Jack Welch and the GE Way: Management Insights and Leadership Secrets of the Legendary CEO

by Robert Slater

Behind the scenes with the legendary CEO Jack Welch’s innovative leadership strategies revived a lagging GE, transforming it into a powerhouse with a staggering $300 billion-plus market capitalization. In writing Jack Welch and the GE Way, author Robert Slater was given unprecedented access to Welch and other prominent GE insiders. What emerged is a brilliant portrait that tells you what makes Jack Welch tick. Learn how to work the Welch magic on your own company as you find out how he dismantled the boundaries between management layers, between engineers and marketers, between GE and its customers to streamline the process of getting products and services to market. Get details on Welch’s far-reaching Six Sigma quality initiative, and discover how its principles and standards can save billions of dollars...how and why he has made GE a truly global company (and why you must think global as well)...and all the other Welch "midas touch" strategies you can put to work in your organization, at every level!

Genres: Business, Leadership, Management, Biography, Nonfiction, Economics, Audiobook

328 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 1998

About the author

Robert Slater was an American author and journalist known for over two dozen books, including biographies of political and business figures such as Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, George Soros, and Donald Trump.
Slater was born in Manhattan and grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. He graduated from Columbia High School in 1962 and graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, with a degree in political science. In 1967 he received a master's degree in international relations from the London School of Economics. He worked for United Press International (UPI) from 1969 to 1971 before moving to Jerusalem, where he worked for UPI until 1974; and for Time magazine in Jerusalem from 1976 to 1996. From 1987 and 1990 he was chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Israel. In his later years he was a columnist for The Jerusalem Report, and mentored young journalists at The Jerusalem Post. He lived for much of his life in Israel, and with his wife, Elinor, co-authored the books Great Jewish Women and Great Jewish Men.

Reviews

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The late Robert Slater (1943-2014) wrote several books on GE and its former CEO Jack Welch (1935-2020), all blessed by the firm and with exclusive access to Welch, which is probably this book is written so glowingly and favorably of Welch. Even at the time this book was published (1998), Welch had his detractors, so in a way this book feels like a piece of apologist propaganda at times. Jeff Imelt, who would be Welch's successor in the CEO role from 2001-2017, also features prominently in this book.

This is interesting reading if you enjoy books on business and business strategy, with the caveat of the biases mentioned above.

Further reading:
Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric by Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann - about Jeff Imelt's tenure at the top

My stats:
Book 110 for 2024
Book 1713 cumulatively

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, somewhat quick and easy. It doesn't reveal too much, but I guess it's not too much of a secret as how GE and Jack succeeded. You do understand that senior management works their tail off and that is what he expects. The home and work balance that we try to manage to be the complete person is not an issue because he expect you to chose work each time. I would have liked more details on exactly how he rolled out some of the big visions that he created. I like how he would take time and talk to the people at the NY campus. Having engaging conversations without repercussions and expecting his managers to have ideas and share them was good to see.

[Bidita Rahman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Welch has seven main messages he often conveys as a public speaker.
1. "Business is simple."
2. "Don’t make it overly complicated."
3. "Face reality."
4. "Don’t be afraid of change."
5. "Fight bureaucracy."
6. "Use the brains of your workers."
7. "Discover who has the best ideas, and put those ideas into practice."

Love the book with some quotes.

[Kalle Wescott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read /Jack Welch & the G.E. Way: Management Insights and Leadership Secrets of the Legendary CEO/, by Robert Slater:

Many of us have read all the Welch books and the General Electric growth story.

We've embraced leadership rather than management, having divisions or subsidiaries that are #1 or #2 in their markets, hiring A players, and regularly culling employees to discard the lowest performers. (You may have embraced Six Sigma, but I haven't. I'm still working on my first Sigma).

Here's a Jack Welch quote that I hadn't seen before: "We run this place like a family grocery store," meaning casual dress at quarterly meetings, and having dinner together and drinks after every meeting.

______________

Table of Contents:

Part I: Act Like a Leader, Not a Manager.
Embrace Change, Don't Fear It.
Stop Managing, Start Leading.
Cultivate Managers Who Share Your Vision.
Face Reality, Then Act Decisively.
Be Simple, Be Consistent, and Hammer, Your Message Home.

Part II: Building the Market-Leading Company.
Be Number 1 or Number 2, But Don't Narrow Your Market.
Look for the Quantum Leap!
Fix, Close, or Sell: Reviving NBC.
Dont Focus on the Numbers.
Plagiarize--It's Legitimate: Creat a Learning Culture.

Part III: Forging the Boundaryless Organization.
Get Rid of the Managers, Get Rid of the Bureaucracy.
Be Lean and Agile Like a Small Company.
Tear Down the Boundaries.

Part IV: Harnessing Your People for Competitive Advantage.
Three Secrets: Speed, Simplicity, and Self-Confidence.
Use the Brain of Every Worker--Involve Everyone.
Take the "Boss Element" Out of Your Company.
Create an Atmosphere Where Workers Feel Free to Speak Out.
S-t-r-e-t-c-h! Reach for the Stars!

Part V: Push Service and Globalization for Double-Digit Growth.
Grow Your Service Business--It's the Wave of the Future.
Look to Financial Services to Bring in Earnings.
Have Global Brains--and Build Diverse and Global Teams.

Part VI: Drive Quality Throughout the Organization. Live Quality--and Drive Cost and Speed for Competitive Advantage.
Make Quality the Job of Every Employee.
To Achieve Quality: Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.

Part VII: The Toughest Boss/Most Admired Manager in America.
Jack Welch Deals with Adversity.
Jack Welch Deals with the Next Generation.

Part VIII: Jack Welch's Vision for the Millennium
Bolstering General Electric.
Advice for Other Companies.

[Karissa Bursch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received this book at a professional development training and now work at a company very influenced the GE Way so figured why not. Some very interesting stuff, especially the management section, so enjoyed it overall but 20 years later some of it is dated and drags on a bit.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

In and of itself, a good book. However, penises, penises, penises! Meh.

[Anne Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay business book. Interesting to learn about but not many take-aways.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great business and people insights with section divisions that allow for easy skipping of outdated or unapplicable sections

Notes in apple folder

[Greg Bischoff · Rating 1 out of 5]

PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST SELF SERVNG BOOKS ON BUSINESS I HAVE EVER READ. ONE NEEDS TO LOOK A GE'S LEGAL PROBLEMS UNDER WELCH TO HAVE A TRUE PERSPECTIVE

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Very readable and inspiring in many ways. But, that is maybe just because I am mentally in a place where I need a motivational/inspirational push. It was interesting reading about GE and what Jack Welch did there. The book made me want to go work for GE! Although, I know reality probably doesn't exactly reflect what is in this book. I did read the GE annual report for 2012 to compare where the company was in 1998, where the book essentially leaves off, and where they are now. GE still seems to be doing well and it was interesting to see some of the changes in the company since the book was published. This was perhaps not the most balanced of books as the author obviously adores Jack Welch and what he did for GE. But, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It inspired me to pick up Jack Welch's autobiography, Jack: Straight from the Gut, to learn a bit more about Welch prior to his time at GE and to hear things from his perspective.

[Bob Wallner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to abridged audiobook.

I enjoyed listening to this book very much. I had heard so much about Welch's reputation, but I wasn't intimately familiar as the '80s & '90s (the height of his career) I was in school.

There are many things that Jack did that I like (6 Sigma, workout, results, removal of beurocracy) but some things that I didn't like.

The main thing I didn't like, was his creation of RIF simply based on cutting cost. I believe that for my generation seeing this, as we went through school, increased our awareness that we have to "Look out for #1" rather than look out for the company.

I truly believe that part of the success of Toyota is their respect for people. In the book Welch recognizes that he did create a cautious workforce, but doesn't seem to regret it.

Over all very interesting.

[Ganesh Kudva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among various leadership books, I love Jack's book. I found his principles of condor in leadership being key element to success and as a fundamental truth. He lived it, and used it in every aspect of GE leadership. You will find inspiration for a good leadership in here.

One exception to the overall interesting book: Six Sigma madness - this is something which you can ignore. I think this is one of the method he successfully used to weed out dud products and drive results in GE. But, any method thats used as a religion is bound to fail in long term. His Six Sigma success, spurred many such mad initiatives in many other corporate world ...

[Paul Kratochwill · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a GE employee, I thought it would be beneficial to read about Jack Welch. Though he retired as the CEO of General Electric in 2001, his fingerprints are still all over the company. I read this book a few days before I started a leadership course at the John F. Welch Leadership Development Center at Crotonville, NY. This book was a couple hundred pages praise of how Jack shaped GE during his time as the CEO. Interesting reading, but it was less of a biography and more of a "what's great about Jack" kind of book.

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-read it in a day -- always good to get a refresher on what Jack says is key -- keeping it simple, plagiarizing proudly, being consistent, and relentless persistence. It is worth noting that the same CEO characteristics he discusses are not extensible to every level, although every leadership element probably is. Specifically, certain people do have to be experts and focus in one area. However, even they need to think about the end result, look ahead, and promote boundarylessness.

[Sam Huish · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book on the factors which contribute to leading a large scale organisation.

I bought this as an Audiobook, which I don't believe affected the user experience.

I was hoping to gain more insight on the use of Six Sigma by GE, but this was limited and in some cases outdated. This book did however tie together a lot of other literature I have read, such as on Systems Thinking.

This may be a good starting point for people interesting in management and leading change.

[Arrogant Humble · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book clearly tells what Jack Welch thinks about how to deal with a big company and make big money :
- no bureaucracy
- a rapid decision making
- no managers but leaders who will motivate employees and make them fell great in the company by involving them the inovation process
- workouts - people sharing ideas to make products better (high quality)
- use ressources right (human and financial)
- trust people and push people to act
- important word : CHANGE

[Pranav Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book shows about lean & mean leadership tactics by Jake Welch in restructuring GE as role model for others. Book is relevant for decision making but I wasn't inspired the way of laying-off employees for cost cutting. Laying foundation for strong processes standards & reducing wastage was main essence.

[Jayasimha Devale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having worked in GE really lot of changes have been brought through on bureaucracy, way of thinking on Six Sigma and product cost workout, focusing on results. But hiring and firing is something which I didnot like in the book in order to have cost cutting.
Overall a very good experience to see a broader perspective.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick, easy to read, but important book for management. It is my opinion that everyone at any company in a c-suite down to middle management should be required to read this book at least once every few years. The concepts and initiatives he implemented are so common sense that it's mind boggling there are companies out there that operate in the complete opposite way that Welch did.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book about how Jack Welch reinvented some of the processes at GE, including the adoption of Six Sigma from Motorola, and how its timing was managed to coalesce with that of other leadership initiatives.

[MK]

How Jack Welch improved GE as a CEO and how GE utilized Six Sigma.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great primer for corporate leadership. Welch was well ahead of his time and provides great lessons on getting the most out of an organization.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love every piece of this book, as a former GE employee I can suscribe that GE's strength now and then is due to the leadership of Jack and his team.

[Lori Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A should-read biograpy on leadership for knowledge workers, managers, directors, C-levels, and entrepreneurs.

[Pratiksha Shrawgi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice read. Gives you a different perspective all together.

[Mohsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

از سازمان بدون مرز و اجرای کیفیت ۶ ستاره لذت بردم.

[Aneesh PS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. Unfortunately I cannot complete this.