Virginia (Ginny) Rometty doesn't take over as president and CEO of IBM until Jan. 1 so it's too early to predict precisely how the company will fare under her leadership. But one thing is certain: IBM has done a great job of giving her a variety of challenging assignments to prepare her for the job.
The Wall Street Journal, for example, quotes a source who said Ms. Rometty's predecessor, Sam Palmisano "has been grooming her for this job" through a variety of IBM roles. Wired magazine details that career path: "After joining IBM’s Consulting Group in 1991, overseeing the company’s consulting work in the Great Lakes region, she eventually rose to the top of IBM Global Services, serving as the division’s strategy leader. In 2003, she helped drive the company’s $3.5 billion acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ consulting business, and after becoming senior vice president and group executive for sales, marketing and strategy in 2009, she spearheaded the company’s push into emerging markets such as China and Brazil."
We think that development assignments like that can have a huge impact on an executive's growth. Stretch assignments, special projects and other opportunities to contribute directly to key strategic initiatives are where the real learning takes place. Our colleague, Dr. Aaron Sorensen, writes in the November, 2011 issue of Workspan magazine: "When leadership development is integrated with strategy execution, not only to leaders emerge with greater competence to lead the business, they become more facile with strategy. In addition, these experiences are often the best test cases to separate the leaders who can truly perform on a bigger stage versus those who top out."
What have been your best development assignments, and how have they helped you advance in your career?
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