IBM’s Ginni Rometty on Skill-Building and Success

For years, employers have used university degrees as a major requirement for hiring. But, for many jobs, success depends more on skills -- and the ability to adapt and learn -- than on piece-of-paper credentials. Ginni Rometty, former chairman and CEO of IBM, realized this early on -- first by watching her mother and other female relatives support their families and later by seeing what it took to rise to the top in her own career. At the helm of IBM from 2012 to 2020, she pushed the company to adopt skills-first recruitment and development practices, and now she's encouraging other organizations to do the same through her work at the non-profit OneTen. Rometty is coauthor of the HBR article “The New-Collar Workforce,” and the book Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World.

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HBR IdeaCast
Episode 900

IBM’s Ginni Rometty on Skill-Building and Success

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A conversation with the former head of IBM about her own career, and how she chose to run the company.

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March 07, 2023

For years, employers have used university degrees as a major requirement for hiring. But, for many jobs, success depends more on skills — and the ability to adapt and learn — than on piece-of-paper credentials. Ginni Rometty, former chairman and CEO of IBM, realized this early on — first by watching her mother and other female relatives support their families and later by seeing what it took to rise to the top in her own career. At the helm of IBM from 2012 to 2020, she pushed the company to adopt skills-first recruitment and development practices, and now she’s encouraging other organizations to do the same through her work at the non-profit OneTen. Rometty is coauthor of the HBR article “The New-Collar Workforce,” and the book Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World.

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Related Topics:

• Talent management

• Management

• Hiring and recruitment

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