I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y B E T H G O O D Y Lives & Legacies Remembering a corporate-turnaround master, a pioneering toy maker, an online-lending entrepreneur, and a fast-food luminary. 1942–2025 Louis V. Gerstner Jr. M C K I N S EY V E T E R A N SAV E D I B M B Y SW I T C H I N G FO C U S T O S E RV I C E S When Gerstner arrived in 1993 as the first outsider to serve as CEO of IBM, his mission was clear: save Amer ica’s most famous computer company from extinction. “The last thing IBM needs now is a vision,” he declared. Instead, he concentrated on execution, cut costs, and shifted the focus to consulting and services. After leaving IBM in 2002, he wrote a book about his experience: Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? Inside IBM’s Historic Turnaround . His career began at McKinsey, where he rose to partner at age 28 and led the finance practice. A demanding boss, he once told a colleague: “No one has ever met my expectations, with the exception of my wife.” Raju Narisetti, partner and leader of McKinsey Global Publishing, covered Gerstner and IBM for The Wall Street Journal . In November 1997, Narisetti broke the story of Gerstner’s commitment to serving a second term at IBM. As he recalls: “Gerstner said, ‘The first [phase] was to get from survival to strength, and now we need to go from strength to leadership,’ adding, ‘I think that is going to take another five years . . . I would like to be part of that.’” - 144 M C K I N S EY Q UA RT E R LY