Thomas J. Watson

Thomas J. Watson (1874-1956)

Thomas John Watson Sr was a chairman and CEO of International Business Machine (IBM). He was born on February 17, 1874 in Campbell. Watson developed IBM`s distinctive management style and corporate culture, and turned the company

IBM into highly-effective selling organization, based largely around punched card tabulating machines.A leading self-made industrialist, he was one of the richest men of his time and was called the world`s greatest salesman when he died in 1956.

IBM 

IBM

Thomas J. Watson was a pioneer in the development of accounting and computing equipment used today by business, government, science and industry. He built a worldwide industry during his 42 years at IBM. His first job was at age 18 as a bookkeeper in Clarence Risley's Market in Painted Post, N.Y. He earned $6 a week. Later he sold sewing machines and musical instruments in the same village before joining the National Cash Register Company as a salesman in Buffalo. He eventually worked his way up to general sales manager.Bent on inspiring the dispirited NCR sales force, Mr. Watson introduced the motto, "THINK," which later became a widely known symbol of IBM. He told salesmen, " 'I didn't think' has cost the world millions of dollars." Overnight, framed placards with the single word, "THINK," sprouted throughout the offices of the company. Later, at IBM, he reintroduced the same motto.Mr. Watson joined IBM, then known as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co., as general manager in 1914. Mr. Watson adopted for IBM the slogan, "World peace through world trade," and made it internationally known. He said he advocated "the exchange not only of goods and services but of men and methods, ideas and ideals." He worked closely with the International Chamber of Commerce and in 1937 was elected its president.For many years Mr. Watson served as a trustee of Columbia University and Lafayette College. He was presented with honorary degrees by 27 colleges and universities in the United States and four abroad.

Mr. Watson married Jeannette M. Kittredge, daughter of an Ohio industrialist, on April 17, 1913. Mrs. Watson traveled widely with her husband and became a director of IBM in 1956, and before that was a director of IBM World Trade Corp. She was 82 when she died at her home in New York City on February 10, 1966.

Thomas Watson he was also a simple person who had a dream to be successful, and he didn`t stop moving forward, in the end he got his success. There is something that he said "  You can be discouraged by failure, or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes, make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success - on the far side of failure. "  he proved it.  We have to get a lesson from his life. Empty pocket doestn`t stop you from success, but empty mind and heart stops you from that.