Begin with small steps

Eager & Beaver

Dream big, however winning can only start with small steps. Don’t wait for the big win, bigger moments to come in your way. Rather you need to begin with small steps of progress, step by step, we keep moving towards our dream, till one day it becomes a dream come true. When we are aiming for dream to be accomplished we must start with small and when it comes to finishing off our tasks, we can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Citing an example, History of IBM:

1880: Starting various technologies came into existence that would form part of IBM's predecessor company.

1890: The U.S. Census Bureau contracts to use Herman Hollerith's punched card tabulating technology in the 1890 United States Census. Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company is later merged into what becomes IBM today.

1914: Flint recruited Thomas J. Watson, Sr., from the National Cash Register Company to help lead the company. Watson implemented "generous sales incentives, a focus on customer service, an insistence on well-groomed, dark-suited salesmen and an evangelical fervor for instilling company pride and loyalty in every worker".

1924: C-T-R was renamed the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), citing the need to align its name with the "growth and extension of its activities".

1937: IBM's tabulating equipment enabled organizations to process unprecedented amounts of data, its clients including the U.S. Government, during its first effort to maintain the employment records for 26 million people. During the Second World War the company produced small arms for the American war effort.

1952: Thomas J. Watson, Jr., became president of the company, ending almost 40 years of leadership by his father.

1973: IBM engineer George J. Laurer developed the Universal Product Code. 1973, IBM introduced the IBM 3660, a laser-scanning point-of-sale barcode reader which would become the workhorse of retail checkouts.

1981: The IBM PC, originally designated IBM 5150, was introduced and it soon became the industry standard.

1991:  IBM sold Lexmark, and in 2002, it acquired PwC consulting.

2005:  The company sold its personal computer business to Lenovo, and in the same year, agreed to acquire Micromuse.

2009: IBM acquired software company SPSS Inc. Later in 2009, IBM's Blue Gene supercomputing program was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by U.S. President Barack Obama.

2011: IBM's closing value of $214 billion surpassed Microsoft which was valued at $213.2 billion.

2012: Fortune ranked IBM the #2 largest U.S. firm in terms of number of employees, the #4 largest in terms of market capitalization, the #9 most profitable, and the #19 largest firm in terms of revenue. Other rankings for 2011/2012 include the following:

#1 company for leaders (Fortune)

#1 green company worldwide (Newsweek)

#2 best global brand (Interbrand)

#2 most respected company (Barron's)

#5 most admired company (Fortune)

#18 most innovative company (Fast Company)

IBM present with over 388,000 employees worldwide in 170 countries. IBM employees have earned five “Nobel Prizes”, four “Turing Awards”, five “National Medals of Technology”, and five “National Medals of Science”.

Success never came in a day or one year. There were many ups and downs in the history of IBM and many leaders lead the company through times of challenges, mistakes, revivals, technology drivers, environment and competitive hurdles. Fact remains that each and every big moment starts with a humble small step.