EP. 035 Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? IBM’s Comeback and the Healthcare Lesson

In this episode Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs recounts Lou Gerstner’s 1993 turnaround of IBM—how he saved the company not by firing people but by changing the underlying beliefs, measurements, and systems that trapped talent.

He draws direct parallels to healthcare, especially sterile processing, arguing that invisible beliefs and broken systems—not staff—are often the root cause of failure and wasted resources.

The episode introduces the concept of operational blindness, previews the book "Operational Blindness," and points listeners to free resources and assessments to identify and fix systemic problems.