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Jack,
Straight From the Gut
By Jack
Welch & John Byrne
Warner Books, 2001 - 492 pages
In this particular case I listened to the book on CD, which
probably hurt the quality of my learning as I learn through
reading and then writing about a subject. I must say
that I enjoyed this CD. The Book on CD is about 6 hours,
quite long for an abridged version.
I haven’t read other books on Jack or written by Jack
but I felt this one might provide some useful hints on working
my way up the corporate ladder and what things he looks for in
managing a business.
Jack hit on some of those issues but it is primarily a
history of his career at GE.
He talks about the impact of his mother and father plus
provides some comments about his education years.
This was mainly a history lesson with some insights
here and there. He
did dedicate about 20 minutes at the end to provide some
people with comments about managing businesses and climbing
the corporate ladder for which I was happy.
I have to respect Welch’s career and what he has done
with that company. It
is truly amazing what this man created, in terms of
self-reliant employees, shareholder wealth, an entirely new
way of looking at business.
I believe the biggest contribution he leaves behind
will be the company and its people, not this book.
My conclusion: It
was a good book but nothing mind blowing here.
That is why I gave it 4 stars and should have given it
3, looking at it in retrospect. I would look into some other
Jack Welch books if you determine him to be your role model
for corporate life as I am sure he shows "THE GE
WAY" better in other books, especially in his leadership
book. If you like Jack Welch then you have to read The
Essential Drucker, as Welch is a HUGE Drucker
fan.
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About the
Author:
Known
as America's #1 manager, Jack Welch joined GE in
1960 and, in 1981, he became the eighth chairman
and CEO. As CEO of
General Electric until late in 2001 - early 2002,
Jack Welch has built its market cap by over $500
billion and established himself as the most
admired business leader in the world. His
championing of initiatives like Six Sigma quality,
globalization, and e-business have helped define
the modern corporation. At the same time, he's a
gutsy boss who has forged a unique philosophy and
an operating system that relies on a "boundaryless"
sharing of ideas, an intense focus on people, and
an informal, give-and-take style that makes
bureaucracy the enemy. He
lives in Fairfield, Connecticut.
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