Thomas Watson Jr.: Most Influential People In The World Of Technology
Sila Pinto
3/1/13
Thomas Watson Jr.
Once a perpetually failing student nicknamed "Terrible Tommy", Thomas Watson Jr. grew up to become one of the most influential people in the world of technology. As a young adult Watson suffered from lack of self-confidence and depression, he even cried when his father told him he was to inherit International Business Machine Company or IBM. No one could have guessed that not only would “Terrible Tommy” take over IBM, but, he would come to surpass his father and bring the world into the computer age.
Under the management of Thomas Watson Jr. IBM was able to put its label on 70% of the worlds computers and as a result dominated the industry. However before he achieved his success, Watson Jr. was a very Hedonistic
young man who held drinking and dancing above in importance to learning and working. It took Watson Jr. six years to even graduate from high school and he only barely managed to graduate from Brown University mostly with the help of a sympathetic dean. Watson Jr. joined IBM after he finished college; he continued to have a hedonistic mindset at this stage in his life and as a result held enjoying himself over calling in his clients. Even so, Thomas still managed to fill his sales quota easily (mostly because the company helped him out since he was the boss’s son).
During World War II Tom Watson Jr. worked as an aide and pilot for Major general Follet Bradley, the Army Air Forces’ inspector general, he was even slated to serve as a pilot for the united airlines after the war, he would have taken that job, if not for a chance conversation with Major General Follet Bradley in which they discussed future plans, this inspired Watson Jr. to go back and inherit IBM after all.
As soon as Watson Jr. took over IBM in 1952, he realized that the company’s future lay in computers and not in tabulators, which what his father had been working on. Watson Jr. recruited electronics experts and brought in computer pioneers, one of the most famous of these was John Van Neumann, to teach engineers and scientists for the company. By 1963 IBM was leading over Univac. Watson only hired harsh individuals who could think ahead for his company.
As a leader Watson Jr. never backed away from a challenge or conflict and encouraged his employees to challenge each other as well. In the Early 60’s when IBM was doing well, Watson Jr. decided to take an enormous risk and spend over three times IBM’s revenues at the time, to develop a new line of computers that would lead the company into the future. It turns out, this risk was worth it for IBM as their revenues more than doubled as a result of the invention of System/360 (a mainframe computer system). At age in 1971 when he was 57 Watson retired due to illness. In the end, Thomas Watson Jr. not only managed to emerge from the shadow of his father, he greatly surpassed him.
Works Cited:
"IBM Archives: Thomas J. Watson, Jr.."IBM - United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. <http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/chairmen/
"THOMAS WATSON JR: Master Of The Mainframe - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989784-3,00.html>.
3/1/13
Thomas Watson Jr.
Once a perpetually failing student nicknamed "Terrible Tommy", Thomas Watson Jr. grew up to become one of the most influential people in the world of technology. As a young adult Watson suffered from lack of self-confidence and depression, he even cried when his father told him he was to inherit International Business Machine Company or IBM. No one could have guessed that not only would “Terrible Tommy” take over IBM, but, he would come to surpass his father and bring the world into the computer age.
Under the management of Thomas Watson Jr. IBM was able to put its label on 70% of the worlds computers and as a result dominated the industry. However before he achieved his success, Watson Jr. was a very Hedonistic
young man who held drinking and dancing above in importance to learning and working. It took Watson Jr. six years to even graduate from high school and he only barely managed to graduate from Brown University mostly with the help of a sympathetic dean. Watson Jr. joined IBM after he finished college; he continued to have a hedonistic mindset at this stage in his life and as a result held enjoying himself over calling in his clients. Even so, Thomas still managed to fill his sales quota easily (mostly because the company helped him out since he was the boss’s son).
During World War II Tom Watson Jr. worked as an aide and pilot for Major general Follet Bradley, the Army Air Forces’ inspector general, he was even slated to serve as a pilot for the united airlines after the war, he would have taken that job, if not for a chance conversation with Major General Follet Bradley in which they discussed future plans, this inspired Watson Jr. to go back and inherit IBM after all.
As soon as Watson Jr. took over IBM in 1952, he realized that the company’s future lay in computers and not in tabulators, which what his father had been working on. Watson Jr. recruited electronics experts and brought in computer pioneers, one of the most famous of these was John Van Neumann, to teach engineers and scientists for the company. By 1963 IBM was leading over Univac. Watson only hired harsh individuals who could think ahead for his company.
As a leader Watson Jr. never backed away from a challenge or conflict and encouraged his employees to challenge each other as well. In the Early 60’s when IBM was doing well, Watson Jr. decided to take an enormous risk and spend over three times IBM’s revenues at the time, to develop a new line of computers that would lead the company into the future. It turns out, this risk was worth it for IBM as their revenues more than doubled as a result of the invention of System/360 (a mainframe computer system). At age in 1971 when he was 57 Watson retired due to illness. In the end, Thomas Watson Jr. not only managed to emerge from the shadow of his father, he greatly surpassed him.
Works Cited:
"IBM Archives: Thomas J. Watson, Jr.."IBM - United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. <http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/chairmen/
"THOMAS WATSON JR: Master Of The Mainframe - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989784-3,00.html>.