The answer probably depends on where you define the "birth" of IBM - the founding of the companies that merged to create IBM, the date of the merger, or the date they changed the name and/or began producing business machines with the name "IBM" on them.

In the context of the thread, it's reasonable to say that both at 22 and 45 IBM had strong leadership (Watson Sr.) that successfully managed a diverse group of subsidiaries. Although in neither case are there any products like a modern digital computer involved.