Father, Son, and Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond Hardcover – May 1, 1990

Thomas Watson Jr. surprised me on his candor concerning his familial relations, particularly with his father. The book also gives a good insight to some of the benefits the more financially fortunate. Father and son ran IBM with a heart and not just the bottom line.

A classic. A family that created a icon in data processing and complex solutions.Difficult to imagine our worls without their contributions

Good source for how business is conducted on the highest levels, written insightfully with thoughts of enduring value.

I love this book. It is a classic book on how to manage a company to be an American icon. Recommend for all managers!

Very well written and interesting account of the early days of IBM, and the evolution of its culture, and the men at its helm in the early days - Tom Watson Sr. and Jr. Interesting to see how visionary and risk taking they were.

Great for retired IBMers like myself.

The book is well written but the thing that impresses me most is how this account of business in the 1950s resembles one of my favorite novels. John P Marquand was a prolific writer of novels about businessmen in the 1930s and 40s. His novel "Sincerely Willis Wayde" is about a young man who works his way up in industry about the same time as covered by Watson's biography, The similarity of some of the anecdotes to Marquand's stories in the novel is striking. IN onE example, Watson and his young wife attend a business conference at a resort. The others attendees are all older and the experience resembles that in the novel. An interesting biography,

I found Father, Son & Co to be a very engaging, entertaining read. The book is the autobiography of Thomas Watson Jr. - son of Thomas Watson Sr., founder of IBM - who went on to oversee the evolution of IBM into a pioneer in computers and its continued success as an American and global corporate icon.The book covers everything from Watson Jr.'s childhood, to his playboy college years, to his fascinating military tour of duty, to his remarkable ascent to the top of IBM, and his return to the public service following retirement from IBM. Along the way Watson relates stories that contain nuggets of business wisdom, family business insights, and general thoughts about life.I don't know much about the history and evolution of IBM, but Watson Jr. does seem to attribute much of impetus for the transition from punchcards to computing to his doing, although he is not entirely uncritical of his actions over the years - for example, by his admitting responsibility for difficulties he felt he contributed to in the life of his brother.I've not read many auto/biographies, so I can't compare this others, but I can say that from the content of this book, Thomas Watson Jr. led an incredibly colorful and interesting life, and left an important mark on the world.