The Wall Street Journal has been looking at the two new tips for the top job at IBM Corp, saying that if Chairman John Akers has his way, the man will probably be a low-charisma, exceedingly traditional son of Ohio in his late 40s, known for smoothly gliding from assignment to assignment but still untested as a visionary leader, explaining that describes both Bob LaBant and Ned Lautenbach, and suggests that the chairman of IBM’s Supreme Soviet has rejected cries for a reformer, and has anointed two hard-line party loyalists: of LaBant, it says he is genial, earnest and a gifted politician who shot up the ranks as an eager to please supersalesman – If you set him a target, he will always overachieve, says Merrill Lynch analyst Daniel Mandresh – If you tell him you want 5,000 people out, he will take 5,500 out for you; Lautenbach, it says, is part of an immense family dynasty – brother Terry has recently retired and two other brothers, Dan and Jim, are IBM salesmen in Chicago, while two daughters and a son of the next Lautenbach generation are also at IBM; Lautenbach, it says, is considered a stronger intellect than LaBant, but a weaker public figure who doesn’t always give speeches smoothly or socialise easily – and then goes on to demonstrate that the glove seems to fit LaBant too when approached for an interview, he wouldn’t talk about his private life, and said of IBM’s recovery plans We’re giving more freedom for the businesses to do what they have to do, but that doesn’t happen with a magic wand – the company is going through a major process re-engineering of its 17 chief linkages, actions and processes, such as development and customer satisfaction systems; the renewed talk of a successor for Akers raised the share price $1.50.
