In this two-minute video tour, the roots of the IBM brand are traced to the company’s management of its character. It is narrated by Jon Iwata, IBM Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications.
“IBM on Brand” draws from the VSA Partners’ brand agency’s long collaboration with IBM, which now spans nearly 20 years. It’s part of a series of short films created by VSA to capture the current thinking behind leadership brands — specifically, their origins and intent, audiences and ingredients, and business or societal impact.
—————————————————————–
What did you think of the video? Let us know in the Leave a Reply box.
Wherever you work, this infographic might look familiar. (Cartoon by IBM’s Jessica W. Ramirez, a user experience designer. Check out what Jessica has to say on her personal blog.)
The March 2013 for The Greater IBM Connection is ‘client experience’.
In honor of the March theme focus on Client Experience, I thought it might be nice to post this link to an IBM Archives Web Site exhibit focused on classic stories of IBM client service. The company from its very beginning has made service a watchword for each and every IBMer. And when you do that, great things can happen. Enjoy!
In 1935, the headiness of the praise IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson, Sr., heaped on his “great pioneer woman,” Anne Van Vechten, and her 24 fellow graduates of IBM’s first co-ed Systems Service School didn’t last long. Despite Watson’s thoughtfulness at the graduation dinner, providing each of them with a corsage, a box of Whitman’s Samplers, and a carton of cigarettes, he struggled with getting them accepted by the organization.
For whatever reasons, Watson’s warning in his commencement address about his personal interest in seeing the women of Systems Service Class No. 126 succeed was largely disregarded by the organization. Anne later recalled that there were mutterings: “The old man is off his rocker. … These girls won’t last long. … This is a tough man’s organization.”
It certainly was. And Watson was the toughest. When after a few months he still found resistance in the field sales management organization to the meaningful use of the women, he allegedly ordered the dismissal of all but one of the 67 male graduates of Systems Service Class No. 125, the one survivor later recollected in his memoirs. If true, it was a brutal message to the organization, one that accelerated culture change by demonstrating that Watson was extremely serious about growing the role and contributions of women in the company. And even if it wasn’t true, the rumor alone would alert people that their jobs could be on the line if they continued to resist. Anne later recalled that it took about two years before the men of the IBM sales organization decided that the “girls” were here to stay.
Anne’s own road was a little less bumpy. That September, just a month after graduation, Watson again surprised Anne by naming her the Secretary of Education of the Women’s Division. He did so in typical Watson fashion. With her on the dais at a large graduation event, he announced that – completely unbeknownst to her – that he was appointing her to lead women’s education at IBM. Anne later recalled that the shock of the appointment, and of having to give an impromptu acceptance speech in front of 1000 people, actually cured her of a slight stuttering problem she had.
This was a valuable side benefit to her promotion, because Watson had made the new role an executive position … back when there were only a handful of positions at IBM that were considered executive. As a result, she was based in headquarters and attended all the top strategy and policy meetings of the company. The executives didn’t know what to make of Watson’s “great pioneer woman”, and she wasn’t quite sure herself … still just 21-years-old, she didn’t know what her role at these meetings was to be. But she was up to speed on all of IBM’s activities in the era, from the use of IBM equipment in a medical study in Cleveland that identified improper administration of anesthesia as a leading cause of surgical deaths, to the IBM’s fingerprint cards played in the FBI’s search for John Dillinger.
Over the next few years, Anne expanded her role at headquarters. In addition to overseeing the women’s education program, where she traveled extensively recruiting prospective candidates and visiting IBM field locations to oversee the integration of co-ed graduates into office organizations, she became a go-to special projects person for Watson. She researched charitable donation requests, found job placements for disabled graduates of IBM training schools, and helped oversee the staffing at IBM exhibits at the New York World’s Fair and San Francisco Golden Gate Exposition.
Anne also handled social arrangements for IBM customers and other VIPs who visited New York City. Watson took great pride in IBM’s abilities to host visitors, and Anne quickly found a role in that activity. Tall and athletic, with youthful good looks and quick with a joke, she met and attended social events like dinners at the Waldorf with some of the most famous people in the world – explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd, airline industry entrepreneur Juan Trippe, New Dealer James Farley, opera star Lawrence Tibbett, and a host of European royalty.
Anne left IBM in 1943 when she married Douglas Coupe, a serviceman. Her post-IBM life is perhaps best left for another blog post. But I’ll leave you a clue about what it would touch on. The NY State Golf Association Senior Women’s Amateur Championship trophy is named the Anne Coupe Cup. So it’s fitting to close here with a quote from Anne as she looked forward optimistically to her career with IBM. “I feel that life offers so much and that the rough spots can be gotten out of with a little courage and a good niblick shot.”
Anne Van Vechten, and Thomas J. Watson, Sr., at a Hundred Percent Club meeting.
March 8, 2013 is International Women’s Day, and IBM will be sharing some stories from our corporate archives in honor of the event.
On March 24th, 1935, a 21-year-old student of the Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School wrote a letter to IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson, Sr., requesting an interview as part of a class project. Anne S. Van Vechten wanted to ask Watson, then one of the highest salaried business men in America, for advice on her future in business.
Anne had a bit of an in – she had been a classmate of Watson’s daughter Jane both in grade school and at Bryn Mawr College. Still, her timing was impeccable, because the role of women in IBM recently had been on Watson’s mind.
Watson had long been a proponent of women’s rights. In his earlier years, Watson had lived for a time in Rochester, New York, stronghold of noted suffragette Susan B. Anthony, and he recalled on several occasions during the 1930s that he had supported her suffrage movement and was gratified when women received the vote. In 1915, in an address to IBM employees, he expanded his famed ‘man’ employee motivational speech to include “ladies too – all mankind.” And he was good to his word. Women were included among IBM’s earliest Quarter Century Clubs in the mid-1920s. In the fall of 1932, he noted in a company publication that he considered secretaries as acting bosses when their managers were on the road, and that he wanted to find advancement opportunities for these ladies within the IBM organization. And, just two days before Anne wrote asking for an interview, Watson gave a speech at the Career Women of New York City Tribute Dinner, where he spoke about his long interest in the question of women’s rights. It was likely that when he agreed to meet Anne on March 29th, the agenda he had in mind was somewhat different than what Anne expected.
When Anne arrived at the IBM offices at 270 Broadway at 3:00 that Friday afternoon, she was ushered into the library adjoining Watson’s office. While she considered the library unusual, decorated in English prints, she later recalled that what she most remembered about the room was relief that she wouldn’t have to talk across an imposing desk. The meeting lasted about 45 minutes, and the topics of conversation ranged from what qualities Watson looked for in his secretaries to philosophy to religion to family.
Watson was impressed enough with Anne to offer her a job on the spot. He told her that she had inspired an idea for him – he wanted to hire and train 19 more just like her. To do what, he couldn’t – or wouldn’t – say. But, Watson was so committed to this initiative that the very next day, in a speech to the Institute of Women’s Professional Relations, he announced that he planned to hire 19 women to be Systems Service Engineers (SSE).
Anne jumped at the offer, and that summer joined the now 24 other women, who were especially recruited from colleges and universities, in a three-month systems service training class – Systems Service Class No. 126 – at IBM’s Endicott, New York, educational and plant facilities. There the ladies received training on the principles of configuring and operating IBM’s tabulating equipment product line. At the consolidated graduation of the 180 students from the four training schools (including 67 men who comprised Systems Service Class No. 125) that Endicott hosted that summer, Watson proudly proclaimed, “In this school we are pioneering in a new field, that of combining men and women in the development of our sales. So far as I know,” he continued, “this is the first time such a policy has ever been pursued. We have adopted it because we believe the young women can assist the young men in the development of a bigger, broader and better sales policy.”
And, in a prophetic warning to the men in the audience, students and executives alike, Watson said, “One thing uppermost in my mind this morning is the success of you young women.” Lest anyone doubt the sincerity of that statement, he went on to clarify his personal interest in their success. “What I am most interested in, and what I want all of my associates, not only in the school but in other branches of the business to be interested in, is helping the young women make a success of this work. It is very, very important, and I know you young ladies will have the cooperation and help of everyone in our business.”
As for Anne, Watson embarrassed her by singling her out in his morning commencement address as his “great pioneer woman,” who – by inspiring him – was responsible for all the women receiving this opportunity to work for IBM. He surprised her by chatting with her for about a half hour at lunch. He further surprised her that evening by having her sit as a guest of honor beside him at his dinner table. Not done with her yet, he then danced the first dance with her – she recalled he was an excellent dancer. Heady stuff for the young lady, who was so thrilled by her day (which included a 7:00 AM golf lesson before the graduation ceremony and an afternoon round of golf afterwards), that she was up at 3:30 in the morning typing a detailed-filled letter to her parents, recounting what she called, “the most exciting day I have ever had in my life.” In just a few months, she wrote, IBM had changed her. “A great turning point was affected (sic) in my life,” she told them. “I became a woman of maturity with something more than joke-telling ability.”
by Regan Kelly, Editor/Community Manager, The Greater IBM Connection
If anybody knows about pivoting in your career, it’s Greater IBMer Marc Miller, of Austin, Texas. He’s written a new book – “Repurpose Your Career” - so that baby boomers and others can learn from the twists and turns of his long professional life (and his many distinct careers). Miller has managed a help desk for mechanical engineers, worked as an IT architect, trained salespeople for IBM’s first UNIX product, taught high school, and more.
So it’s fitting that when he started his own business, he called it Career Pivot and developed a book advancing similar concepts. Read more about Mr. Miller, his days at IBM, his work today, and what you need to know about his new book.
Marc Miller’s new offering, available now
The Greater IBM Connection: When did you work for IBM and in what capacity?
Marc Miller: I started with IBM Austin in 1978 as a programmer working on word processors. I stayed in Austin for my entire career, and left in January of 2000.
The Greater IBM Connection: What was your role and what were some of your responsibilities?
Marc Miller: I wandered around a lot; I was an assembly language programmer for word processors; I was in an office eight hours a day with a coding pad, UGH!! This was before the IBM PC came to be.
I then went into testing, managed a help desk for mechanical engineers CAD/CAM, trained the first 1000 system engineers and salespeople for IBM’s first real UNIX product (RS/6000), presented IBM product plans in the AIX briefing center, spent a year in IBM Global Services as an IT architect, and finished up in AIX marketing.
The Greater IBM Connection: Why did you decide to leave IBM? Any regrets about that decision?
Marc Miller: After a lot of soul searching, I decided I wanted to go back to training, but I could not do that with IBM in Austin, so I went to work for Agere Inc., where I worked directly for one of the two company founders developing a training program.
In the first eight months, I designed and produced a two-hour seat time training CD that got rave reviews – I was hooked.
The Greater IBM Connection: Are you still connected with your former IBM colleagues?
Marc Miller: For five to ten years or so, I lost touch with a lot of my IBM friends. In the last few years, however, I have had many IBM friends reconnect for a variety of reasons. Some are retiring and looking to network. Some have reconnected via social media.
The Greater IBM Connection: Tell us about your job today. What is your role and what does it involve?
Marc Miller: In 2002, I had a near fatal bicycle accident. I had a head-on collision with an automobile where our combined speeds exceeded 50 mph. I miraculously lived with only few broken bones. I was back on a bicycle in 10 weeks and wondering why I lived. I volunteered to be laid off in 2003 and went off to teach high school math.
To make a long story short, I left teaching after a couple of years, did non-profit fundraising, and later was pulled into another startup in late 2007. I rode out both recessions in successful startups, but during that time I had a lot of friends who were being wiped out financially.
By the time I left the corporate world in early 2011, I had developed a lot of skills that my employers wanted me to acquire. I just did not want to use them anymore: I wanted to do what I wanted to do.
When I started my business Career Pivot in 2011, I was starting my 7th career, very unusual for someone of the baby boomer generation.
My mission is to guide baby boomers through today’s constantly changing career world. I am not a career coach, but rather a career trainer and designer. I train people to design their own careers. I focus on baby boomers and older Gen Xers who either cannot or don’t want to retire.
The Greater IBM Connection: What was the impetus for your writing a book?
Marc Miller: Most baby boomers were raised to be employees and to work for father-like companies that it was expected would take care of us. We all know that world does not exist anymore.
Most boomers made career decisions when opportunities appeared – in other words, we reacted. Now, however, we are in a referral economy and you can no longer react but you must be proactive.
The book is meant to be something like a cookbook. Though it doesn’t use cookbook language, it does contain recipes for career change. Of course, recipes are meant to be modified and seasoned to taste.
The Greater IBM Connection: What was the writing process like? What was it like working with a second writer?
Marc Miller: In 2011 I was introduced to Susan Lahey, who is a former journalist and was building a writing business in Austin. Susan is very good at writing in my voice. Our first collaboration was a white paper titled Don’t Retire Even if You Can – A Baby Boomer Manifesto. It’s available here.
In June of 2011, I started blogging three to four times a week, generating a lot of content. Based on feedback from my readership, I started writing in very long series (30-40 post sequences). I was writing about strategies in career management and job search.
Susan and I collaborated on the book, and its content mostly came from either from the manifesto or the blog.
The Greater IBM Connection: How has the book been received so far?
Marc Miller: I sent pre-release copies to many career professional around the country to get feedback. The response has been incredibly good. When people give me great feedback, it is very fulfilling.
The Greater IBM Connection: What do you do in your spare time?
Marc Miller: It may surprise you that I still bicycle. In addition, I am currently part of the Leadership Austin Essentials Class. I also have served on the board of directors of Launch Pad Job Club, the largest job support group in Central Texas, for the last six years.
The Greater IBM Connection: Is there another book in your future? If so, what might its subject be?
Marc Miller: The next book will be The Cure for Career Insanity, which will accompany my webinar series to launch in 2013.
We will put out a second edition of Repurpose Your Career in January of 2014, with more real-life stories from my clients.
The Greater IBM Connection: What’s the best way for readers to buy your book?
Marc Miller: Amazon is the place to go. The book is available in both paperback and Kindle editions. If you happen to live in Austin, the book can be found in the Career and Home Improvement sections of Book People. You should also be able to order the book from just about any bookstore. You can find the Kindle edition on Amazon.com here.
The Greater IBM Connection: Any final thoughts?
Marc Miller: The biggest hurdle is fear in making a career change or pivot. Fear of failure. Fear of financial hardship. Fear of loss of credibility. Fear of change!
It doesn’t happen overnight. I find it takes three months of working with clients to get them to the point where they believe they can make the change work.
Albert Einstein was told he’d “never amount to much” and Michael Jordan was once cut from his high school’s basketball team. So the next time you’re doubting someone’s potential, or even your own, remember this inspiring infographic:
—————————-
– Posted by Regan Kelly, Editor/Community Manager, The Greater IBM Connection
In 1952, IBM hired its first black engineer, Harry W. Cochrane. Harry graduated from Howard University 1952 with a degree in electrical engineering, and was immediately hired by IBM Poughkeepsie to work in the data processing unit.
During his career, Cochrane was awarded several patents for his inventions, including a core matrix calculator and binary matrix multiplier. At this late date we can’t tell for sure, but it’s possible that Harry may have been IBM’s first black patent-holder.
IBM Poughkeepsie’s Roland Patterson at work maintaining test equipment for the IBM 7090. Patterson brought an impressive resume to the job – he had been a radar repair instructor in U.S. Army, and had attended Middlebury College in Virginia, Union University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 1960
Another Howard graduate, Calvin L. Waite, was hired by IBM from Boeing, where he had worked on the design of the XB-52 bomber, in 1953 as a development engineer on the tape drive for the IBM 702. Cal later was assigned to M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory to work on the development of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment system for national radar defense. In 1956, he was named manager of the Environment Test Laboratory for the IBM Federal Systems division, where he received the distinction of being IBM’s first black engineering manager. In the 1960s, Cal gave up engineering to help IBM recruit minority technical personnel, representing IBM at all of the Ivy League and Seven Sister colleges as well as the graduate schools of business at MIT, Harvard, Wharton and Amos Tuck. In addition he played a crucial role in recruiting graduates of his alma mater, Howard University. He largely remained in HR-related positions until he retired in 1988. He also has lived a life of public service, serving as chair of the Duchess County (N.Y.) Civil Rights Commission and, after retiring from IBM, Mayor of Oberlin, Ohio.
In 2008, IBM introduced a new award honoring Harry and Cal’s pioneering accomplishments, the Harry Cochrane/Cal Waite IBM Fellowship or Assistantship. The award is presented to an exceptional black PhD student worldwide.
“You don’t even know what a miracle you’re living in…”
Eleanor Kolchin was once a computer.
When she accepted her first full-time job in 1946 at IBM, “computers” were people, not machines. “I was a math major, and I expected I would teach high school math,” says Kolchin, 86. “So before I ever got a job, I had applied to get a master’s degree in math at Columbia University. My father came home one day and said he’d heard IBM was hiring mathematicians, so I sent them a letter, and I got a job there. It was 1946, and I was 21 years old.”
The company, she said, hired five mathematicians — two women and three men — because of its plans to unveil a machine that would calculate planetary and lunar orbits. Those very calculations were later used in the mission to send US astronauts to the moon.
Today, she’s long since traded the punched-card machines for an iPod — one of her favorite gadgets — but she’s still programming, some 66 years after getting her start.
But what was it like to be a woman working as a computer at IBM in 1946? Read her story at The Huffington Post.
