It's important to reflect upon how far we've come in achieving gender equality in the workplace and how we could move faster toward even greater goals.

When you come into a role, there seems to be just a ton of different places you can make an impact. But it's critical in that first year to be seen to be a leader that can actually accomplish things and has a sense of priorities.

There are three things that I have found were really critical in my first year: listening, prioritizing, and communicating. I don't think they're different for women. It's really about that first year as a CEO.

Diversity is critical to our business outcomes.

Mahatma Gandhi was someone who demonstrated the tremendous power of leadership by example.

Benchmarking is an ongoing exercise in any company that aspires for leadership.

The next thing is: we can make IBM even better. We brought IBM back but we're gunning for leadership.

It's a very difficult business, and I'm very interested in the future of it after I'm gone, and I thought that if I can't produce a strong management team here myself, and I can find better management elsewhere, then I should sell it.