dispatches from the new world of work

Read It Anyway!

I really dislike the recently released Jacked Up: The Inside Story of How Jack Welch Talked GE into Becoming the World's Greatest Company. I put it down several times. I threw it down several times. Written by Welch's long-time speech writer, Bill Lane, it is a self-serving picture of an organization run by a misogynist egomaniac—you'd have to be nuts or a former male Navy Seal to want to have worked there. Welch comes across as a brutal, soulless, foul-mouthed boss who revels in putting people down in the most demeaning ways.

So why read it, you ask? Because despite the wretched culture Lane depicts, it also tells a remarkable story about one guy wrestling a ten-thousand ton rabid gorilla to the ground. The fact is that, per the hopeless message of the Post immediately above, Welch brought GE back from the dead, removed an astonishing number of barnacles from its hapless hull, circa 1980, and left behind an execution machine, deep in leadership talent, the likes of which is rare beyond measure. (Perhaps he did too well. GE is inherently unmanageable, and probably should have been broken up long ago. Welch kept it together and functioning in a way that I'd judge cannot be sustained—by Jeff Immelt or anyone else. But that's another story for another day.)

On top of all the problems with the book, it's a fact, I'd guess, that nary a single reader of this Post runs a quarter-million person outfit. Still, there is in the end, I decided, a bunch of stuff that we can learn from as we try to deal with Norberto Odebrecht's, "Everything in existence tends to deteriorate." (See above.) Though I hate the idea of putting the royalties into Bill Lane's pocket, I suggest you take a look at the book. You may pick up a tip or two or three from the good parts—and the bad parts are so bad that they have, or had for me, a perverse attraction.

(Fear not, Mr Lane will definitely not, under any circumstances, be a "Cool Friend.")

Tom Peters posted this on 01/14/08.

Comments

I agree. Although Jack Welch was a tough boss and laid off thousands of employees, we can learn a lot from his leadership.

Posted by Dan Schawbel at January 14, 2008 12:38 PM

Entropy at work!

Posted by Tim Gray at January 14, 2008 3:16 PM

Tom â€“ as regards Mr Welch - is there something here about the man becoming the company and the company becoming the man? â€¦ Is it just simply about brilliant leadership and when that leader leaves, the company is never the same again?

The legacy that Sir Alex Ferguson is leaving at Manchester United for instance is awesome. I worry for the manager who follows his (currently) 21 year reign. Sir Alex has led my beloved Manchester United to unparalleled success and that is fantastic. How does anyone follow that? Can there really be such a thing as good succession planning? Leaders are individuals - they are what they are. Expecting equally success from different DNA is like expecting you Americans to love soccer.

Itâ€™s a testimony to you that you read a book by someone you obviously disagree with so fundamentally. Nicky Gumbel â€“ a wonderful Christian leader in the UK has read and reviewed â€˜The God Delusionâ€™ by Richard Dawkins. Nicky managed to talk for three 45 minute talks on a book that opposes his own view of Christianity at the basic core level and every other level above that.

It is great that you read this book and managed to give it some time in your Blog â€“ even if through gritted teeth â€¦ well done

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 14, 2008 5:47 PM

Another "end justifies the means" rant. Sorry Tom, but there is no excuse for treating fellow human beings in a disrespectful manner. It's a sign of emotional immaturity. And yes . . . I worked for G.E. during Neutron Jack's tenure.

Posted by Tom Asacker at January 15, 2008 8:50 AM

I know former and current GE managers who have figured out how to game the system so they never end up in Jack's infamous bottom 20%. So it never accomplished anything except cause a lot of people to waste a lot of time over something non-productive. Of course, Jack trumpets this as one of his successes and the pundits, book reviewers, and gurus fall all over themselves praising it. The ends never justify the means--not in Welch's case, not in Nardelli's, and not in anyone else's.

Posted by mike at January 15, 2008 1:30 PM

The message I got from this highly entertaining book is that COMMUNICATION COUNTS. In particular, PRESENTATIONS count. I suspect Tom did not like this major theme of the book because Mr. Lane identifies PowerPoint as the enemy, and generally preaches a minimalistic approach to slides.

Posted by Scott at January 16, 2008 11:17 AM

Tom Asacker, agree re means-ends. I'm disgusted, too. But that does not stop me from lifting a practical idea from here or there.

Scott, I couldn't care less about Mr Lane on PowerPoint. There are good and bad uses thereof--and it works for me.

Mr Lane has one problem for sure, and for which I have no tolerance--too high an opinion of Mr Lane.

Posted by tom peters at January 18, 2008 11:16 AM

Agreed Tom P.! Thanks.

Posted by Tom Asacker at January 18, 2008 1:21 PM

I must say in my ignorance, that I don't know Mr. Lane, nor his work, but in a recent post I tried to distinguish the difference between a perponderence of notes, and the message . I think it becomes glariningly clear when our motives are self-aggrandizing. Two simple questions in tandem could be asked: Was the information useful (reagardless of our knowledge or lack thereof...it's amazing what we can attain even if we know or don't know a thing) and how was it presented? It is always the spirit of the letter, the purpose and presentation, that matters, distinguishing an egotist from one who seeks to dispense useful information for the betterment of the reader. The latter is key. Does the presenter or writer seek to assist the reader or audience? And determing the writer or presenters'motive may have no relevance at all. What we come away with, going in with an open mind, is probably what matters most.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 19, 2008 1:11 PM