We built this company from the customer back, not from the company out.

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.

The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.

In the end an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.

People don't do what you expect but what you inspect.

You don't get points for predicting rain. You get points for building arks.

Watch the turtle. He only moves forward by sticking his neck out.

The rewards system is a powerful driver of behavior and therefore culture.

When I arrived at IBM, there were 'Team' signs all around. I asked, 'How do people get paid?' They told me, 'We pay people based on individual performance.

It is not about bits, bytes and protocols, but profits, losses and margins.

Everything starts with the customer.

The essence of adversity is to show us the real brave people who can withstand it.

Without hope there is no faith and without faith it is impossible to love. If we do not embrace love we cannot embrace hope and therefore have no purpose.

As you go along your road in life you will if you aim high enough also meet resistance ... but no matter how tough the opposition may seem have courage still-and persevere.

My children and grandchildren loved the secret servicemen and women that served us. I was honoured that they thought I was important enough to protect.

I love telling people what to read. It's my favorite thing in the world, to buy books and force books on people, take bad books away from people, give them better books.

Chess is an effective means to educate and train the human intellect.

Some of the best advice I've had comes from junior officers and enlisted men.

My ideal man is dead white old and on a green sheet of paper.

I don’t believe that the Earth’s but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says.