Word: ibm
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...tell a great deal about tycoons from those pivotal moments before they became rich. Ross Perot's launching pad was IBM, where he spent his late 20s and early 30s (1957-62) selling computers from the firm's Dallas office. In mid-1962 Perot quit to start Electronic Data Systems, the source of his $3 billion fortune...
...TIME has tracked down more than 20 former IBM salesmen and managers, most now in their 60s and 70s, who worked closely with Perot in those early years. Some of their memories are fading, a number of key players are dead, and documents are virtually nonexistent. But the picture the retirees paint, while sometimes sketchy, shows Perot to have been more ruthless and petty in his early business dealings than is commonly known...
What do these allegations have to do with a person's fitness to serve as President? Though no one is accusing Perot of extramarital affairs or dodging the draft, the charges aired by his former IBM colleagues help define that elusive quality called character. Voters may in fact decide that they are not bothered by a candidate who uses his elbows in the rough-and-tumble world of business. But whether a candidate likes it or not, running for President opens him to wide-ranging scrutiny. The examination can be particularly painful for a newcomer like Perot...
...great respect for Perot's sales ability and drive. But they strongly disliked or distrusted their colleague. "He was a money-hungry guy," recalls ex-salesman Ogden Kidd, now 63. "He was not a team player, and he was not comfortable working within the framework of business ethics that IBM had adopted at the time." Or, as another, more forgiving salesman puts it, "He was practicing '80s ethics in the 1960s...
Seed Money for EDS. An aggressive salesman can sell customers things they don't need and can't afford. One of the most enduring myths about Perot is that he sold so hard in his final year with IBM (1962) that he achieved his sales quota in mid-January. Less known is the fact that he reached this quota -- and pocketed a commission estimated at $30,000 (nearly $150,000 in today's dollars) -- from the "sale" of a single computer that was never actually installed...