“The secret I learned early on from my father was to run scared and never think I had it made,” said Watson Jr. “I never felt I was completely adequate to the job and always ran scared…The fundamental for our success was running scared. I've seen us go by companies whose chief executives used to make me shake in awe." One of the biggest keys to IBM’s success was Watson Jr.’s inability to sit still, to accept his success and ride it out. Instead, Watson Jr. always kept his eye on the future, always looked for improvement, for the next big opportunity and he refused to settle.
“The pursuit of perfection means not just enthusiasm for doing a topnotch job in important things, it means attention to detail and an itch to innovate and improve in whatever we have to do,” said Watson Jr. “It means to be dissatisfied with the status quo. We ought always to know precisely why a given job is done in a particular way, and why it is done at all, and why it can't be done more efficiently, if it must be done at all. This is the attitude that built our modern industrial society. It is the attitude that built IBM. I hope we never lose it.”
This did not mean, however, that Watson Jr. was quick to jump on any opportunity that came his way. “As we grow in size, we must make certain that what we're adding is not excess weight, but healthy muscle,” he said. “There is an old staying that when you talk – you teach, when you listen – you learn. There are a lot of ideas worth listening to…Let's be sure we're paying attention. We are never so rich in ideas that we can afford not to.” Watson Jr. took his time, did his homework and only took those actions that he deemed necessary and beneficial to the company in the long run.
Watson Jr. carried this philosophy of his even further, insisting that IBM always keep an eye on its surroundings – on the environment in which the company actually operated and the people who operated it. Running scared not only meant staying on top of the technological game; it meant ensuring that the company and the people behind it were always at the top of their game.
“One of the things my father always tried to impress me with was that the success we want as individuals and as a business is the kind that is built and sustained by the good will of other people,” said Watson Jr. “The only way we can be sure of keeping this good will is always to consider the total impact of our personal and collective behaviour. The little things we do – or fail to do – often testify louder than the loudest statements of our intentions.”
Watson Jr. engineered his company’s success. Fear – of both failure and of his father’s legacy – motivated Watson Jr. to continually stay on the move and keep the company at the top of its game, saying: “If IBM is to continue to be strong, to grow, and to bring profit to all of us in the company and to our customers and stockholders, we must be certain – constantly – that we are headed in the right direction, making the right decisions, and treating every employee with respect.”
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