The disconcerting messages started popping up on Virginia Rometty’s screen not long after the IBM chief executive began a webcast to explain to her nearly 400,000 employees in 170 countries how she planned to reorganize the tech giant.
“I can’t hear.”
“I can’t see you.”
“Is this on?”
When the January presentation ended, Ms. Rometty fumed at colleagues, “We’re only the IBM Company—we’re better than this,” according to people who were there. “Get this fixed now!”
That is a directive Ms. Rometty is giving a lot these days as she tries to reinvent the nearly 104-year-old icon while it continues a yearslong slump. International Business Machines Corp.’s sales for 12 straight quarters have fallen from the year-earlier quarter.
Read more: The Wall Street Journal