Good Power

How do you use your influence—your so-called “power”—to make things better without harming others or yourself? In Good Power, former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty explores this question through an intimate blend of memoir and leadership guide. She argues that power, often seen as coercive or self-serving, can instead be generous, equitable, and transformative.

Rometty proposes that “power” is simply the capacity to create positive change. Her concept of good power stands on three essential pillars: respect—treating people and ideas with dignity; tension—embracing the discomfort that accompanies growth and change; and progress—moving forward pragmatically rather than pursuing perfection. Across five decades—from growing up in a struggling family in Chicago to becoming IBM’s first female CEO—she demonstrates how these values shape resilient individuals, ethical organizations, and more inclusive societies.

The Essence of “Good Power”

Power, Rometty writes, is neither inherently good nor bad—it is neutral until you decide how to use it. Bad power manipulates, dominates, or isolates. Good power multiplies, involves, and uplifts. When used with respect, power becomes generative, inspiring trust and shared purpose. In contrast to traditional business texts fixated on authority, Rometty’s framework transforms leadership into a form of service—what she calls being “in service of” others rather than merely serving them.

She sees power as a continuum that broadens with experience: first the Power of Me (personal agency and self-development), then the Power of We (collaborative, organizational leadership), and finally the Power of Us (systemic influence on society). Each stage builds on the previous one, like concentric circles of expanding impact.

Why This Idea Matters

In an era of distrust—in institutions, corporations, even technology—Rometty’s philosophy offers a humane alternative. Good power isn’t reserved for executives; it’s accessible to anyone leading a team, family, or community. Her personal story mirrors this premise. When her father abandoned the family, her mother transformed hardship into action by going back to school and working multiple jobs. Watching her mother wield “good power” without money or status taught Rometty that progress often begins with courage and compassion, not authority.

She later applied these lessons as a young engineer at IBM, turning challenges—being the only woman in meetings, enduring failure, learning leadership under pressure—into opportunities for growth. Each chapter emphasizes how discomfort leads to evolution, reinforcing her motto: “Growth and comfort never coexist.”

From Personal Change to Global Influence

The book unfolds in three parts that parallel Rometty’s journey. Part One focuses on “The Power of Me”—developing confidence, curiosity, and resilience through education and adversity. Part Two, “The Power of We,” outlines five actionable principles of good power for organizational change: being in service of others, building belief, knowing what must change and what must endure, stewarding good tech, and being resilient. Each principle is illustrated with rich stories from her IBM tenure, showing how values guide transformation at scale.

Finally, Part Three, “The Power of Us,” expands these concepts to address societal inequities through her SkillsFirst movement—a campaign to promote career advancement based on talent and lifelong learning rather than just college degrees. Partnering with leaders like Ken Frazier and Ken Chenault, she shows how corporate collaboration can combat systemic barriers and open better jobs for millions.

A Philosophy for Every Level of Leadership

Rometty’s stories—whether confronting IBM’s bureaucratic inertia or helping her mother find employment—are deeply human. Through them, she encourages you to revisit your own idea of leadership. Are you chasing success or creating significance? Are you reinforcing hierarchies or building belief in others? Her concept resonates with Simon Sinek’s Leaders Eat Last and Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead, which similarly advocate empathy-centered leadership. Yet Rometty’s approach is distinguished by its balance of engineering logic and emotional intelligence—bridging the analytical with the humane.

In a world at countless crossroads—technological, social, and personal—Rometty invites you to discover your own good power. Through respect for others, acceptance of tension, and commitment to progress, she argues, you can transform not just your life but your organization and the world. Her book is both memoir and playbook—a guide for anyone striving to make ambitious change in positive ways.

Rometty’s story begins not in boardrooms but in garages and kitchens. Her father’s abandonment before Thanksgiving threw her family into poverty—a defining crossroads that shaped her understanding of autonomy and responsibility. Her mother, Arlene, refused to succumb. She studied at a community college while raising four children. This image of courage became the seed of Rometty’s belief that every individual holds power, regardless of circumstance.

Owning Your Roots

The book’s early chapters trace generations of resilience: Rometty’s great-grandmother escaped war in Belarus and worked as a janitor; her grandmother ran a lamp shop in Chicago seven days a week. These women modeled grit and service, showing that modest lives can yield extraordinary strength. Rometty writes, “They were the heroes of their stories.” For her, owning one’s roots means embracing both hardship and heritage as sources of character, not shame.

When her father walked out, sixteen-year-old Ginni stopped looking for rescue. She saw that survival depended on proactive learning. Helping feed siblings, painting the floors of their unfurnished house, and studying late into the night, she learned accountability by necessity. This phase resembles Angela Duckworth’s concept of “grit”—passion sustained through perseverance (as explored in Grit).

Expanding the World Through Education

Education was Rometty’s portal to freedom. She joined Northwestern’s engineering program despite financial struggle, surviving on scholarships and odd jobs. Unable to afford dinner some nights, she lived on popcorn and determination. These years taught her that learning isn’t memorizing—it’s understanding logic, asking questions, and mastering the “why” behind the answer. Her story of carrying punch cards and programming the Control Data Corporation computer captures both the precision and curiosity that became core to her leadership style.

Mentors like her aunt Diane and professors encouraged her not just to study but to expand her world—to see possibilities beyond her immediate hardships. Her formative years prove that opportunity, when coupled with preparation, breeds transformation. Rometty writes that self-reliance and continuous learning are lifelong assets. You can’t wait for external rescue; you must design your future like an engineer “using the information you have and testing your hypotheses.”

Listening to the Heart

Her romance and marriage to Mark Rometty add texture to this section. Their humble beginnings—fixing their own home with borrowed furniture—show partnership as another form of shared power. Mark encouraged her move from General Motors to IBM, seeing in her a drive beyond comfort. This choice began her lifelong pursuit of meaningful work. In leaving a safe job to join IBM, she modeled the courage to embrace uncertainty—a lesson that applies to anyone facing change. If growth and comfort never coexist, then “being uncomfortable” is the price of evolution. Through these early chapters, Rometty reminds you that identity, learning, and love form the foundation of enduring strength.

As Rometty’s responsibilities widened, her leadership philosophy matured. The “Power of We” represents her shift from personal growth to collective action—the mechanics of influencing organizations ethically. She distills her decades of practice into five principles: Being in Service Of, Building Belief, Knowing What Must Change and What Must Endure, Stewarding Good Tech, and Being Resilient.

Being in Service Of: The Soul of Good Power

Rometty contrasts being “in service of” with merely “serving.” One fulfills a transaction; the other builds transformation. Early in her consulting years, she learned this from a grocery store CEO who stopped her mid-presentation and asked only for her highlighted notes—the distilled essence, not the pages of analysis. That moment taught her that leaders serve others best by delivering value, not by showing effort. Being in service demands curiosity, empathy, and preparation—“dancing when the team cannot.”

Building Belief: The Heart of Good Power

Change cannot be forced; it must be believed. Rometty’s orchestration of IBM’s $3.5 billion merger with PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting required her to convince thousands of partners to join voluntarily. She humanized corporate negotiation, invited inclusion, and painted reality while giving hope—echoing Napoleon’s dictum that leaders must define truth and offer optimism. Her approach demonstrates emotional and intellectual honesty as tools of persuasion.

Knowing What Must Change and Endure: The Brain of Good Power

Here Rometty faced the existential question of IBM’s future. Should it cling to manufacturing semiconductors or embrace cloud computing and AI? She chose transformation. Divesting legacy units and investing in future technologies revealed her disciplined reasoning: Change everything except your core beliefs. This is psychological flexibility at scale—reminiscent of Satya Nadella’s transformation of Microsoft around empathy and innovation.

Stewarding Good Tech: The Muscle of Good Power

Technology’s impact forced moral choices. When Edward Snowden’s revelations about data surveillance rocked the industry, Rometty publicly affirmed IBM’s stance on privacy and ethics. She believes society gives business a “license to operate” that can be revoked without trust. Her Principles of Trust and Transparency—augment humanity, protect creators’ data, and ensure transparency—became a blueprint for digital ethics that parallels Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.

Being Resilient: The Spirit of Good Power

Resilience completes the circle. When IBM faced slow growth, she endured criticism from media and markets with composure. Her rule: “There’s always a way forward.” She cultivated resilience through family rituals, humor, friendship, and self-care. This fifth principle teaches that progress depends as much on emotional stamina as strategic skill. For you, it means staying balanced—learning to withstand storms by remembering you are the storm.

To lead with good power, Rometty says, you must begin by serving others with intent, not obligation. Being “in service of” reframes leadership as empathy in action. Instead of viewing clients or employees as transactions, you honor their time, needs, and growth. She calls this the soul of good power because it connects purpose with compassion.

Delivering Value, Not Volume

Preparing for clients taught her that relevance matters more than quantity. When she handed a grocery CEO a lengthy report, he simply asked for the highlights. From that discomfort emerged a lasting truth: success means giving others clarity, not clutter. She learned to listen “with the intent to learn,” echoing Stephen Covey’s principle from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This listening-based approach transforms power dynamics—respect replaces dominance.

Teaching and Developing Others

When Rometty organized global conferences or installed mainframes overnight, she saw leadership as teaching. Her goal wasn’t attention—it was elevation. She labeled this transition from self to others as the moment when “we stop developing ourselves and start developing others.” Mentoring becomes a multiplier; it creates communities, not hierarchies. Her story of receiving a handcrafted book about Mount Everest—signed “your highly motivated sherpas”—captures how people thrive when leaders climb beside them, not ahead of them.

Communicating Clearly and Humanly

Rometty turned public speaking from terror into technique. She studied IBM leaders like Lou Gerstner and mapped their logic into three-part messages—the “Rule of Three” for memorable communication. Simplicity, authenticity, and emotion move hearts and minds. She quotes Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said…but never how you made them feel.” In that spirit, she learned to build connection not through slides but sincerity.

Being in service of others, she argues, transforms organizations into ecosystems of respect. It’s not altruism; it’s strategy. When you align your success with others’, everyone rises. That is the heart of sustainable leadership.

If being in service of others is the soul of good power, building belief is its heartbeat. Rometty contends that belief—not coercion—sustains transformation. She learned this during IBM’s acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, where she had to unite two culturally different organizations. Her challenge: inspire followership among people who did not yet trust her.

Cocreation Over Command

Rather than impose IBM’s ways on PwC partners, she invited them to co-design the new entity. She called three hundred people from both companies to joint sessions—“adopt and go” workshops—to merge systems collaboratively. Respecting their autonomy built psychological safety, turning skepticism into ownership. It’s a lesson in stakeholder capitalism: real commitment starts with participation, not decree.

Painting Reality and Giving Hope

During integration setbacks and declining profits, Rometty invoked two guiding laws: confront truth and offer optimism. She told teams exactly where they stood, then pointed toward what could be better. Her transparent communication created credibility and morale, reminiscent of Jim Collins’s principle of “confronting the brutal facts” from Good to Great. CEOs like Ken Chenault of American Express echo this mindset—define reality, then lead with hope.

Sustaining Belief Through Action

Belief needs proof. She personally called clients, leaders, and employees, using handwritten notes to thank each one after milestones. These gestures turned abstract loyalty into tangible culture. Even as media coverage doubted the merger, Rometty’s personal authenticity sustained momentum. By the end, PwC’s integration not only succeeded—it became a model for trust-based mergers, proving that belief, built through honesty and empathy, outlasts resistance.

For you, building belief means treating change as invitation, not imposition. When you create inclusion through co-ownership, others choose to follow—and that choice transforms everything.

Every leader confronts a paradox: if you change too little, you stagnate; if you change too much, you lose identity. Rometty frames reinvention as the “brain of good power”—bridging old and new without betraying values. Her tenure as CEO demanded constant reconciliation between innovation and preservation.

Letting Go of the Past

The semiconductor decision epitomized this tension. IBM had pioneered chip technology since the 1960s, yet maintaining factories now cost billions. Divesting required abandoning emotional loyalty to prestige while preserving intellectual excellence. With lieutenants John Kelly and Arvind Krishna, she led analyses that kept research but moved manufacturing elsewhere—“We kept the future and sold the present.” It’s an elegant metaphor for continuous adaptation.

Modernizing Greatness

Listening to clients like Marriott’s CEO taught her that relevance matters more than novelty. “Just be the best IBM you can be,” he told her. That phrase became her compass. Transformation, she realized, means updating how you manifest your greatness, not replacing it. Borrowing Thomas Watson Jr.’s insight—“Change everything except your values”—she led IBM into hybrid cloud and AI frontiers while keeping its integrity of trust and technical depth intact.

Changing How Work Gets Done

Reinvention required cultural change as well as technological innovation. She introduced design thinking and agile practices—collaborative approaches emphasizing empathy and iteration. By breaking hierarchies and empowering teams to solve customer problems creatively, she turned IBM’s bureaucratic ship toward responsiveness. Implementing Net Promoter Score surveys, employee engagement metrics, and 100,000-person agile squads marked systemic progress in how to learn faster and serve better.

Knowing what must change and endure is not just corporate—it’s personal. For you, it means letting go of outdated beliefs while keeping the principles that define your best self. Modernize your greatness; don’t reinvent your soul.

Rometty calls stewarding technology the “muscle of good power”—the strength to do what’s right even when profit tempts compromise. When Snowden’s 2013 data leaks caused global panic, IBM faced a choice: stay silent or speak truth. She chose transparency, releasing public letters that declared IBM’s noninvolvement with government surveillance. This courage safeguarded the company’s century-old reputation for trust.

Building Trust in Technology

She argues society grants every business a “license to operate.” If trust erodes, that license disappears. To preserve it, IBM established three Principles of Trust and Transparency: technology must augment humanity, data belongs to its creator, and usage must be explainable. These principles align with ethical frameworks promoted by Harvard’s Shoshana Zuboff and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari, emphasizing human-centered innovation over exploitation.

Championing Inclusion and Diversity

Ethical stewardship extends to human equity. When discriminatory legislation emerged in states like North Carolina and Texas, Rometty led IBM to denounce exclusionary laws and advocate for LGBTQ rights. Inclusion, she writes, isn’t politics—it’s purpose. She linked diversity directly to innovation: diverse engineers reduce bias in AI systems, echoing ideas from Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez.

Preparing Society for the Digital Future

Stewardship means equipping people for technology’s benefits and risks. Rometty’s SkillsFirst vision stems from this moral imperative: if technology changes jobs faster than education systems adapt, companies must help society keep up. Public-private partnerships like IBM’s P-TECH exemplify good tech in action—using innovation to create opportunity rather than inequality.

Whether designing AI or shaping laws, stewarding good tech challenges leaders to weigh short-term reward against long-term consequence. For you, it’s a reminder that integrity and foresight are the muscles that keep progress human.

At the heart of good power lies resilience—the ability to persist through discomfort, critique, and change without losing direction. For Rometty, resilience is not stoicism but renewal. It’s the spirit that allowed her family, career, and company to persevere through decades of upheaval.

Relationships as Anchors

Her siblings—Joe, Annette, and Darlene—each transformed adversity into ambition. Their stories of surviving childhood abandonment reflect how relational bonds fortify identity. Rometty herself leaned on her husband Mark, assistant Aimee Burns, and colleague Janice Cafmeyer for emotional stability. These relationships became her “network of nourishment,” ensuring that leadership wasn’t a lonely endurance test but a shared human journey.

Attitude and Adaptability

Resilience begins with mindset. Her mantra—“There’s always a way forward”—defines optimism as an act of engineering: you design solutions even in chaos. She learned to compartmentalize crises, address them without absorbing their negativity, and move to the next task. This technique mirrors Daniel Goleman’s emotional intelligence framework: self-regulation enables steady judgment under pressure.

Running Toward Conflict

Rometty insists that confronting problems early prevents corrosion. Whether handling international disputes over data or internal backlash over layoffs, she faced conflict respectfully and directly. Running toward confrontation, not avoiding it, converted anxiety into action. Her restraint during public criticism—especially around IBM’s stock performance—shows that maturity often means calming storms rather than fueling them.

Self-Care and Perspective

Late in her career, Rometty acknowledged the need for exercise, boundaries, and time away from work—an evolution many leaders overlook. Balance sustains resilience. As she told a young relative worried about media judgment, “We’re doing what must be done.” That quiet conviction defines the resilient leader. For you, resilience means transforming pain into progress, seeing criticism as guidance, and remembering that storms don’t destroy—they reveal strength.

Rometty’s final message transcends corporate life. The “Power of Us” marks her evolution from CEO to social architect—applying good power to transform systems like education and employment. Her SkillsFirst movement forms the core of this vision for equitable progress.

Creating Access Through Skills

She noticed that millions of jobs demanded degrees but not necessarily talent. To tackle this bias, IBM partnered with schools and companies to build pipelines like P-TECH, the first high school offering free STEM education and associate degrees. Stories of students like Gabriel Rosa—who turned from hacker into IBM developer—embody the mission: combine learning, mentoring, and employment to restore dignity through work.

Beyond Degrees: A SkillsFirst Economy

SkillsFirst redefines career mobility for the digital age. It allows companies to recruit based on ability rather than academic pedigree and helps employees stay relevant through continuous learning. Rometty shows how businesses like Aon and Cleveland Clinic adopted apprenticeships and talent pipelines to fill jobs once thought unreachable. This idea mirrors Peter Drucker’s principle that “every knowledge worker is a continual learner.”

Systemic Change Through Collaboration

Her cofounding of OneTen with leaders Ken Frazier and Ken Chenault scaled SkillsFirst nationally—committing major U.S. firms to hire one million Black Americans into family-sustaining jobs within a decade. The initiative embodies her belief that corporate cooperation beats competition. Government alliances like updating the Perkins Act likewise prove bipartisan partnerships can rewrite inequality.

From Movement to Mindset

Ultimately, Rometty’s “Power of Us” challenges you to treat systemic change as personal mission. Whether you lead a classroom, company, or community, your influence matters when guided by good power—respect for others, acceptance of discomfort, and commitment to actionable progress. As she closes, she urges: “Don’t wait for calm skies. Be the storm.” It’s both a call to courage and a promise that ethical ambition can change the world.