Time for a thread on Thomas J. Watson Sr., the iconic CEO of IBM, and one of the best salesmen of all time

He makes most FAANG CEOs look unambitious and boring by comparison.

It's worth starting at the beginning of his story: Watson was born in 1874 in upstate New York, educated in a 1-room schoolhouse, & grew up working his family's farm, which he kept his whole life.

He started his first sales job peddling organs and pianos to local farmers.

Watson's career did not start off well. He quit his first job in disgust after realizing he could've been making 7x his salary if he had access to commission.

Then, he was fired from his next job after drinking so much he didn't notice someone steal his merchandise.

He was scammed out of his commission by his next boss, a notorious Buffalo huckster...

So he opened a butcher shop, which failed and left Watson with no money and no job.

He found a role selling cash registers, which he wasn't very good at. But his boss, John Range, saw potential, and took him under his wing

The rest is history! Under Range, Watson soared. He turned the failing Rochester branch into a monopoly, and after a brief run-in with the DoJ, he was hired at the precursor to IBM.

After his 40+ years as CEO, IBM owned 90% of the computer market.

A few noteworthy highlights:

Watson was the OG "super-networker." He had 5 secretaries managing personal relationships.

They kept files on every acquaintance, each jammed with every letter and telegram exchanged. The secretaries scanned the news daily for announcements that called for Watson's attention.

In 1935, he created a company magazine called Think. It had essays from top writers and well-known businessmen, as well as his own sermons about culture at IBM. He circulated 60,000 copies outside IBM. He also ran "Business Machines", a weekly internal paper of pro-IBM propaganda

He was ruthless in shaping culture to his vision:

One day, furious that field managers weren't hiring women, he ordered the firing of all 67 men in training, so managers had no choice but to replace them with women.

It worked, but was a famously harsh Great Depression moment.

During WWII, Watson announced that IBM would be willing to handover 100% of their manufacturing to the government for the war, and give profits to charity. But htis was mere weeks after returning an award from Hitler himself — IBM's role in WWII became profoundly controversial.

To Watson’s pride, IBM was for its time an amazingly egalitarian place. As unions and management fought bitter battles at big companies, Watson kept IBM union-free by offering pay and benefits far better than the unions would demand.

(Sound similar to any mega-corp in 2020?)

IBM held perhaps the greatest corporate celebrations ever.

I can only think of WeWork or Uber's events being similarly over-the-top: https://twitter.com/whrobbins/status/1214976562245914629?s=20

https://twitter.com/whrobbins/status/1330629092857745408?s=20

Interested in learning more about one of the most legendary entrepreneurs of the 20th Century?

The Maverick and His Machine is an excellent history of IBM, for all it's grandiosity, controversy, and legacy.

https://www.amazon.com/Maverick-His-Machine-Thomas-Watson/dp/0471679259

Read it here, and like + follow for more.