A few days ago the NY Times had an article titled Even a Giant Can Learn to Run about the retiring CEO of IBM, Samuel J. Palmisano. Amazingly, the CEO admits that they sold their PC business to Lenovo to gain favor with the Chinese government, which is a big buyer of IBM stuff through their state-owned companies. People won’t be happy about that.
When asked how he helped IBM grow, Samuel said he got together with his top 300 managers to answer four simple questions:
- Why would someone spend their money with you — so what is unique about you?
- Why would somebody work for you?
- Why would society allow you to operate in their defined geography — their country?
- And why would somebody invest their money with you?
Four straightforward, simple questions that every startup and Fortune 500 company should answer.
What else? What are your thoughts on the four questions?
David Cummings on Startups 
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