"Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?" by Lewis V. Gerstner, Jr.

Don't let the title turn you away.  This is a very insightful business book on how a seasoned, mature, and experienced executive helped to turn IBM away from the precipice and returned it to profitability.  This book was enjoyable and well worth time investment. 

My biggest takeaway from this book, as a middle manager, is to hire those who have a passion about what they do, not just someone looking to draw a paycheck.  Those who have that passion will commit the time and effort to assist your organization to achieve excellent results because they love what they do. 

Below is the publisher's summary.

In 1990, IBM had its most profitable year ever. By 1993, the company was on a watch list for extinction, victimized by its own lumbering size, an insular corporate culture, and the PC era IBM had itself helped invent.


Enter Lou Gerstner. The presumption was that Gerstner had joined IBM to preside over its continued dissolution into a confederation of autonomous business units, effectively eliminating the corporation that had invented many of the industry's most important technologies. Instead, Gerstner took hold of the company, making the bold decision to keep it together, defiantly announcing, "The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision."

Told in Lou Gerstner's own words, this is a story of an extraordinary turnaround, a case study in managing a crisis, and a thoughtful reflection on the computer industry and the principles of leadership. Summing up his historic business achievement, Gerstner recounts high-level meetings, explains the no-turning-back decisions that had to be made, and offers his hard-won conclusions about the essence of what makes a great company run.