Maney. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Maney, Kevin, 1960–
Thomas Watson, Sr., IBM, and the building of an American dynasty / Kevin Maney.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-471-41463-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Computer industry—United States—History. 2. International Business Machines
Corporation—History. 3. Businessmen—United States—Biography. 4. Watson,
Thomas John, 1874–1956. 5. Watson, Thomas J., 1914– 6. Waston, Arthur
Kittredge, 1919–1974. I. Title.
HD9696.2.U62 W386 2003
338.7'61004'092—dc21
2002014047
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Alison and Sam

Acknowledgments
OWE A HUGE DEBT TO ROB WILSON FOR BULLDOZ-
ing through IBM’s traditional policy of not
helping authors. My long tenure of fairly and
accurately covering IBM helped immensely—
well, that’s what Rob told me, anyway. The decision went
up the chain to CEO Lou Gerstner. I owe him a thank you
for saying yes.
My good fortune continued. Members of Watson’s fam-
ily agreed to help, for which I am grateful. Watson-era IBM
executives and employees—most of them in their late 80s or
90s—readily agreed to be interviewed, some on the record
and some off. I was thrilled when Peter Drucker, the great
management writer, invited me to his home to talk about his
encounters with Watson and Watson’s place in business his-
tory. He helped make everything make sense.
I’m also lucky to know Jim Collins. Over the years, he
and I have engaged in many conversations about leadership
and greatness, and about life in general. Jim had a tremen-
dous influence on the way I thought about Watson. I can’t
thank him enough for being such a good friend, mentor,
and colleague.
I have others I want to thank:
~ Everyone at USA Today for being so understanding,
particularly Tom Curley, Karen Jurgensen, Julie Schmit,
Geri Tucker, and John Hillkirk. Also, the staff in the
USA Todaylibrary, who came to my rescue on a number
of research problems.
~ The wonderful, professional, and helpful staff of the
IBM Archives: Paul C. Lasewicz, Dawn Stanford, Ken
W. Sayers, Ellen Pierce, Robert Godfrey, and Jennifer
vii