Lou Gerstner: The CEO who taught IBM how to dance

Louis Vincent Gerstner Jr., the American business leader whose steady hand and clear-sighted strategy pulled International Business Machines Corp (IBM) from the brink of collapse and reshaped it for the dawn of the digital age, died on 27 December 2025 at his home in Jupiter, Florida.

- SIDDHARTH PAI

He was 83 years old. Arvind Krishna, IBM's current CEO, described him as a transformational figure whose influence extended far beyond the Big Blue's boardroom and whose leadership saved one of the technology world's most iconic companies. Gerstner's life was defined by decisiveness in times of peril and a firm belief in the power of organizational unity and service-oriented innovation.

Born in Mineola, New York, Gerstner grew up in Long Island and showed early promise as a methodical thinker. He graduated in engineering from Dartmouth College and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. After beginning his career in management consulting with McKinsey, he rose through the executive ranks at American Express and later took the helm of RJR Nabisco, where he proved his ability to navigate complex financial and operational challenges. When he accepted the role of chair and CEO of IBM in 1993, he became the first outsider ever to lead it. At that moment, IBM was deep in crisis. Once the world's largest computer maker whose mainframes powered financial systems, corporations, and governments alike, it was losing billions of dollars and market share to nimble competitors and facing calls to break the company apart. The tech landscape was transforming at a dizzying pace and IBM's product-centric approach felt out of step with the needs of its global customers. I worked for IBM during his time there.