Learson at IBM's Helm

When T. Vincent Learson, then president of IBM, decided in 1966 to enter the Newport-to-Bermuda yacht race, he was given some jocular advice by his boss, Chairman Thomas J. Watson Jr. "You'd better not win if you expect to stay at IBM," cracked Watson, an annual contender in the race. Vince Learson, a hulking (6 ft. 5 in., 200 lbs.) natural-born competitor, quietly continued his preparations, which included signing on a crew whose record in past races was statistically outstanding. When the sailing classic had ended, Learson's stock fiber glass ocean racer Thunderbird was the winner; Tom Watson's custom-designed Palawan finished 24th.

Last week "Tom Jr.," son of IBM's Jovian figure, told one and all that Learson was a winner in many ways. With Watson's warm endorsement, Learson, 58, was elected chairman of the world's largest computer manufacturer, becoming the first chief executive from outside the "founding family" in IBM's 60-year history. Watson, 57, who had held the job since his father's death in 1956, decided to step aside after suffering a heart attack that kept him away from his desk for three months last winter. Since he and his family hold 1.2 million shares of IBM stock (worth $383 million), Watson clearly intends to remain active in the company's management.* He became chairman of the board's executive committee and a member of its newly formed finance committee.

Aggressive Ideal. Learson, whose present yacht is named Nepenthe (says he: "She's the Greek goddess who induces a pleasurable sensation of forgetful-ness"), went to work as a salesman for IBM immediately after graduating from Harvard in 1935. Offered a higher-paying job by competitor Remington Rand, Learson nonetheless chose IBM because its machines were electrical rather than mechanical. He rose to general sales manager at a crucial time. Learson still admits that parts of computer technology are "over my head," but in the early 1950s he and Tom Jr. strenuously argued, against the elder Watson's opposition, that IBM's punch-card equipment would soon be outdated by electronic computers, an innovation then dominated by Sperry-Rand's Univac. The younger guard won out, and IBM poured vast resources into its own computer designs. After the corporation introduced the 700 series of computers, its tough-selling teams made those machines and their successors the runaway leaders in a market that grew from infancy to a $9 billion industry over the next two decades. IBM's new boss will need all of his legendary energy to keep the company on a highly profitable course. The business lag has cut so deeply into U.S. computer investment that nearly all of IBM's 9% sales growth in the past two years (to $7.5 billion in 1970) has come from abroad. Antitrust pressures forced the company a year ago to break up into separate chunks its hardware-plus-services packages. As a result, small companies that offer specialized computer services are trying hard to undercut IBM's prices. To match them. Learson is sure to continue abiding by the senior Watson's famous slogan "Think." He is also certain to measure IBM's leaders against his own ideal that executives should be men "with a sense of urgency, a demand for excellence and a healthy discontent with the way things are." It is a more aggressive slogan.

* His only son, Thomas III, is a law student.

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