The single most important attribute is executive commitment and leadership—the type of unequivocal leadership that Lou Gerstner exhibited in taking IBM from a hardware-centric technology firm to a professional-services led business solutions company. When Gerstner took over the company there was tremendous pressure to break up the company and sell the pieces in order to maximize shareholder value. Gerstner felt the real value in IBM was its ability to bring tremendous technology resources and understanding to addressing customers problems. So despite critics, he stayed the course, drove significant culture change, and drove a very large, slow moving firm into a completely new business model. - Ken Stewart | ChangeForge from Bookmarklet