Only a true outsider can lead the total cultural change required to save IBM from death. Gerstner seemed to be doing just that but look how the company snapped right back into its bad old ways under Sam Palmisano. Maybe Buffett just decided IBM was a lost cause. A recently-departed IBM sales guy told me the other day "you know they really hate you." And it's true. They hate me for my eleven years of reporting bad executive decisions and poor planning ever since I discovered in a hotel bar in Rochester, MN back in 2007 that IBM employees hated their company. I've probably cost IBM millions over that period but IBM management cost the company tens of billions over the same time. Hating must be easier than actually listening. My final 2018 prediction is that Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg will give up his political ambitions. What, you didn't know Zuck wants to be President ? I'm pretty sure he once did have such a goal and, heck, if Trump can do it why not a younger, smarter guy whose wealth is real?