Despite having an extra glass of gin the night before, John and Donovan had left for New York early in the morning. The black driver of Donovan www.biquge.info was very good at driving, and the Lincoln was fast and steady. In 1937, there were no highways, and on the way from Newport County to New York, John had plenty of time to think about Thomas Watson Jr.

Thomas Watson Jr. was born in 1914 and everyone used to call him Little Tom. The name stayed with him throughout his life, and even though he became an old man who was nearly 80 years old, he was still called Little Tom. Tom Jr. was born at the age of 40 when his father, Thomas John Watson, had just become the manager of the Computational Tabulation and Recording Company (CTR), the predecessor of IBM. After Tom Jr. was born, Watson Sr.'s career soon entered the fast lane of development. In just over two decades, IBM has grown from a small manufacturer of balances, scales, clocks and watchmakers to the largest business machine company in the United States, with more sales and profits than four other major companies of the same type combined.

Like many rich second generations, Tom Jr. has lived in a pampered environment since he was a child, attending private schools, traveling around the world, and has a prominent status and a lot of money. Although the living conditions are very good, it is undoubtedly a very stressful thing to have an overly good father. Watson Sr. never directly expressed his desire for Tom Jr. to inherit IBM's career, but he began to consciously nurture him from an early age. When Tom was 5 years old, he was taken by his father to inspect the company's factory.

Soon, little Tom discovers that he can never be as good as his father in the eyes of others. This feeling of being completely overshadowed by his father's aura frustrated him, so much so that he suffered from severe depression at the age of 13. Before he went to college at the age of 19, he had two episodes of depression every year, lying down all day long and refusing to get out of bed, and his family forced him to eat and bathe, which in severe cases almost led to suicide. Tom Jr. began to deliberately avoid IBM and everything that had to do with business and business. During his college years, he became an avid avid flyer, and as a result, he missed so much of his studies that he almost failed to graduate from school. Tom Jr. couldn't find a job because of his poor grades, so he finally had to bite the bullet and ask his father to arrange him a position at IBM.

Now, Tom Jr. is an "ordinary" intern salesperson at IBM. As a newcomer to the industry, he behaved clumsy and lacked the flexibility that a salesperson should have. He wants others to see him as an ordinary person who has just started to learn sales, but everyone knows that this is simply not possible. The people in the company who wanted to please Watson Sr. tried to please him, increase his performance, and make him perform a little better, but it hurt his self-esteem badly. Little Tom felt discriminated against, unrecognized, and had no room to play. And his performance made both his father and his boss feel that he lacked self-confidence, was detached from reality, and was incapable of completing his work. This mental repression made him dislike IBM and behave rebelliously.

For the last year, little Tom has spent a lot of time in the aero club, and John bumps into him every time he goes there. John could feel that the lad was now getting inferior, especially after his younger brother, Dick, who was 5 years younger than him, became more and more famous in the circle. Compared to Tom Jr., Dick is more in line with the values of the East Coast community's elite, he is sociable, courteous, not humble or arrogant, and personable. In front of Dick, little Tom often felt like he was a dwarf.

Historically, this difficult time for Little Tom lasted until the outbreak of World War II. During the war, Tom Jr. joined the Army Air Corps, and with his superb flying skills, he quickly became an excellent flying officer, earning the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1943. The experience of blood and fire on the battlefield tempered his character and ability, and also improved his self-confidence, making him realize that he was capable of taking on the burden of running IBM.

But at this time, little Tom is still a rebellious, decadent, and escapist rich second generation. John's first job was to find a way to help him regain his self-confidence. Only by doing this first could John be able to convince Thomas Watson Sr. Convince him that agreeing to Tom Jr. working outside the family business for a while will help him complete the succession plan smoothly.

Yes, Tom Jr. is definitely going back to IBM. From the very beginning, John positioned Tom Jr. as a partner or strategic partner (depending on whether the Watson family injected capital into his company) and was never prepared to treat him as a subordinate or an executive of the company. John can be said to be doing his best to cultivate a "qualified" successor for IBM, or to cultivate an IBM successor who has sufficient interests tied to him. In this era, no one knows better than him the impact of future computer technology on the logistics industry.

John and Tom Jr. agreed to meet at a café in a luxury building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the property of one of John's cousins. By the time John arrived, Tom Jr. was already waiting for him in the box with his girlfriend, Oliver Cowwell. Although it was only three o'clock in the afternoon, little Tom had obviously drunk and was slightly drunk.

"Hello, Tom. Hello, Oliver, you're so beautiful today. John took off his coat and greeted the two.

Oliver is a well-known model in the New York fashion industry, having appeared on the cover of some famous fashion magazines such as Vogue. John had seen her a few times at the Aero Club. In another year, they will be married, and the marriage will last until Tom Jr. dies 52 years later. After getting married, Oliver quit the fashion industry and devoted himself to a husband and children. The two had a total of six children, one boy, five girls, and 18 grandchildren. Oliver is passionate about social causes. In appreciation of her generosity, after her death in 2004, Greenwich Hospital named a building after the couple.

"Hello, Mr. Vanderbilt. Sorry, Tom was in a bad mood and drank some wine at noon. Although it wasn't the first time he had seen John, Oliver was a little restrained, carefully explaining for Tom. It turned out that Tom Jr. went to Maldini this morning to sell the punch card accounting machine, and finally met the company's treasurer. The supervisor had apparently heard of him and knew that he was the son of the owner of IBM. As soon as they met, he talked about the story of the son of the owner of a certain company who was idle, spent money, did not work hard, and finally became an alcoholic and was fired by his father, so angry that little Tom almost smashed the prototype in his hand in his face.

"Why, the business didn't work out?" John laughs and says, "It's okay, I'm just going to open a new company in Detroit recently and need to order a batch of machines. I'll pull a list when I go back at night, and I'll go to the company tomorrow to find you? ”

"Thank you, John." Little Tom was a little embarrassed, he thought that John was deliberately giving himself a performance. "The club recently came to the club with a water-sized "Tin Goose" (a 3-engine, 15-seat civilian airliner produced by Ford), when are we going to try it? ”

"I've been busy preparing for a new company lately, so I may not have time." John gave a general idea of how he resigned from his family's railroad company and started his own new company. Little Tom listened very carefully, and could see that he was very envious of John's ability to shake off the shackles of the family and make a career of his own.

"I talked to Edsel about a big project last week, and if it happens, it will be enough for me to keep busy for a while." John suddenly changed his words, "Why don't you come and help me, anyway, you won't be happy at IBM, so you might as well come to my new company and we'll work together." ”

"But what can I do for you?" Little Tom was clearly moved.

"The future of transportation belongs to the sky, little Tom. More than a decade ago, there were single-seater and two-seater planes flying in the sky. Now, the 15-seater "Tin Goose" has been eliminated from the club. In the future, airplanes will be as important as railway ships, and we have to seize the opportunity. John drew a big pie for little Tom: "You're very good at airplanes, and we need you like that." Think about Tom and you might be the creator of a new industry. Your father would be proud of you. And we can arrange for you to visit the world's major aircraft manufacturers to inspect their new projects, and you can test fly all their new aircraft. ”

"But how can I convince my father?"

"Tomorrow morning, I'll go with you to your father's office. But little Tom, you have to be brave, and you have to tell your father what you think. ”

The next morning, John and Tom Jr. came to Watson Sr.'s office. There, John signed a $40,000 equipment contract with IBM, and then they talked about the new company preparations and Tom Jr.'s resignation. Apparently little Tom had communicated with his father about this last night, and Watson Sr. was very inquisitive about John's new company. He admired John's ambitious plans, but remained noncommittal about Tom Jr.'s resignation.

"Daddy" little Tom finally couldn't help but speak, "At IBM, my identity will always be the boss's son. I don't want to live in your shadow forever, I can't let IBM dictate my life, I want to start my own business. You were 40 years old when you quit your job and started your own business, and you didn't even worry about failure at that time. I'm only 23 years old, why worry about this. I can do better than you think, and I'll prove it to you. ”

Thomas Watson Sr. was a little surprised by his son's words, but at the same time very relieved. But after thinking about it again, he still did not agree to Tom Jr.'s immediate resignation, but decided to send a three-person team, including Tom, Jr., to the new company in the name of after-sales service after John's company was established. John understood that Watson Sr. was going to send someone to inspect his company before making a decision, and he immediately agreed.

Leaving the old Watson's office, John gave little Tom an encouraging pat on the shoulder, agreeing to notify him as soon as the new company was formed. I didn't quite achieve my goals for this trip to New York, but it was a good start, wasn't it?