
An Open Letter to My Boss, IBM CEO Ms. Ginni Rometty - monsieurpng
https://shift.newco.co/an-open-letter-to-my-boss-ibm-ceo-ginni-rometty-cf40c3ed5ddb
======
twblalock
This letter is written by a person who contributes very little to the
organization, yet seems to believe she is entitled to her conception of
perfect social justice in all areas of life.

The US has had bad presidents before, and will certainly have them in the
future. At no point so far has the CEO of IBM done anything wrong -- and when
she does, that will be the time to criticize her. Until then, this is a CEO
trying to promote her company to the incoming administration, and nothing
more.

This is my favorite part:

> A look at IBM recruitment collateral suggests that the future of the company
> hinges on realizing an inclusive and welcoming culture, though you do not
> communicate this vision within the _many pages of your letter_ to a man who
> will soon be in the top office of the United States government.

The letter is barely 4 pages long printed on US letter-sized paper. Where are
the "many pages?"

People like this are impossible to please.

------
A_COMPUTER
Do none of these people have an adult in their life to tell them doing this is
a terrible idea

~~~
devnonymous
I am genuinely curious. Why exactly do you think doing this was a terrible
idea.

Here's a person who didn't agree with the stand the ceo of her company took.
Resigned because she felt morally responsible and announced it because she
thought it was the right thing to do. Irrespective of content, that shows
principles, integrity, courage and maturity. So again what exactly should an
"adult" have told her?

------
Animats
_" Eight years ago, IBM helped lead an effort to identify $1 trillion in
savings the federal government could achieve through using advanced data
analytics, data center consolidation, and the use of cloud technologies to
improve the cybersecurity of key government systems."_

Here's that report.[1]

[1] [https://oversight.house.gov/wp-
content/uploads/2013/02/Kamen...](https://oversight.house.gov/wp-
content/uploads/2013/02/Kamensky-Testimony-2-5-13-COMPLETE.pdf)

------
devnonymous
I don't get some of the comments here.

I'm not a US citizen nor an IBMer, so this interests me only as an outsider.
While precious little will change with an 'open letter' like this, since when
has having an opinion, resigning due to principles or "saying something" a bad
thing?

The way I read it was a person who took a stand and announced it. Nothing
more. Why are the commenters here inferring entitlement, immaturity or
anything besides an opinion.

------
docdeek
This will put an enormous amount of pressure on IBM, what with the shortage of
content strategists in the market right now.

~~~
devnonymous
Why analyse this from the perspective of IBM? Why not the poster? Are you
implying that she should have just accepted the state of affairs and continued
her job because one person can't make a difference anyways? Or maybe she
should have just quit but not bother with telling anyone why because one
person can't make a difference anyways?

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rev_null
I admire OP's decision to resign. But, to be fair, cataloguing citizens to
facilitate genocide is one of IBM's core competencies[1].

[1] -
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust)

~~~
twblalock
If you were really interested in being fair, you would also point out that
nobody who worked at IBM during the Holocaust still works there today.

To suggest that the IBM of today is the same as the IBM of that time is
absurd, and constitutes an odd kind of essentialism whereby the character of a
corporation never changes even though every single person who worked there has
been replaced. It ascribes motive, personality, and an unchanging nature to a
corporation rather than to the people who run it.

~~~
ariendj
I don't think hacker news readers have to be told that the people that worked
at IBM up to 1945 do not work there anymore.

~~~
meira
Neither that their bad decisions would gone away after they left the company.

