IBM, the company built almost single-handedly by Thomas Watson Sr., seemed to be an organization with the same solidity and durability as the federal government itself. "Big Blue" (named after the color of its heavy-duty mainframe computers): the phrase suggested not merely immense size but greatness; not just products, but the best products; not just surviving, but prospering. Here was the most successful corporation in history -- an institution that changed the face of corporate America and the way that Americans worked and thought.

In the late 1980s, IBM fell on hard times. In April 1993, IBM found a leader from outside its own ranks: Lou Gerstner took over as chairman and CEO of IBM. And he turned IBM around -- again establishing it as the world's greatest computer maker.

The Gerstner miracle was forged through the kind of corporate re-engineering that had been unacceptable to previous IBM leaders. He examined every nook and cranny of IBM with the fresh, bottom-line perspective of an outsider. And then he made his moves, rebuilding a new, more competitive IBM, more customer-oriented, more conscious of the ever-changing business environment.