The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.

Vision is easy. It's so easy to just point to the bleachers and say I'm going to hit one over there. What's hard is saying, OK, how do I do that? What are the specific programs, what are the commitments, what are the resources, what are the processes we need in play to go implement the vision, turn it into a working model that people follow every day in the enterprise. That's hard work.

I don't want to use the word reorganization. Reorganization to me is shuffling boxes, moving boxes around. Transformation means that you're really fundamentally changing the way the organization thinks, the way it responds, the way it leads. It's a lot more than just playing with boxes.

I have always believed you cannot run a successful enterprise from behind a desk.

The next thing is: we can make IBM even better. We brought IBM back but we're gunning for leadership.

The thing I have learned at IBM is that culture is everything.

Lou Gerstner knows how to do a deal, and George Bush Sr., less so.