But the world's top 500 companies encountered a major crisis in the 1990s. 1990, IBM's market value was $64.5 billion, ranking first among American listed companies. But then, the performance declined like a slide, and1991-kloc-0/993 accumulated losses168 billion dollars. Everyone is waiting for this monster to collapse. Unexpectedly, 1993, after the new CEO Guo Shina took office, it took only one year to turn losses into profits, which made IBM transform successfully.
Guo Shina used this sentence to describe IBM at that time. The deep meaning is that if a big company has mastered flexibility and can dance, then a small company will have nothing.
If we ordinary people in the workplace understand the reason why this elephant fell and got up again, we will understand a truth more deeply.
Even if you have a unique advantage or potential, if you don't follow the development of the times, if you just stand still, you will fall down one day, and this day will come earlier than you think.
IBM was founded by thomas watson in the United States in 19 1 1. At first, it was just a small company that produced watchmaking equipment and punching machines. 1950, Watson's son seized the opportunity of the times and transformed this production company into a computer company. Through Watson's keen sense of smell, he fully developed a computer chip with integrated circuits, which was a technological revolution higher than other computer companies with transistors as chips.
The computer of this integrated circuit is the former computer overlord S/360. How powerful is this overlord? Now there is a word called Woying, which was probably developed for S/360. From 1964 to the middle of 1980, this S/360 has been in a monopoly position in the mainframe market for more than 20 years, which has brought excessive profits to IBM. IBM's revenue grew by 14% in the past 360 years, which is such a huge amount of data. Because S/360IBM has become the industry leader, it has not only made huge profits, but also firmly grasped the right to speak in the industry.
It is said that IBM was completely dominant at that time, and all enterprises and suppliers were begging IBM to sell S/360 to them with purchase orders. It is conceivable what the scene was like at that time, and IBM also made a fortune. And because of its unique position in the industry, everyone is begging to buy his mainframe. IBM has also become a very proud company. It doesn't even have the minimum respect for customers. Don't buy it if you like it. Anyway, if you don't buy it, someone will buy it, which is quite bureaucratic.
IBM grew into an elephant in the industry, but it was also a weak ant at first. Because it seized the development opportunity of the times, and because of the unique vision of the family, they took the speedboat of major technological changes and gradually grew into the overlord of the industry.
It can be seen that the success of any enterprise and any individual is inseparable from the opportunities of the times. As Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, said: On the tuyere, pigs can fly. Perhaps this sentence is a bit exaggerated, but the meaning behind it is to tell ordinary people in the workplace: do the right thing at the right time.
If we want to succeed, of course, this success does not mean that we must be rich and make some achievements that shock the world. What I want to explain is that whenever we want to make some achievements, we need to keep up with the development law of the times, start with the big environment, and then choose something that is not contrary to the big environment according to our own situation. Then develop their own unique advantages, different from others. Of course, this is on a small scale, not to say that you have to compare with people all over the world.
We just need to do better than the people around us in one industry, one field and a small scope. This is our outstanding advantage. On a smaller scale, we just need to do a little better than other colleagues in the company. Of course, this advantage is consistent with the overall environment of the company. This is your core development force, which gives you the right to speak and lead in the company.
If we don't pay attention to the crisis experienced by IBM, we will meet it in the workplace one day, and this day will come soon.
Because of the dominance of S/360, IBM has been ahead in the computer field for twenty or thirty years. This situation suddenly changed in 199 1, and the former computer overlord was halved. 1990, IBM's sales revenue was still1300 million, and 1993 was halved to less than $7 billion. When the stock price peaked at $43, it eventually fell to less than $6 per share, and the market share dropped sharply, which was too fast for people to perceive.
Why did you suddenly get such a big blow?
The apparent reason is that 199 1 or so, the competitor of IBM, after catching up, produced more advanced performance than S/360, but the price was nearly one third cheaper than 360. Once competitors' products came out, they quickly seized the market with the advantages of low price and high quality.
In fact, this failure is not without warning.
Just because IBM has been leading the industry for more than 20 years. 1990 period, IBM's market value ranked first in the United States. The long-term monopoly position and long-term win-win situation have made IBM give up its vigilance and technical research. They are too confident and think that the dominance of 360 is unshakable. They didn't wake up until their market share gradually shrank.
Facing the pressure of competitors, they have no new core products to compete with except the S/360 mainframe product, and their main product 360 is 30%-40% higher than the competing products, and their competitive advantage has completely disappeared. Moreover, they can't reduce the price at this time, because once the price is reduced, the funds will be cut off, which is very important.
This is as embarrassing as people in the workplace who are trapped in the ability trap.
In our early work, we may become the technical backbone of the industry and the person in charge of a module because of our own specialties and advantages, thus gaining a high status and "money" benefits.
We are very proud and very complacent. This piece is what I am good at, and it is the first in the unit. No one can compare with me. So we get deeper and deeper into this ability trap, and only do what we are best at and what we are interested in.
In fact, we always rely on previous experience and previous models to work, that is to say, we always rely on habits to work and immerse ourselves in past achievements. Over time, we forgot to look up and see how far the world has developed. We forget to study, forget to see what people around us are doing and learning.
Because, subconsciously, we think these abilities are enough for me to survive, but forget that we are in a rapidly developing world.
No progress, no study is not standing still, but constantly retreating.
At a time when everyone was waiting for the collapse of IBM, the former computer overlord, Guo Shina was appointed as the CEO of IBM. It took IBM only one year to turn losses into profits, and analyzed and exerted its own advantages, which successfully transformed IBM from a computer company into the world's largest electronic information and software service company.
Guo Shina adopted many strategies, which can be divided into two parts.
One is hard power. We will continue to adhere to the advantages of mainframe business and seek a new strategic development direction under the premise of stable advantages, that is, IBM's software business that we are familiar with later.
The other is soft power, which can improve IBM's ability to respond to the market, get rid of the deep-rooted bureaucracy in IBM because of its monopoly position, streamline the organizational structure, improve work efficiency, change the salary system, closely combine the interests of employees with the overall interests of the company, and improve team spirit. In other words, IBM should re-attach importance to market orientation, attach importance to competitors, and gradually develop in innovation and change.
In the process of saving IBM from Guo Shina, we can learn how to avoid falling into the ability trap in the workplace, so as to keep our competitive advantage at any time and keep our core competence competitive all the time.
0 1: hard power: recognize your own advantages, don't follow others' advice, and don't compete with others' advantages with your own disadvantages.
When the advantage of S/360 mainframe gradually declined, IBM was faced with two choices, one was to continue to develop the mainframe business, and the other was to develop the popular personal computer business. Faced with different choices, there are different voices within the company. At that time, after analyzing the form, Guo Shina still insisted on developing its own advantages-continuing the mainframe business.
In addition to IBM's unique advantages in mainframe business, Guo Shina found that many old customers still recognized IBM's products, but the price was relatively expensive and the service was relatively poor. And more importantly, Guo Shina found that although the personal computer business was a hot business at that time, Microsoft had occupied a strong market share, reaching 90%, which IBM could not catch up with. So in general, Guo Shina still chooses to develop mainframe business.
Moreover, Guo Shina found that there is a department called System Integration, which can still make a profit in the case of IBM's business inventory. System integration business is to buy computers very early, and some people will choose to buy all kinds of software and hardware to assemble computers instead of buying finished products directly. Later, he also found that the company's supporting software services for the host can also be independently developed. In this way, through the inventory, in the case of developing the mainframe business, Guo Shina independently developed two business departments.
This gives us an inspiration in the workplace.
Recognize your own strengths, and don't take your own shortcomings and the strengths of others. Don't look at other people's more popular places when our advantages and potential are not obvious, so it is very likely that no matter how hard we try, we can't catch up with the dominant position that others have formed.
At this time, we still have to recognize our own advantages, analyze what we are good at, continue to find the breakthrough of our advantages, study harder, make up for the shortcomings of our advantages, and see if we can separate the relative advantages under the main advantages, and then develop this relative advantage to make ourselves more magic weapons instead of eating the world with one move.
02. Soft power: keep a clear head, keep a keen sense of the environment, and keep an open and low-key attitude.
There has been a huge crisis in IBM, which seems to be a problem of hard power, but it is actually a problem of corporate atmosphere, which is what we often say about corporate culture.
Long-term pampering, let them develop a proud mentality, arrogant, no rivals, no customers. Salary has nothing to do with the company's benefits, but it is paid anyway, which leads everyone to pay no attention to the company's big interests and only stare at their own small money.
In fact, from the perspective of personal workplace, I have been in a good consciousness for a long time, without a sense of crisis, with a clear head and an open and low-key attitude.
If we want to get rid of the ability trap and maintain our competitiveness, these are all things we need to correct.
Keep a clear head and keep learning, this is an era of not advancing or retreating. No matter where you are now, how competitive you are, and how many people in the company are inferior to you, don't be fooled by these situations. You need to keep learning and making progress, so that your competitiveness will always be ahead and your experience will keep pace with the times.
Keep a low-key and open mind, this is an era of Hedong in one year and Hexi in another. Keep an open mind and actively try to learn from the people around you. Everyone has something we can learn. Even if you don't find this person, this colleague is better than you, you need to be modest, low-key, respect others, get on well with others, and don't be arrogant like IBM. This is an era when the East is in the East and the West is in the West. We need to keep a low profile, keep learning and keep working hard so as not to be abandoned by this era.
Although the elephant is strong, if it is not flexible, it may be killed by an insignificant little ant.