The entrepreneurial story of Thomas Watson, the "Father of Computers"

The entrepreneurial story of Thomas Watson, the "Father of Computers"

Introduction: Thomas Watson's life experience interprets a typical "American Dream" to us. The son of a Scottish immigrant relied on his intelligence to step by step from a humble salesman to an entrepreneur, and eventually founded the famous IBM company. Under his leadership, IBM not only grew from a medium-sized company to one of the world's largest companies, but he also introduced IBM from mechanical tabulating machines to the computer field, and dominated this field for a while. The following is the entrepreneurial story of Thomas Watson, the "Father of Computers", that I have compiled for you. You are welcome to read it. I hope you will like it.

During the Great Depression, many companies were laying off employees, but he did the opposite and hired a large number of employees. This anti-traditional wisdom enabled IBM to win a large order from the U.S. Federal Department of Social Security five years later. The company expanded rapidly and gradually grew into a world-class enterprise.

Today, "IBM" has become a veritable blue giant. After the Internet downturn in the 1990s, it has regained its luster. There are countless people using IBM's home computers. As a leader in the computer industry, looking back on history, from a small company that produces scales and meat slicers to today's multinational computer company, the journey has been difficult. . There are several generations of hard work involved, but first of all, we should thank one person, that is Thomas John Watson, the founder of "IBM" and the "Father of Computers" that we all respect.

Growing up in patience and abuse

Thomas John Watson was an authentic American. On February 17, 1874, he was born in a poor family in upstate New York, USA. farmer family. His father was an immigrant from England and made a living by logging and farming. Although their family is poor, they always have an optimistic attitude towards life and believe that as long as they work hard, they will be rewarded.

Watson grew up in such a family. From his parents, he inherited many excellent qualities of American farmers: integrity, steadiness, seriousness, optimism, and advocating personal struggle.

Because his family was poor and education was not very popular at that time, Watson did not go to school for a few days. In order to reduce the burden on his parents, he began to enter the society at the age of 17, selling sewing machines on the street for a hardware store owner. At that time, sales were not valued by many people, so little Watson received a lot of looks. However, it was the sales experience that trained him. Later, when Watson talked about his early hardships, he also said: "It all started with Sales, without sales there would be no American business."

At first, he was quite satisfied with the $12 per week salary his boss paid him. Later, he learned from another salesman that he had actually been tricked by his boss because other salesmen usually received commissions instead of wages. If calculated based on commission, he should have received $65 per week. So he resigned angrily. From then on, he never agreed to the "dead wage" method of remuneration when looking for a job.

In October 1895, Watson, who was in trouble, turned his attention to the "National Cash Register Company" to make a living, because the monthly salary here averaged 400 US dollars, and the income was considerable. The boss, Patterson, was a well-known "sales genius" at the time. Under his leadership, many simple and diligent young people grew into first-class sales talents.

Watson went to visit Mr. Ranch, the company branch manager, but was rejected. But no matter how he was hit, Watson always faced Ranch with a smile. Impressed by his tenacity, Ranch decided to give Watson a chance to try him out. However, the first sales experience was a disastrous failure. Watson was scolded and reprimanded by Lan Qi in all kinds of ways, and was so scolded that he was at a loss and blushed. For ordinary people, he would have gone away long ago, but Watson showed amazing patience in humiliation and learned from absolute obedience. Because this is professional training for sales.

Lanchi was Patterson's excellent apprentice, and Watson became the best re-disciple. Watson learned a lot from Ranchi. Later at IBM, Watson often introduced to his subordinates how Ranchi used examples to sell products and promote himself. In fact, Watson was better than his teacher. A year later, he became the most successful salesman in the East. At the age of 25, he took Lanci's place. In 1899, Watson was promoted to branch manager. By 1910, he had become the company's No. 2 person after Patterson. But after that, bad luck struck him again.

Patterson is a domineering and rude man who uses generous treatment in exchange for the loyalty and obedience of his employees. However, he was also a suspicious person, and when general manager Chalmers couldn't bear to resist him, he immediately fired him and replaced him with Watson. Therefore, Watson is also very nervous in the company. When Patterson is here, he is very nervous. If the boss is not here, he can perform freely. In 1909, with Chalmers' assistance, the National Cash Register Company was prosecuted in state court for monopolization. In the end, Watson was released on bail, while Patterson served a year in prison.

It was during these gloomy days that Watson met his lifelong partner, Janet, and used his skills to win "the most successful sales pitch in his life." Not long after, his son was born. However, at Watson's happiest moment, Patterson, who was suspicious by nature, believed that Watson was secretly cultivating cronies and forming cliques. Although Watson tried hard to defend himself, there was no result, and he resigned angrily in April of the following year. Resign. He vowed revenge. When he walked out of the company's office building, he turned around and said to a friend: "I helped build all the buildings here. Now I am going to start another company, which must be bigger than Patterson's!"

However, starting a new business is not easy. Although Patterson gave him a breakup fee of US$50,000, Watson lost his life security, lost his job, and was almost 40 years old. He had no choice but to go to New York with his newlywed wife and a son who was waiting for food.

Entrepreneurship at the age of 40

According to the average person’s thinking, the age of 40 is too early to start a business, but Watson doesn’t think so. He has confidence in himself and thinks that he His potential is far from being realized. Subconsciously, he thinks that he can do something big.

Two months later, Watson met Flint, the founder of IBM’s predecessor. Flint is the most popular financier on Wall Street and is known as the "Trust King." He had already heard of Watson's talents and immediately hired him as manager of the Computing Tabulation and Recording Company. This Flint-based company mainly produces balances, scales, clocks and tabulating machines. Due to the failure of the predecessor to manage the business, less than three years after its establishment, the company was heavily in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy. Watson was interested in the company mainly because of its products. He believes that clocks, tabulating machines, etc. are all tools for office automation and have broad business prospects.

Initially, because Watson had been convicted of a crime, the directors only allowed him to be a small manager, but the shrewd Watson not only wanted a decent salary, but also demanded profits. a certain percentage as a reward. The directors were eager to turn around losses and agreed to Watson's requests one by one, but everyone looked down on him in their hearts. Watson is isolated in the company, with only Flint supporting him. From 1914 to 1924, Watson continued to work with humiliation and humiliation, exerting his original spirit of stalking to become a salesman, and used his achievements to change everyone's discrimination against him.

The first thing Watson did after taking office was to borrow $50,000 from the bank for product research and development. When the bank questioned the company's solvency, he explained: "Liabilities only represent the past, and this loan is for the future." This greatest sales pitch in Watson's life impressed the bank officials, and he successfully Borrowed money. After the initial tough times, the company's performance began to rise rapidly.

At the end of World War I, demand for tabulating machines surged, and almost every major insurance company and railroad company used Hollerith tabulating machines produced by the Computing, Tabulating and Recording Company. Soon, government departments also adopted tabulating machines. Watson timely launched a new type of printer - tabulation combination machine, which was welcomed by customers. Order orders were piled high and product supply exceeded demand. In 1919, the company's sales reached US$13 million, and profits rose to US$2.1 million. In February 1924, Watson, already the general manager of the company, decided to change the company's name to International Business Machines Corporation, or IBM for short. That year, Watson had just turned 50 years old.

Anti-traditional wisdom in response to the Great Depression

In the early 1930s, IBM began to enter the typewriter industry, producing typewriters, punched cards, punching machines, sorting machines, accounting computers, etc. series of products, and launched new products such as electric typewriters and alphabet tabulating machines. By the end of the 1930s, IBM's sales had grown to US$39.5 million, and its profits had reached US$9.1 million, exceeding the sum of the other four large companies of the same type, making it the largest business machine company in the United States.

At this time, Thomas Watson did not know that the future world would be controlled by numbers. The punch machine he produced was hinting at the trend of the future world. He also did not know how powerful the computers produced by his company were. Important, how it will change the world.

The Great Depression of the 1930s almost bankrupted all companies, and IBM's stock also plummeted. Watson persisted in his belief that the best way to deal with the Great Depression was to expand production. Some turned to alcohol, others fell easily in love, and Watson's "hobby" was hiring salesmen.

When other companies are laying off workers in large numbers, this approach of hiring a large number of employees is considered crazy. However, it is this anti-traditional wisdom that enables IBM to undertake large-scale orders from the US Federal Department of Social Security five years later. IBM's company tripled in size. At the same time, Thomas Watson was recorded in American business history as the first modern CEO.

Expansion Introduction

After nearly a decade of trough, the blue giant IBM was able to regain its vitality after the mid-1990s, which surprised people who doubted it. People who care about it are heartened. IBM can regain its glory, and its founder Thomas Watson must be very pleased to know that.

Old Watson was born into poverty. At the age of 17, he began to sell sewing machines on the street for a hardware store owner. His weekly salary was 12 US dollars, which was considered a good income at the time. But Watson was not satisfied. Two years later, he joined NCR Company founded by Henry Parsant, the "Father of Modern Sales." Although Parsent is a bit grumpy, he does have some serious marketing skills. Under Pa's guidance, the elder Watson worked hard. Not only did his sales skills improve rapidly, but his position also continued to rise. At the age of 38, he became the company's number two person. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Less than two years after becoming vice president, Watson was defeated in the company's power struggle and was left behind by Parsent. For Watson, who is nearly 40 years old, this is undoubtedly a big blow.

Fortunately, after many years of hard work, Watson Sr. has earned a good reputation in the industry, and many companies have recruited him after being laid off. Watson took a fancy to a company called Computational Tabulating Records (CTR), founded in 1911. The company mainly produced high-tech tabulation machines at the time. Due to the failure of its predecessor in business management, it was already heavily in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy less than three years after its establishment. In addition to a decent salary, the shrewd Watson also asked for a certain percentage of profits as a reward. The directors of CTR were eager to turn around losses and agreed to Watson's requests one by one. He never thought that this company would become the most profitable company in the United States in the future, and Watson would also become the highest-paid manager in the United States.

The first thing Watson did after taking office was to borrow $50,000 from the bank for product research and development. When the bank questioned the company's solvency, Watson Sr. explained: "Liabilities only represent the past, and this loan is for the future." This greatest sales pitch in Watson's life impressed bank officials, so He successfully borrowed the money. After getting through the initial difficult moments, the company's performance began to rise rapidly, and the wily Watson gradually gained control of the company. By 1924, Watson simply changed the company's name to International Business Machines (IBM), and Big Blue was born.

The reason why Watson named the company IBM is because, according to industry insiders, the old Watson has always been brooding about being fired from NCR, in order to show that he would overwhelm NCR at every turn ( National Cash Recorder Company), Watson specifically found three letters that are higher than N, C, and R in the alphabet as the name of his company, and International I is higher than National N, and Commercial B is higher than Cash C, the machine M is wider than the recorder R. However, according to the memoirs written by his son Watson Jr., Watson Sr. actually had great respect for Patterson until his death. He often admitted that almost all of his business know-how came from Patterson.

Watson, who was born as a salesman, knew the importance of marketing to the development of the company, although most people at the time still despised the salesman industry. In order to build the salesperson's self-confidence, Watson asked the company to establish the concept that "the hero of the company is the salesperson" and gave the salesperson a very generous commission. Watson also established a special marketing school. All new employees must first be trained in sales skills, and the instructors are rotated by IBM's most outstanding sales personnel.

Old Watson has also made great achievements in the construction of corporate culture. He called on employees to establish a sense of ownership. He believed that employees should take the initiative to take responsibility for their own work and enjoy fun from their work. Watson Sr. once proposed three tenets of IBM: everyone must be respected, users must be provided with the best possible service, and all work should pursue the most outstanding results. Perhaps today, similar slogans have become empty clichés after countless repetitions, but more than half a century ago, they did play a role in uniting people and inspiring morale. Old Watson is not just playing virtual games. He is well aware that "spiritual and material hands must be strong", he pioneered the lifelong employment system at IBM, and employees who have no worries are willing to do their best for the company. Old Watson pioneered the establishment of a country club near the factory, including two golf courses and a shooting range. Any IBM employee only needs to pay a membership fee of one yuan a year to participate and use it.

Old Watson’s management science is not profound, but its actual implementation is not simple. Being able to put straight management concepts into practice is what the elder Watson excels at. Half a century later, in the 1980s, in order to explore the reasons why Americans were losing ground in competition with Japanese companies, they organized industry and academic circles to go to Japan to learn so-called Japanese-style management. They were shocked to find that the Japanese management experience came entirely from IBM's Watson must have felt very confused and confused at that time.

In his later years, Watson was surrounded by a group of sycophants. Old Watson's stubbornness and ruthlessness made most people dare not tell the truth to him. Old Watson himself seems to be quite interested in personality cult, and feels very satisfied with the large number of flattering words written by his subordinates to praise him. He also devoted most of his energy to interacting with social and political celebrities. He had a close relationship with Lao Ai because he helped Eisenhower win the presidential election. Old Watson even often kept the personal letters written by Old Ai in his pocket so that he could often show them off to others. As for the business side, the old Watson was becoming increasingly unfamiliar, so he kept making mistakes.

We are all familiar with the story of success in this period of failure. Perhaps this is also the only way for history and creators to introduce the new. Fortunately, at this time, the eldest son, Watson Jr., had gradually taken over the leadership role and prevented the company from declining. This was IBM's luck again.

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