IBM has prospered in the high-tech industry by innovating and knowing when to change focus. The company gained fame for making huge mainframe computers, then introduced one of the most popular early personal computers (the IBM PC), and later shifted its growth efforts to offering software and services that keep businesses humming. Running such a company requires an understanding of what technology can do, coupled with abilities such as making complex decisions and inspiring employees to contribute their best.

When IBM recently needed someone to fill the top job of chief executive officer, one of the managers considered was Rodney C. Adkins, IBM’s senior vice president for its Systems and Technology Group. Adkins’s position involves tremendous responsibility. The group he oversees has about 50,000 employees and generates $18 billion in revenue from products that include semiconductors, servers, system software, and more. Its activities range from acquiring supplies to manufacturing products to filling orders, all in a supply chain that spans the globe.

The story of how Adkins arrived at this position tells us a lot about managers and what they do. Growing up in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood, Adkins was fascinated with technology. For fun, he would take apart his family’s home appliances to see how they worked. He left home to study physics at Rollins College, near Orlando, where he was one of 25 African Americans in a student body of 1,200. After graduation, he landed a job as a hardware engineer with IBM, where he has built his career. He left only once, to earn a master’s degree in electrical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.

In his 19 positions during his 30 years at IBM, Adkins has made a point of broadening his experience beyond his original specialty. In his first position, Adkins focused on quality assurance for IBM printers. As he advanced, he sought challenging jobs outside product engineering so that he would be skilled in other business functions besides developing products. He has worked in most of the company’s businesses, including hardware and software, PCs, and mobile computing. The division he currently leads helped develop the server system for the Watson computer, whose blazing-fast processing speeds famously enabled it to defeat humans on the Jeopardy! television game show. One of his assignments took him to Japan, where he worked with engineers to develop IBM’s first mobile PC.

Choosing which position to take next is not always easy, but along the way, senior executives at IBM have served as mentors to Adkins, helping him identify areas where he can apply his experience and areas where he needs to grow. At one point, for example, an executive vice president, now retired, advised Adkins to gain experience in product branding and development, rather than leading a sales group. That decision better positioned him for greater responsibility later on.

And what of the CEO position Adkins was considered for? This time, it went to Virginia Rometty, who had led IBM’s expansion into consulting. No doubt Rometty will depend on Adkins to keep his group on a successful course, and he may yet become IBM’s top executive someday.¹