????吉尼?羅曼提走馬上任后召開的第一次客戶大會(huì)就非比尋常，尤其是與“藍(lán)色巨人”之前沉默內(nèi)斂的風(fēng)格相對比更是如此。當(dāng)時(shí)是六月份，會(huì)議召開的地點(diǎn)選在曼哈頓時(shí)尚的切爾西區(qū)。狹小的電梯載著我們來到會(huì)場時(shí)，電梯門一打開我們便看到了羅曼提，幾位明顯非常緊張的助理簇?fù)碓谒磉??！罢娴暮芨吲d見到你！”她一邊說，一邊熱情地握著我的手，她的助手則在旁邊不?？幢??；脽粞菔炯磳㈤_始，可羅曼提還沒有佩戴麥克風(fēng)。她問道：“辦的還算優(yōu)雅吧？”

????活動(dòng)開始的時(shí)間比預(yù)定計(jì)劃要晚。55歲的羅曼提身高約1米6，一頭金發(fā)用發(fā)帶盤了起來，流露出一種威嚴(yán)的氣度。但當(dāng)天，她在登場的時(shí)候卻搞了個(gè)烏龍，主持人還沒介紹她，她便上了講臺(tái)。對此，她只是一笑置之。后來有一名觀眾的手機(jī)響了起來，打斷了活動(dòng)的進(jìn)程，她開玩笑說：“希望不是我的手機(jī)在響！”

????我們之前從未見過郭士納或者彭明盛會(huì)主動(dòng)掩飾別人的失禮之舉。而且，羅曼提的這兩位前輩也不可能把銷售會(huì)議的舉辦地放在閣樓里面，他們也不會(huì)用“優(yōu)雅”來形容活動(dòng)安排。但如果把他們放在那一天，他們肯定會(huì)批準(zhǔn)羅曼提的安排。那次會(huì)議她召集了一些熟面孔，比如那些花數(shù)十億美元從IBM采購軟件、技術(shù)服務(wù)和硬件的首席信息官們。但同時(shí)她也邀請了客戶公司的首席營銷官。（這也是選擇在如此時(shí)尚的場所舉辦會(huì)議的原因。）她有一個(gè)宏偉的、不同尋常的計(jì)劃：讓首席營銷官們使用IBM的工具對他們的數(shù)據(jù)進(jìn)行分類，找出其中有價(jià)值的信息，幫助他們更好的接觸客戶，銷售更多產(chǎn)品。

????當(dāng)羅曼提成為IBM第九任CEO時(shí)，她所掌管的公司收入規(guī)模在全球名列第19位（2011年公司銷售額超過1,070億美元。）而且，至本文截稿時(shí)，IBM的市值已經(jīng)達(dá)到2,350億美元，在全球名列第五。此外，她也是IBM史上第一位女性首席執(zhí)行官。她對科技界的影響，以及她所領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的公司對金融市場的影響，讓她在《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune）一年一度的美國“最具影響力商界女性”（Most Powerful Women in Business）評選中，名列榜首。她接手的公司雖然規(guī)模龐大，但卻始終保持令人羨慕的發(fā)展速度。過去十年間，公司利潤平均每年增長16%，每年的投資回報(bào)率高達(dá)12%。

????但與此同時(shí)，她也必須達(dá)到各界對IBM近乎荒唐的高期望值：IBM曾經(jīng)表示，在未來三年，公司收入將增長200億美元。換句話說，這相當(dāng)于整個(gè)耐克公司（Nike）的規(guī)模。

????作為一名在IBM工作了31年的老將，羅曼提每次開會(huì)之前都會(huì)準(zhǔn)備厚厚一摞背景資料和數(shù)據(jù)，這已是廣為人知的事。她對上述期望并不感到意外。實(shí)際上，她在上任后首次參加的客戶大會(huì)上最令人意外的，是她的放松和即興的表現(xiàn)。她并不拘謹(jǐn)，正如哈佛商學(xué)院（Harvard Business School）的羅莎貝斯?莫斯?坎特所說：“她身上沒有流露出任何一絲傲慢或者專橫?！钡瑫r(shí)，羅曼提也很少會(huì)聽天由命。比如，她拒絕了本文作者前往采訪的請求，寧可通過電子郵件回答筆者的問題。

????彭明盛在IBM任職的十年間，羅曼提一直是他的忠實(shí)支持者，并在四年前正式成為接替彭明盛的繼任者。她自己參與了IBM公司制定高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的過程，如今風(fēng)水輪流轉(zhuǎn)，當(dāng)時(shí)的高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)成了她必須清除的障礙。當(dāng)時(shí)，她和其他高管幫助彭明盛制定了一個(gè)五年規(guī)劃，即所謂的“2015年路線圖”。這個(gè)五年規(guī)劃的目標(biāo)是，到2015年，公司收入超過1,250億美元。

????Ginni Rometty's first customer conference as CEO of IBM (IBM) was an unusual affair, especially by Big Blue's buttoned-up standards. The June confab took place in an airy loft in Manhattan's hip Chelsea neighborhood. When the tiny elevator arrived to whisk a group of us to the meeting space, the doors opened and there was Rometty, flanked by a couple of visibly nervous assistants. "Really good to see you!" she said, clasping my hand warmly as her handlers checked their watches. The presentation was about to begin and Rometty still wasn't wearing her microphone. "Isn't this neat?" she asked.

????The program started late. At 5-foot-11, with blond hair tucked behind a headband, Rometty, 55, has an almost regal bearing, but on this day she flubbed her entrance, bounding onto the stage before she could be introduced. She laughed it off. When an audience member's ringing cellphone interrupted the events, she joked, "I hope that isn't mine!"

????You wouldn't catch Lou Gerstner or Sam Palmisano trying to smooth over someone else's faux pas. Rometty's two predecessors also are unlikely to have hosted a sales meeting in a loft, and they definitely wouldn't have described the proceedings as "neat." But they surely would have approved of Rometty's agenda that June day. She had assembled some familiar faces, the chief information officers who buy billions of dollars of software, tech services, and hardware from IBM (No. 19 on the Fortune 500), but she had also invited their chief marketing officers. (Thus the trendy venue.) Her ambitious -- and yes, unusual -- plan: Get the marketers to use IBM tools to sort their data for nuggets that will help them better reach customers and sell more stuff.

????When Rometty (pronounced RAH-metty) became IBM's ninth CEO -- and its first woman chief executive -- she took control of the 19th-largest company in the world by revenue (2011 sales surpassed $107 billion) and, at presstime, the fifth largest by valuation, with a market cap of $235 billion. Her influence on the world of technology and her company's impact on the financial markets earn her the No. 1 spot in Fortune's annual ranking of the Most Powerful Women in Business. She inherits a company with an enviable growth record for its enormous size. Over the past decade, the company has increased profits by an average 16% every year, returning 12% annually to shareholders.

????She also needs to live up to almost ridiculously high expectations: IBM has said it will add $20 billion more in revenue growth in the next three years. To put that in perspective, that's a business roughly the size of Nike (NKE), No. 136 on the Fortune 500.

????Not that any of this is a surprise to Rometty, a 31-year veteran of IBM who is known to have thick binders of background material and data prepared for her in advance of meetings. Indeed, the most surprising thing about her June customer debut was how loose and improvisational it was. She's not a stiff -- "There's nothing imperious or imperial about her," notes Harvard Business School's Rosabeth Moss Kanter -- but Rometty rarely leaves anything to chance. For example, she declined to be interviewed in person for this article, and would answer questions only via e-mail.

????Rometty was at Palmisano's side for much of his decade-long tenure, and became a serious candidate to succeed him about four years ago. And she was personally involved in setting the high bar that she must now clear. She and other senior leaders helped him develop the five-year plan -- dubbed "2015 Roadmap" -- that has IBM targeting more than $125 billion in revenue that year.