It's always nice to hear what those at the top think. What I learned from Jack is to be good at a business I should take up golf.

"You suck, Jack."

I support capitalism and all of it's weird forms, and I was pointed in the direction of Jack Welch in the 1990s when I was completing my MBA as someone who we should all aspire to be. They were wrong: I'd rather be the person who cleans the urinals out of Grand Central station than to be Jack Welch!

I still think people should read this book but find a used copy or one from the library. For people who love the art of business as much as I do, I draw upon this book the same disdain that humanity has for Mein Kampf. Jack was actually no different than Adolf Hitler in one large way; he targeted a group of people and eliminated them. The crazy German guy targeted those of Jewish Heritage, Jack Welch targeted the American worker. He shutdown factories, played monopoly with those who could have retired from GE's pension program and a lot of other nasty things that are unbecoming of a business leader.

I've owned a few businesses now and have been in corporate executive roles including ones at the Fortune 500 level. Jack Welch couldn't run a lemonade stand. It's this guy, Jack Welch, who started the process that unfolded to the "great migration to offshore" by reducing headcounts for the sake of making a quarterly earnings report look better for an investor class. (In true capitalism, investors are important, but they are only one stakeholder - without employees or smart people, you don't have a business either).

A *wonderful* book on this is The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America―and How to Undo His Legacy by David Gelles .

General Electric is now being broken up, it's appliances licensed to Haier, a Chinese manufacturer, and the airplane engines will be thrown off to probably the highest bidder at the time of this review. GE Capital was how we played hookie: it's not financial wizardry, it's financial smudging. Amazingly the guy came in with an 'above-expections' number every quarter? Not even Michael Jordan played every game perfectly. That should have tipped off Wall Street (but they are sheep).

Thanks for nothing, Jack. Thanks for demolishing the American dream and spitting on it's grave. We all hope you won't be remembered for anything more than the horrifying and self-serving business manager you were.

Powerful at the time, but looking back at what has happened to GE much laters, one wonders if all that really worked!

Book Review: Jack Straight from the Gut

Jack Welch led General Electric for over 20 years. He was arguably one of the best CEOs in the country at that time. After literally blowing the roof off one of the factories, he went on to lead the company through some very profitable years (pp. 27-36).

This book might be seen as self-promoting and maybe it is. Then again, aren't all autobiographies a little self-promoting? Jack takes the opportunity to tell us where he made mistakes and what he wishes now he had done to avoid them.

This isn't exactly a "How To" book on being a CEO or leading a company. However, it does provide the reader a little insight into what went on at GE and what the upper level managers were doing to make it happen.

Welch explains some of his strategy along the way. From the very controversial Differentiation Vitality Curve to things like Six Sigma, Jack calls it like he sees it. He explains why he took the actions he did. He also expresses regret for having not made some decisions sooner.

Whether one agrees with how Jack performed in his role of CEO or not, one has to agree that General Electric did grow under Jack’s command. One thing that interests me is Jack demanded that all of the company’s businesses be number one or number two in their market; he did not see the problem. Once a military leader pointed out the problem to him, he changed the policy but still seemed to think that the number one or two concept was a good idea for the time .

I checked this book out from the Wharton County Library. Everyone should take advantage of their free public library.

Book Review Policy
My policy on book reviews is to give you my honest opinion of the book. From time to time publishers will give me a copy of their book for free for the purpose of me reading the book and writing a review. The publishers understand when they give me the book that I am under no obligation to write a positive review.

If you will look at all my reviews, you will see that there have been occasions when I have written a negative review after having been given a book.

I often provide links to books on Amazon.com where you can purchase books and help support the continued operation of this blog. However, I strongly encourage you to check out your local library. Many libraries now offer electronic borrowing for free.

I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

I obtained this book through the Wharton County Library. whartonco.lib.tx.us

References
Welch, J., & Byrne, J. A. (2001). jack: Straight From The Gut. New York, NY, USA: Warner Business Books. Retrieved from www.twbookmark.com

If you have ever been a part of a multinational corporation or aspire to be one, this has to be one of the most intriguing and inspiring books ever written(On the other hand if you are not interested in businesses or corporations, move on, you won't decipher half of the stuff and hence won't appreciate the words of the great man). Before reading this book (and specially post reading Steve Jobs biography and watching 'The Facebook') I used to think that being the CEO of a company must be the coolest job ever. Post reading this book I'm shit scared and convinced that I'd never wish it on an enemy.

Yes, that's not the reaction that one would expect from someone who read and UNDERSTOOD the book, right?? Well, look beyond all the glitter and fame and what you are left with is an incredibly gruelling and stressful job to describe which the world 'Thankless' would be an understatement. Yes, Jack would have made tons of dollars while being the CEO and would have met loads of influential people. But imagine being the chairman of a company as complex as GE, managing the vast array of businesses (from semiconductors to a media house to financial entities), fighting litigations with the govt, negotiating with companies on M&As, overseeing the culture of the organization, fighting scandals, firing employees, hiring new employees, managing disagreements with your partners, with the board, managing the shareholder expectations, managing the media (who is out to get you the moment you make the slightest of a mistake). I'm sure there are better ways to earn money.

However, for those who do want to experience the tough lifestyle, this man is an inspiration. He took a giant company that was riddled with bureaucracy, lacking any clear direction and thriving on fractured short term strategy. He took it, turned it into a monster at least 2 times bigger, while inculcating an incredible culture that would continue to foster growth and found out new avenues of growth that would keep the company alive for at least another 100 years. If not for Jack, this company would have died or become irrelevant long back. Imagine GE today without the capital business, without the services, imagine the US based entity as opposed to the global conglomerate that it is today.

It's interesting to compare the lives of the 2 great CEOs of our generation, Jack Welch and Steve Jobs.While Jack focused on setting up processes and systems and inculcating a culture that would enable him to manage this mammoth corporation, Steve worked with a simple idea, focusing on making the lives of the consumers simpler and built a company 3 times the size of GE. While Jack's philosophy might be necessary to run large manufacturing focused entities, I can't help but feel captivated by the simplicity of Steve's sharp focus on a single idea and maximizing its potential instead of trying to grow too many tentacles and eventually getting lost in them.

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.

Jack Welch's approach to business embodies much of the thinking of corporate America in the late 20th century.

Much of it has valid principles to it. The ideas of finding actualizable goals to accomplish and test rather than attempt it under theoretical premises is a solid recommendation to businesses.

Keeping integrity as a value is super important.

Finding and retaining the best people certainly helps.

The idea of cutting the lowest 10% of the work force, "rank and yank", may not be the best idea, but to each their own.

Profit sharing and rewarding employees with stock options is certainly a good thing. Southwest employed a somewhat similar strategy.

It's important to recognize where GE's business were focused on: industrials, finance, healthcare and aviation and a dabble in entertainment.

The way these companies were ran was much akin to typical industrial-revolution based methodologies, not so much for very creative industries and fields.

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.

Straight from the Gut is an autobiography by Jack Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE). He’s largely credited for increasing GE’s value by 4000% during his tenure.

In the book, Welch provides insights into some of the strategies he implemented at GE during his tenure, like the Six Sigma quality program and the vitality curve performance management practice. Straight from the Gut offers a candid glimpse into the leadership and management style of arguably one of the greatest business leaders of the 20th century.

A must read for any corporate manager

Autobiografia unuia dintre cei mai mari si importanti CEO ai Americii. Jack Welch isi prezinta evolutia in cariera si acei factori care au contribuit la succesele sale.

Este o carte "must read" pentru orice CEO sau top manager de companie.

Eu am ascultat varianta audio de pe audible.com si a fost foarte buna.

His life revolved around GE. It is about how to effect change to a company with own traditions.