A View from Beneath the Dancing Elephant: Rediscovering IBM's Corporate Constitution

Many IBMers see Louis V. Gerstner as the savior of their company—indeed, Gerstner sees himself that way. Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? expresses this perspective quite well. What Gerstner never realized is that much of his success came from accidentally tapping into an eighty-year-old culture that he never understood. IBM’s founders, the Watsons, created this culture in the 1910s, and then codified it in the 1950s with the creation of three Basic Beliefs: Respect, Service and Excellence.



But today’s IBM has lost its culture, its constitution and its way. Surely a century-old corporation is more than its founding words; but great leaders do not seek to abolish a people’s constitution, rather they seek a return to its original intent.



This book captures how that change occurred—a view from beneath the dancing elephant.