Intensity…

I read Father, Son & Co. My Life At IBM And Beyond © by Thomas J. Watson Jr. recently.  I was hoping the book would concentrate on the “& Co.” part.  Turns out it was more of a biography about Thomas J. Watson and his son T.J.  I noticed Father and Son were “intense” – typical for people who become titans of their industry, true? 

Do you think Elon Musk is “intense” today?  He’s only the richest person in the world according to this list.  I know firsthand that Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corporation and #5 on the list, is intense.

At the start of my career, IBM was the dominant player in the technology business. In fact, they had been so dominant for so long that the Justice Department filed multiple anti-trust law suits against them for their monopolistic practices.  IBM spent tens of millions, probably hundreds of millions of dollars defending themselves even though their leadership knew they were in fact guilty of the unfair practices they were accused of. 

Fast forward to 2023.  I wrote a piece this year about technology ( Technology; past, present and future…).  So what does a technology titan of last century have to do with the hype and hoopla around Artificial Intelligence today?  Well, I believe it’s the process and NOT the technology that counts.  That was IBM’s opinion, too: 

In the history of IBM, technological innovation often wasn’t the thing that made us successful.  Unhappily there were many times when we came in second.  But technology turned out to be less important than sales and distribution methods.  Starting with UNIVAC, we consistently outsold people who had better technology because we knew how to put the story before the customer, how to install the machines successfully, and how to hang on to customers once we had them… That was where IBM had its monopoly.  No competitors ever paid enough attention to it… 

                   Thomas J. Watson Jr. 

IBM simultaneously mastered (as have other companies) selling the value of their solutions and not just dropping their price in the face of stiff competition.  Mike Weinberg in his book #Sales Truth © put it this way: 

If you need the lowest price to sell, then you aren't needed as a salesperson. 

Think about it – selling inferior technology at profitable price-points.  IBM pioneered the way to do it and had an intensity about their selling process almost unparalleled at the time.  Almost. 

I competed against IBM in a “David vs. Goliath” matchup when I was an application sales rep at Oracle Corporation.  The market was shifting from mainframes (e.g. Goliath) to mini-computers (e.g. David) and I was on the David side.  I felt I had to match IBM’s level of intensity to stand a chance. 

I was selling Oracle Financials Version 1.0.  It was the latest and greatest technology, but we still needed to battle for every deal.  It required a level of intensity which Oracle became famous (perhaps infamous) for. I can remember to this day being called into George Robert’s office when he led the Chicago sales team and being told, “Gary, dial down the intensity”.  I was winning deals but George was concerned about the stress I was putting on myself (and others around me).                                       

Back to 2023… I continue to believe that intensity properly positioned in our selling process beats technological wizardry every day and twice on Sundays! 

OK George, I’m dialing down the intensity now HaHa! 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.