Doing it the Jack Welch way

Malaysian Business, Dec 16, 2004 by Reviewed by Gurmeet Kaur

`Jack Welch on Leadership'

By: Robert Slater

Publisher: The McGraw-Hill Companies

Pages: 154

Price: RM43.80

IF YOU have not read the book Jack Welch and the GE Way, you may want to

catch the abridged version of that 1998 book which features leadership

principles of the former General Electric CEO, Jack Welch. Welch is

considered one of the 20th Century's greatest business leaders. Robert

Slater, a long-time Welch watcher, pens down a quick read on the

leadership qualities of Welch in his new book Jack Welch on Leadership.

Although Welch's reputation has been somewhat tarnished by his opulent

retirement package as well as a messy divorce, his `GE Way' of management

is still highly regarded by many in the business community, writes Slater.

It is for this reason that Slater intentionally left out any reference to

Welch's personal life in any of his books, including this, as he believes

that Welch's admirers will continue to be interested solely in his

business strategies and ideas.

According to Slater, Welch during his GE days, pioneered some of the

most critical business strategies like restructuring and downsizing, which

were unpopular decisions at that time but later turned out to be good for

the company.

Welch also focused on being number one or number two in the marketplace.

Welch believes that business actually remains very simple and executives

should not overcomplicate the whole subject.

It is no surprise then that under Welch, GE became the world's most

competitive company and Welch the world's most successful and admired CEO.

The book's selling point is its brevity - it is broken down to 23 easy-

to-read chapters, discussing Welch's leadership secrets and traits. The

book is also splattered with Welch's anecdotes, illustrating the energy

and excitement he brought to his job.

It tries to tap into the heart of Welch's courage, innovation, and

leadership success by examining simple leadership secrets that include

`managing less is managing better', `make quality the job of every

employee' and have `global brains and vision'.

Yet, it somewhat fails to deliver the struggles and setbacks that have

helped form the backbone of Welch's wisdom. This is discussed thoroughly

in Slater's earlier book five years ago. So, for a better insight into the

mind and methods of Welch, Jack Welch and the GE Way is still a better

read for those who have yet to do so. The abridged version reads more like

a leadership handbook.