No institution will go through fundamental change unless it believes it is in deep trouble and needs to do something different to survive.

I think values are really, really important, but I also think that too many values are just words.

The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.

I just think we should look at this as a chess match," he said, "between the world's greatest chess player and Garry Kasparov.

The more successful enterprises are the more they try to replicate, duplicate, codify what makes us great. And suddenly they're inward thinking. They're thinking how can we continue to do what we've done in the past without understanding that what made them successful is to take risks, to change and to adapt and to be responsive. And so in a sense success breeds its own failure. And I think it's true of a lot of successful businesses.

I want to become a student. I want to read Chinese history and go on a dig.

If life was so easy that you could just go buy success, there would be a lot more successful companies in the world. Successful enterprises are built from the ground up.