Ginni Rometty
Ginni Rometty
Virginia Marie "Ginni" Rometty is an American business executive. She is the current Chairwoman, President and CEO of IBM, and the first woman to head the company. Prior to becoming president and CEO in January 2012, she held the positions of Senior Vice President and Group Executive for Sales, Marketing, and Strategy at IBM. She joined IBM as a systems engineer in its Detroit office in 1981...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusiness Executive
Date of Birth29 July 1957
CountryUnited States of America
As I say to our own team: 'Never protect your past, never define yourself by a single product, and always continue to steward for the long-term. Keep moving towards the future.'
You make the right decision for the long run. You manage for the long run, and you continue to move to higher value. That's what I think my job is.
I've been head of strategy at IBM and together with my colleagues built our five-year plan. My priorities are going to be to continue to execute on that.
I think, particularly in our tech industry, this is an industry that has violent innovation and then commoditization, and it's a cycle of innovation/commoditization.
Every part of your business will change based on what I consider predictive analytics of the future.
What has always made IBM a fascinating and compelling place for me is the passion of the company, and its people, to apply technology and scientific thinking to major societal issues.
I think, given who the IBM target company is, I feel our purpose is to be essential to our clients.
Whatever business you're in - it doesn't matter - it's going to commoditize over time. It's going to devalue. You've got to keep moving it to a higher value.
I make time to exercise. It's not being indulgent. I think it's got a lot to do with your ability to manage properly and stay focused. There's no doubt about that.
The only way you survive is you continuously transform into something else. It's this idea of continuous transformation that makes you an innovation company.
Don't let others define you. You define yourself.
When you remove layers, simplicity and speed happen.
I learned to always take on things I'd never done before.
Be first and be lonely.