Dilbert was on point yesterday.

Boy does this bring back memories of my time at IBM. I remember John Akers running the country into the ground. Meanwhile, he had us taking this two day course called Transformation Leadership. It was a course designed by idiots and taught by idiots. We had group exercises that I was unable to do since I was a cripple. They were supposed to drive home at how we were supposed to react to changing markets. Meanwhile IBM’s senior management had managed to not react to the changing market of the 90’s.

Anyhoo, at the end of this wasted two days I talked to the instructors facilitators. I was an instructor at the time and I pointed out the fallacy of the class. It was supposed to teach flexibility but was inflexible. It was supposed to teach how to react to changes but was unable to do so. Since the exercises were all physical I asked what they would have done if they had walked into the classroom and everyone had been in wheelchairs. Game over. Class dismissed. They both gave me a deer in the headlights look and stammered out that they didn’t know. “That”, I told them, “was why the class sucked and was a total waste of time.”

Everyone at IBM had to take this class. What’s more, the managers had to take a three day version. One of the few times I felt sorry for IBM managers.

Later on, there was a follow on class called The Journey Continues. (Fortunately, I managed to skip out of going to this class.) It continued alright. IBM continued down the tubes. Shortly thereafter, IBM hired Lou Gerstner and he turned the company around. But, just like Trump, Gerstner was just a bump in the road. IBM continues to decline.

Fortunately, it does value Diversity (All Hail Diversity!)