Jack Welch & Winning

Winning, by Jack Welch is a book that relates his conclusions and wisdom gained from his years in business at multiple levels of leadership, most particularly as CEO of General Electric. While his book is not of an academic nature, Welch would be considered by most as a successful “expert” in the field of business management. In Winning, Welch addresses a manager’s approach to dealing with internal business issues. These include leadership skills, hiring practices, management of people, terminating employees, addressing change in the organization, and crisis management. Welch believes a leader must inject confidence into everyone in the organization, which calls upon the leader to exude positive energy. Leaders do not have to know everything, sometimes you should feel like the least knowledgeable person in the room. Hiring is a critical process. In fact H. R. Directors should be viewed as being as important as the CEO. When it comes to terminations, being clear and acting promptly is essential, while minimizing humiliation. When it comes to change management, perhaps the most important element is to attach every major change initiative to a clear purpose or goal. In the book, Welch praises Six Sigma and concludes that if Six Sigma is done right it is energizing, incredibly rewarding, and nothing compares to its effectiveness when it comes to improving company’s operational effectiveness, raising its productivity, and lowering its costs. Mr. Welch reminds the reader that “winning” was inspired by questions executives, employees, and others asked him in different settings around the world and dedicates the last chapter to answer questions that previous chapters did not address including Chinese competition to US firms, women in business, European Union, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Africa and AIDS, and Golf. But perhaps the most interesting question he addresses is personal in nature and futuristic in scope: Do you think you will go to heaven? Interestingly he states an answer as “who knows”? In a CEO style he continues: “if there are any points given out for caring about people with every fiber o your being and giving life all you’ve got every day, then I suppose I have a shot. Given a choice, of course, I’d rather not find out anytime soon. There’s so much more to do” (Welch, 2005: 359).

Source:
Welch, J., Welch, S. (2005). Winning. Harper Business. USA.