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IBM Names Arvind Krishna CEO

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31–40 of 158 posts

Re: IBM Names Arvind Krishna CEO

#31
post #5

So, not working with any insider knowledge (I work for Red Hat, but reading the news like everyone else), but the other news is that Jim Whitehurst is going to be the IBM President. Hopefully a big push in keeping Red Hat's culture relevant and influencing IBM to transform.

> Hopefully a big push in keeping Red Hat's culture

How would you describe RedHat culture?

Re: IBM Names Arvind Krishna CEO

#33
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to argue that IBM is currently healthy and performing as they should but they did have over $22 billion in cloud revenue for 2019 so they are evidently in the discussion somewhere.

Also couldn't they basically sit on their rear and collect on mainframe contracts from now until the end of time?

On Wall Street, if you’re not growing, you’re dying.

Re: IBM Names Arvind Krishna CEO

#34

Good to see an engineer taking helm of the company from the previous CEOs which were from sales. Maybe we'll have a renaissance like what Satya did to Microsoft...

usually strong CEOs have at least some sales background, and typically technical chops too.

Re: IBM Names Arvind Krishna CEO

#35
post #2

What's the difference between the President and CEO roles?

In at least some cases, the CEO is the one actually running things, and the President is the one whose job is to fire the CEO if they're screwing up. Not that it is put that way, of course.

> President is the one whose job is to fire the CEO if they're screwing up.

I assumed the Chairman of the Board would fill that role?

President sounds to me like a step below CEO, but I know very little about corporate structuring...

Re: IBM Names Arvind Krishna CEO

#36
post #5

So, not working with any insider knowledge (I work for Red Hat, but reading the news like everyone else), but the other news is that Jim Whitehurst is going to be the IBM President. Hopefully a big push in keeping Red Hat's culture relevant and influencing IBM to transform.

This is SOP for borgifying acquihires. IBM isn't capable of operating in a cohesive way. Shuffling the org chart won't change that.

Re: IBM Names Arvind Krishna CEO

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll never forgive them for subjecting me to Clearcase or DOORS.

Clearcase was my first version control software. I don't think I'll ever experience such feelings of tranquil bliss and relief as when I learned and switched to git.

I was still using it at my previous employer that I left a few months ago.

Re: IBM Names Arvind Krishna CEO

#38
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to argue that IBM is currently healthy and performing as they should but they did have over $22 billion in cloud revenue for 2019 so they are evidently in the discussion somewhere.

Also couldn't they basically sit on their rear and collect on mainframe contracts from now until the end of time?

Their consulting business should also basically print money. They aren't great, objectively, but they are far ahead of the average in that sector.

Re: IBM Names Arvind Krishna CEO

#39
post #22

Another Indian-born tech CEO? It's incredible. IBM joins Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Nokia, and Harman in this regard. Also, MasterCard and PepsiCo (until 2018). I wonder how much it's a cultural thing.

This is a biased, but honest observation that I'd like to share. I've been working for a big corp for about 5 years now. I was born in a SE Asian country and came to the US for college. I have worked with a lot of India-born people.

As a fellow foreigner and as an Asian, I can tell that more often than not Indian people are bolder and more aggressive in asking for what they want (e.g., one of my Indian colleague asked for salary raise and the permission to go back to India in December for a month every year as part of his negotiation when he applied and got offer from another company; what he told me was simple, "It's my responsibility to ask. It's my boss' task to refuse or accept.") On top of that, some (not everyone; some are meek/introvert like myself). Because of their boldness, Indian people seem to be more successful at making themselves more visible, which is very important in corporate culture to get ahead. On top of that, some of them are pretty clever at courting favor of their superiors and/or playing office politics. I have seen quite a few of my peers/acquaintances from India who climbed corporate ladder pretty fast, so I'm not surprised they are doing well in terms of representation in C-level roles.

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