Let’s start off with a woman who is not a household name but should be: Ginni Rometty.
Born as Virginia Marie Nicosia in 1957, growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, Ginni Rometty’s was the eldest of four. The divorce of her parents when she was fifteen left her mother with the daunting yet not uncommon task of single-handedly providing for the family. Ginni first demonstrated her resilience by stepping up to manage household responsibilities and take care of her 3 younger siblings every evening while her mother juggled multiple jobs.
Rometty kept her focus on education as much as she was able and in 1975, she secured a scholarship from General Motors to attend Northwestern University in Illinois. This period also marked her first dive into the corporate world, interning at General Motors between her junior and senior years.
Fast forward to 1981, and Rometty joined IBM, a time when female leaders in the any industry and especially the tech industry were scarce. Overcoming the workplace prejudices, which we can easily imagine as women in the workplace, her journey at IBM is one of innovation and vision.
Under her leadership, IBM transitioned from its traditional hardware and software roots, focusing on cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Not only did she champion the development of Watson, a revolutionary cognitive computing platform, but she also spearheaded IBM’s acquisition of SoftLayer, solidifying its stance in the cloud computing sector.
Her tenure saw IBM’s revenue grow impressively from $92.6 billion in 2011 to $107.3 billion at her retirement in 2020. While she has faced criticism for her handling of layoffs and offshoring jobs, her unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion is unquestionable. Rometty set groundbreaking targets for IBM leaving lasting fingerprints by prioritizing the elevation of women and minorities into leadership roles.
Key Takeaways from Ginni Rometty’s Leadership Journey:
Embrace Change: Her foresight to pivot IBM towards cloud computing and AI. Champion Diversity: Her belief in diverse teams has revolutionized industry standards.
Final Thoughts
I’ll leave you with this: “Don’t let others define you. You define yourself.”-Ginni Rometty