Thomas John Watson's Little Watson

Little Watson was born in 19 14. Little Tom's name has been with him all his life. Even if he becomes an old man who is nearly 80 years old, he is still called Little Tom. Being naughty since childhood, he was called "terrible Tommy". 12 years old, bought a bottle of weasel smelly glands. When the whole school assembled, he ran to the main ventilation duct with a smelly gland bottle in his hand. The whole floor stinks. He created the most brilliant and successful moment in school life. As a result, I was forced to suspend school temporarily. It took this guy six years to finish three schools. When I was in college, it was my rich and powerful parents who put pressure on the president of Brown University.

Little Watson has no good impression of IBM run by his father. When I visited the factory as a child, I was most impressed by the strong smoke, noise and pungent metallic smell. 1937, little Watson went to IBM sales school and stayed there for two years until the end of his studies. Little Watson became an ordinary salesman. But most of the time and energy are spent on flying and picking up girls. His love affair is full of buzz in the company. But he is stubborn: "I can't let IBM dominate my life."

The outbreak of World War II gave young Watson a chance to escape. He joined the National Guard. He is still very bold. He once volunteered as a flight observer and flew to Myanmar through enemy gunfire. As a result, the fog was so thick that they could see nothing. Judging from the altimeter, they should have hit a mountain. Military career helped him get rid of his father's shadow and gain confidence. He finally picked up the phone and told his father that he would return to IBM. This is, of course, the wish that old Watson has been looking forward to for many years. He became a salesman and got an extremely relaxed Wall Street business area. As a result, he completed the annual sales task on June 5438+1October 2.

Old Watson was very suspicious of those behemoths stuffed with vacuum tubes and electronic parts. They are ugly and sad. They are made up of many creaking machines. It sounds like a room full of people weaving. He even asserted: "The demand for computers in the world market is only about five." The father and son had a fierce quarrel. Once, he clashed with his father on the airport runway and finally said loudly, "Damn it, can you never leave me?"

After Watson Jr. became the second person of IBM, he immediately innovated the research institution. In the direction of the company's development, a fundamental reform was implemented. 1950 in may, mcdowell was appointed as the head of the laboratory, and a large number of talents in electronic technology were recruited. The development of "national defense computer" is only an adventure that little Watson led IBM into the field of electronic technology, and it is a complete revolution in the company's development direction. 195 1 year, IBM decided to use computers for developers and hired von Neumann as the company's scientific consultant. 1952 and 12 years, IBM developed the first computer with stored programs, which is a computer in the usual sense. It is called IBM70 1.

On the eve of the 1952 general election, RAND provided CBS with a Univac computer to predict the results. The computer predicted that Eisenhower would win by a narrow margin. At that time, Univac became an instant hit and was called "unparalleled electronic brain". Of course, the most exciting thing is little Watson.

1In April, 1953, the headquarters of IBM in new york finally ushered in glory. 150 of the best American scientists and business leaders attended the grand ceremony of IBM-70 1 International Computer. 1956, the four-year general election is coming, and the Univac computer is no longer seen on TV, but the logo of IBM. At this time, IBM has occupied about 70% of the market, leaving only seven companies headed by Remington Rand in the United States. The news media dubbed the American computer industry "IBM and the Seven Dwarfs".

1956 in may, the old Watson officially handed over the power of IBM to the young Watson. The mirror image of father and son shaking hands appeared on The New York Times, representing the transition of two eras. At this time, IBM is the 37th largest company in America. Little Watson said: "He must realize that death is approaching him, which may be the only reason why he decided to step down." In June, old Watson died of illness. At the end of 1956, Watson Jr. held a meeting of senior managers and formulated the famous Williamsburg plan, which completely transformed the company.

Once, little Watson sent a manager whose decision-making mistake caused the company to lose $6,543,800+to his office. The man flinched, and little Watson asked, "Do you know why I called you?" The man replied, "I think it's to fire me." Little Watson was very surprised: "Fire you? Of course not, I just spent $6.5438+million for your study. " Then he comforted the manager and encouraged him to continue taking risks.

196 1 year, the company's annual income reaches 2 billion dollars. The value of stocks is four times that of five years ago. At that time, there were 6,000 computers in the United States, and IBM accounted for 4,000. People began to call IBM "BigBlue". Watson Jr. was promoted to chairman and chairman, and began to guide the production of the prestigious "IBM360 system". The famous magazine Happiness is called Super Adventure, which has made a breakthrough in the whole computer architecture, making "compatibility" the loudest slogan to promote the revolution of the computer industry. By the end of 1966, 8,000 computers had left the factory, which made IBM's annual income exceed $4 billion and its pre-tax profit as high as 1 100 million. Made a five-year, $5 billion bet.

1969 65438+1October 17, IBM encountered anti-monopoly law and began to get involved in a protracted lawsuit. This year was also a recession in the United States, and the annual growth rate of IBM declined rapidly. Little Watson is under a lot of stress. 197 1 Finally, little Watson was hospitalized for myocardial infarction. Two months after leaving the hospital, he told the board that he was retiring. June 1972, officially submitted his resignation. After unloading the heavy burden, little Watson dragged his weak body to New Zealand Island. But it didn't change his bad mood at all, which made his wife Auliffe, who had been together for more than 30 years, unbearable and threatened to divorce. Little Watson just came to his senses at this moment and took out a desperate teenager's means to pursue Auliffe again.

Mid-1990s. He is over 80 years old. Occasionally, because of the short distance, he will take an old BMW to check the operation of IBM.