I try to learn from business leaders when they do write books. And in the big picture one of the greatest has to be Jack Welch who ran General Electric for almost 20 years as the CEO...that's unheard of. He wrote this book right as he was retiring from General Electric and he is very open about where he screwed up, what has worked and the struggles he has had with the company.
But his real passion has always been teaching and you can learn a lot from this book. Welch in essence created the foundations for six sigma to be brought into the business world and he brought forward a very workable set of strategies for a company that had divisions...everywhere. When he took over GE they were doing retail, diamond mining, health scanners and machines, light bulbs, leasing, airplane engines, refrigerators...the list went on and on.
And Welch with his strategy of being number one or number 2 in markets was smart for a conglomeration he was at the helm for. It let him see how the company was against the competition at all times and where the company needed to go...which is why they have thrived so much. He also got into how he would negotiate which makes for an even more interesting book. Anyone interested in corporate strategy this is well worth a read...

Not an uninteresting book, but way too long. In my mind, taking up a reader's time by saying more than needs to be said will cost you at least 1 star. Almost every chapter can be characterized by the formula:
[magical vision + Jack Welch hammers that vision into the ground + acquire some large competitor = screaming success]
Yes, there were some good tidbits about how to dismantle bureaucracy and unlock creativity and potential. But I think Creativity Inc does a better job explaining how to achieve those aims in practice. And the fact that GE has struggled mightily since Welch stepped down is a serious demerit against the scalability of his philosophy...especially considering the CEO succession process was reserved for the final chapter the book and had begun 7 years before Welch handed over the reigns. You can get most of the wisdom from this book just by reading the chapter, "What This CEO Thing is All About," which takes up 20 of the 480 pages. Also, this is nitpicky and might have just been the copy I read, but Welch's photocopied handwritten notes are impossible to read. I understand a desire to prove that he wasn't fabricating material just for the book, but seriously would it have been so hard to re-write those things in legible script?

Helpful to understand GE through the 90s

Many of the world's most renowned business leaders are founder-visionaries, when you think of Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Steve Jobs etc. Having grown up hearing stories of such entrepreneurs, what struck me the most about Jack Welch, is that he is not one of them. He is instead, known for his business leadership, and his management style. Jack, is straight forward, and so he is in the book too. What stands out for me is the emphasis that is laid on people and culture in his book, and less on technology or customer. The importance of decisive action, even more than planning. The importance of adopting good ideas without shame, and going full throttle in selling them. I may not agree with some of his methods, but certainly got me thinking on so many others. I am glad to have read this book.

It is a book of extremes. Large part of the book is a boring personal & corporate story. Then there are gems on GE turnaround, meritocracy, talent management, business strategy and so on. That was a great learning experience.

Then again, there are practices which made no sense to me at least. It was hard for me to believe the same person is espousing those two such different types of practices which differed so much in their long term implications.

Good, but fat too full of himself.

Fantastic read.

Rest in peace, Jack

An excellent and candid insight into the billion dollar company and the CEO who played a huge part in it. For those who are looking for management insight to his secrets they may be disappointed because its really just a general overview.

His methods confirm my prejudices about his management style, for example, he uses an A B C D type of ranking. I highly doubt i would love to work under him, but it it is enlightening to see how he justifies his style as good and human.

However, the book was very dense and takes quite a while to get the mind around it. I won't say its fluff, more so that because of a man of such experience, its difficult for him to distinguish what should be put in or out of the book.

Possibly a rather rosy side of the way things actually were at GE, but nevertheless en excellent manager who could get the best of of his people.

Up close look at the life and career path of Jack Welch. It was easy to read and an interesting look at how he went from nothing to one of the most impactful business leaders of the 20th century.

Good read. Similiar to reading Iacocca. Though halfway through the book found it difficult to keep proceeding, but pursued it and got it complete.

Does provide some really good ideas too.
For example, when judging a person to be hired use this - Energy, Energize, Edge and Execution.

How energetic is the person
How good is he at energizing the people around him
How good is his edge or decision making skills. Especially in tense situations.
How good is his execution skills.

Overall, its a solid book that can be used as a textbook reference to turn to whenever you need ideas or operating methods because Jack Welch does indeed talk about numerous problems and how he and his people solved them.

ISBN = 0446528382 Jack Welch
Jack is a fascinating Man, who is brutally honest. I felt he was refreshing. He also admits his shortcomings. He gives the reader lots of little hints on how to manage. He believes on being honest with employees when they succeed or not. Jack feels that a company that overlooks shortcomings does not help a poorly performing employee. The employee is better served moving on to greener pastures.
Jack is for total quality, a company must produce results. The corporation must be #1 or #2 or it must be sold. Basically, if you do not have a competitive advantage, cede the business to the competition. Apply resources where they can reap the greatest return and do not worry about pride or vanity.
What I found particularly interesting was the 70, 20, 10 method of performance appraisal for employees. The bottom 10% must go and this is the method that Welch said that GE used to continuously improve and become a world class talented corporation. He discusses a simple bell curve and he refers to the 10% of employees that are “let go” as being better off. It sounds harsh but he makes the case that these people know who they are and are better off getting a new start. Welch says many of them do very well elsewhere with a new start.
Jack also talks of “boundarylessness” which he states as the belief that there are no limits.
The book is long and detailed with lots of examples from his long life in business. If you are a Welch fan you will like it. If you are not a Jack fan, you will like parts of it. I saw a long interview with Jack in my Strategic Management class in my MBA program and it closely matched the reading.
Good read for the price. I picked up a new copy at Barnes and Noble in Manassas for $5.00.
Mark D.