Ge Leadership

Jack

Welch

with Suzy Welch

WIN

NING

To the thousands of men and women

who cared enough about business to raise their hands

The authors’ profits from this book are being donated to charity.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

“Every Day, There Is a New Question”

1

U N D E R N E AT H I T A L L

1. MISSION AND VALUES

So Much Hot Air About Something So Real

13

2. CANDOR

The Biggest Dirty Little Secret in Business

25

3. DIFFERENTIATION

Cruel and Darwinian? Try Fair and Effective

37

4. VOICE AND DIGNITY

Every Brain in the Game

—v—

53

CONTENTS

YO U R C O M PA N Y

5. LEADERSHIP

It’s Not Just About You

61

6. HIRING

What Winners Are Made Of

81

7. PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

You’ve Got the Right Players. Now What?

97

8. PARTING WAYS

Letting Go Is Hard to Do

119

9. CHANGE

Mountains Do Move

133

10.CRISIS MANAGEMENT

From Oh-God-No to Yes-We’re-Fine

147

YO U R C O M P E T I T I O N

11. STRATEGY

It’s All in the Sauce

165

12. BUDGETING

Reinventing the Ritual

189

13. ORGANIC GROWTH

So You Want to Start Something New

205

14. MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Deal Heat and Other Deadly Sins

217

15. SIX SIGMA

Better Than a Trip to the Dentist

— vi —

245

CONTENTS

YO U R CA R E E R

16. THE RIGHT JOB

Find It and You’ll Never Really Work Again

255

17. GETTING PROMOTED

Sorry, No Shortcuts

277

18. HARD SPOTS

That Damn Boss

299

19. WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Everything You Always Wanted to Know

About Having It All (But Were Afraid to Hear)

313

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

20. HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE

The Questions That Almost Got Away

339

Acknowledgments

360

Index

363

About the Author

Other Books by Jack Welch

Credits

Cover

Copyright

About the Publisher

— vii —

Introduction

“EVERY DAY, THERE IS

A NEW QUESTION”

A

my autobiography—a fun but crazily

intense grind that I wedged into the corners of my real job

at the time—I swore I’d never write another book again.

But I guess I did.

My excuse, if there is one, is that I didn’t actually come up with

the idea...