Comments

Tom,
John Chambers is an excellent candidate to discuss. Time to check on his company's cultural health.
Are "suits" back (outside of New York, of course)?
How about a link or two - or will he become a Cool Friend, soon?

Posted by Randy Bosch at November 27, 2009 10:20 AM

If Jeff Immelt means what he says, I'd vote for him.

"I have also learned something about my country. I run a global company, but I am a citizen of the U.S. I believe that a popular, thirty-year notion that the U.S. can evolve from being a technology and manufacturing leader to a service leader is just wrong. In the end, this philosophy transformed the financial services industry from one that supported commerce to a complex trading market that operated outside the economy. Real engineering was traded for financial engineering. In the end, our businesses, our government, and many local leaders lost sight of what makes a nation great: a passion for innovation."

Posted by zorro at November 27, 2009 10:26 AM

Tom - Why do we always look for the singular hero? But I do appreciate the strengths you have listed above. Thank you.

"Real engineering was traded for financial engineering."

Zorro - I agree. A friend, an engineering executive at one of the Big Three, has been saying this to me for years!

Do check out the post below. Today, I have been reading an interesting book on Keynes. It is what he actually said on globalization and unemployment as opposed to our intrepretation of what he said to suit our desires that stems from greed. He seems to have been a very ethical man.

Posted by Judith Ellis at November 27, 2009 5:57 PM

I stick to Steve Jobs ... who else has reimagined FOUR industries -- during turbulent times? ... You might want to check out a blog post on this topic at www.PowerOfNew.com.

Posted by Pradeep Henry at November 27, 2009 11:46 PM

Tom, BusinessWeek tracks Chambers pretty closely—and critically: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_48/b4157026785871.htm

One thing I've admired about Cisco over the years is their willingness to outspend the competition on training new hires. When I was there a few years ago they threw new hires into a year's worth of technical and sales training that was state of the art. And for the last three years, in a program called Cisco Choice, new hires have a say in whom they'll be working for! No surprise they have some of the highest employee retention rates in the business.

Posted by John O'Leary at November 28, 2009 9:33 AM

Here is an interesting story called Silicon Sweatshops.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-taiwan/091103/silicon-sweatshops-globalpost-investigation

Posted by zorro at November 28, 2009 1:34 PM

I have a great respect for Mr. Jack Welch.

If a global corporation is managing assests and revenues above and beyond the addition of several national budgets of sovereign nations, the representative must be extremely tough, bottom-up and viceversa.

I have this strong feeling that Mr. Welch would have capitalize hugely the so-called "downturn."

I did extensive cross-cultural counseling for highest-ranking GE execs (NYC headoffice), I found in them great human being and professional. They really knew how to go on listening mode.

The gravest complexities of such a huge and fine corporation as GE cannot be addressed unless with a revolutionary management.

GE is America's finest corporation worldwide, regardless what, and respecting anyone's POV.

Posted by Andres Agostini (Andy) at November 28, 2009 8:35 PM

When did Jack Welch become Jack Welch? Was he famous in his first year? How about 10th year? Or was it after a long career and upon reflection? Wasn’t Nardelli heralded until his Home Depot escapade? My thought is there are plenty of JW’s out there but they are just in their 5th or 12th year of service.

Posted by RTodd at November 30, 2009 9:08 AM

It was Jack Welch's idea to move GE into finance. Need I say more?

Posted by zorro at November 30, 2009 4:53 PM

A bit more than dozen years ago I worked for AT&T, a senior technical manager. AT&T new CEO Armstrong, ex-IBMer, talked big. He talked first-class global network buildup, fancy services, massive web farms to host the world's information and search technologies. A year went by and not much new happened. Except projects after projects were on-hold or under review. Industry alliance talks stalled. Budgets were cut for no reason despite strong profits.

Than suddenly the CEO made a few announcements. AT&T will chop off certain functions and IPO them. AT&T will establish new subsidiaries and IPO them. AT&T will refinance this and convert that into unpronounceable financial 'products' all underwritten by big fancy Wall Street investment houses. AT&T will close dozens of its own operations and outsource them. AT&T will buy a brand new network company for billions, yielding $100m fee to Wall Street, but will not spend a dime on its own network projects.

He spent a whole year on financial engineering. Without spending a minute on network or telecom engineering. On the biggest telecom company in the world.

AT&T board hired a big name executive, representing the elite of American business competency, and this man proceeded to financially game the giant company to hollow it out. Transfer the wealth to Wall Street and the executive and institutional investor class. In a few years he busted up a company that took a century to build. Then he retired with millions in the bank.

This story can be repeated many many times in America's corporate world. It reached the zenith in the Wall Street investment banks. Who proceeded to ruin the biggest economy in the world. Deliberately!

'Wall Street financiers write the music. The CEO play the music. Then everybody dance all the way down.'
- Ghosts of Titanic

Posted by TomK at December 7, 2009 11:03 PM