Thomas J. Watson Sr. (1874–1956) was the man who took the nascent technology of punched cards and built a global empire around it. After taking over Hollerith’s struggling firm, he renamed it IBM and instilled a culture of discipline and professional salesmanship with his “THINK” motto.
Watson wasn’t an engineer, but a businessman. He saw himself as building revenue streams rather than selling machines and he created a culture of customer service that became the model for the industry. It also turned IBM into the dominant force of the 20th-century tech industry.