Not necessarily.

In that 1989 movie, “Field of Dreams”, a farmer / baseball fan hears that phrase over and over. He concludes that if he can build a baseball field on his farm, then baseball players will come (and they eventually do). As a result of that movie, the phrase has entered the English language as a cliché for how building something can generate demand for that very thing.

Undersell, over perform. Let your actions do the talking. Look, don’t get me wrong, I do admire IBM’s position and philosophy. They take the high road. They put out technically excellent products – usually the best in their class. And then… they don’t talk about them. At all. And for customers that do have those products, many are unaware of all they have – which competitors subsequently exploit by being somewhat “economical” with the truth.

Do the right thing and things will work out. That philosophy doesn’t appear to be working out well in the technical world. Take for example customers who have migrated to a different technology and then realize after the fact that they have been “taken in”. Can they switch back? Can they even admit their mistake? Only on their way out the door…

Well, enough said. Far be it for me to give advice to IBM.

Communication would be nice.