“A rebel-A self-made man-A leader-A business genius.” Do you have any idea who said this? He is perhaps one of the greatest business and corporate leaders of the twentieth century! Now do you know who it is?
He revolutionized the company’s corporate culture with ground-breaking management and philosophy for appreciation of senior management, regularly ranking them according to systems and ensuring that they consistently measure up and his ability to manage a global operation using this management philosophy. Any idea who this may be?
There are similarities about the manner in which succession has taken place over the years. And when I say year, I literally mean many years. This company has witnessed very few leaders in its existence, simply because the leadership at board level proved exceptional select criteria and selected exceptional people.
In December 1980, this business leader was embraced by Reg Jones, the current and outgoing CEO and Chairman of the company. It was this embrace that formed a closed loop, an embrace that welcomed and handed over the reins to another to another leader. Something this leader never ever forgot, and in the year 2000, invited Jeff Immelt to his home in Florida after the General Electric (GE) board had completed their succession selection of for the next leader to fill the shoes of the great Jack Welch. When Jeff Immelt arrived, Jack Welch embraced Jeff in the very same manner, after 20 years since he himself was selected and embraced by Reg Jones. What a phenomenal story this is!
After 20 years of phenomenal leadership and management of the General Electric Global conglomerate, Jack Welch retired from the corporate world.
Welch says, “It’s a job that was 75 percent about people and 25 percent about other stuff.” Maybe we would less CEO changes in the corporate world and a great focus on building great companies. The rate of executive leadership change in today’s business world is alarming. This is a pointed factor for the success of General Electric.
Jack welch states that this is a job that he would chose above all others. It gave him the opportunity to lead an array of businesses, each in some way that touches the lives of most people. From aircraft engines, power generators, plastics medical products and financial services, are all the sectors Jack Welch has managed, lead and turned into gold.
He joined GE in 1960 at the age of 24 years and still green with a fresh PH.D, with horizons that were modest. He says he was earning $10 500 a year back then and had the intention to be earning $30 000 by the time he was 30. While having as he puts it, “A helluva good time doing it”, he put everything into his work. By the mid-1970’s the promotions started coming. It was at this time that he began to think that one day, he may lead ‘this’ company.
Looking at Jack Welch today, no one would say he celebrated as hard as he worked to celebrate the successes and victories of the business at the local bar. He points out that fortunately many people had the guts to like him. Regarded by his peers as a ‘round peg’ in a square hole, he was too different for the company.
Born in Britain lends to the fact that Jack Welch is brutally honest and outspoken. Within the company Welch was known to be, against all the norms we consider a leader to be these days, impatient and abrasive.
To his benefit Reg Jones the current CEO and Chairman took a liking to the young firebrand. Reg was also one of the most recognisable and respected businessmen in the US at the time. Despite the fact that Reg Jones did not express his approval or liking of Jack Welch, as Jack puts it, “I always felt a vibration with Reg.”
Jeff Immelt’s support for Jack Welch as CEO was unwavering. This was also his time to prove himself; it paved the way leading to the top seat in the company. Jack Welch’s’ performance and unwavering support, measured in terms of performance for Reg Jones, provided the every same.
A critical element Jack Welch iterates is the need to change and the need for change. This leadership element is also critical for the CEO, board and Chairman to recognise. Reg Jones realised this. He knew that Welch had the passion and drive, not to mention the grey matter to change the company in the way it needed to change.
The succession battle according to Jack Welch for the top spot in the company was a brutal experience and of course complicated, full of heavy politics and not to mention, very big ego’s and admittedly so, his own included.
Jack Welch, looking at him today was not the most obvious choice. This in itself depicts how difficult making the CEO and Chairman selection is. That insightful credence in the boardroom that the average employee, even senior managers may not have. After his selection, Welch overheard a colleague and old-time staffer at the watering hole near Headquarters mumble, “I’ll give him two years – then it’s Bellevue.”
Welch goes on to say that his colleague missed the mark by more than 20 years.
It was in 1998, just about two years before he retired that Welch decided to write his book, “Jack”. Simply, it was because of the lengthy cover story in Business Week in June of 1998 that provided the inspiration.
People wrote to Jack Welch indicating that they appreciated the fact that he did not change who he was. This is Jack Welch’s contention.
A critical lesson for Welch was this: “At one of my earliest board meetings in San Francisco shortly after being named Vice-Chairman, I showed up in a perfectly pressed blue suite, with a starched white shirt and a crisp red tie. I chose my words carefully. I wanted to show the board members that I was older and more mature than my 43 years or my reputation. I guess I wanted to look and act like a typical GE vice-chairman”.
Paul Austin, a longtime GE director and chairman of Coca-Cola Co., came up to Welch at the cocktail party after the meeting. “Jack,” touching his suit, “This isn’t you. You looked a lot better when you were just being yourself.”!
Watch this space for this 5-part serious on management, by the guru himself.
