Average Rating: 
Rating: - Jack, Over the Top Results
REVIEW: If one word could sum up Jack Welch's career at GE it might be "results". And this is why many people will want to, and should, read this book. It is basically an autobiography of Jack Welch's GE years and does not dwell on deap management theory. However, those expecting to find a "silver bullet" of management or a quick three step program to executive success will be disappointed. Jack probably destroys his own myth-like reputation by revealing that his success was built on fairly basic good management practices. Jack has just embraced them and used focussed passion coupled with an obsession on people to produce great results. Most of the techniques Jack discusses will be known to most MBA graduates. Even the major initiatives that Jack used were derived from others: 1) "No. 1 or 2" Jack admits is derived from Peter Drucker, 2)Six sigma is derived in part from Motorola, 3) "Boundaryless behaviour" can said to be based on Peter Drucker's observation that there are no profit centers inside an organization, and 4) Jack was clearly not an early pioneer on "E-business". Yet he recognized the opportunities and produced results from them. The book probably won't become a classic, but it is still highly recommended reading for today's and tomorrow's managers of all kinds.STRENGTHS: The book is a fairly easy and interesting read full of anecdotes and insites. It does a great job of showing the management task as art and discipline that can be learned, improved, and mastered rather than as personal charisma or other common stereotypes of leadership. WEAKNESSES: The minor weaknesses of the book relate to Jack's strong, competitive personality (and maybe ego) that show through in his writing. Despite that author's initial disclaimer to read "I" as meaning "we" I found Jack's lack of distinction between himself and GE to be minorly annoying. Parts of the book are filled with phrases like "I bought this $100 million company" when clearly "We" is appropriate [I know, I'm nit-picking]. Second (and this is almost excusable in an autobiography) Jack rarely gave the "other side" of the story when discussing major GE crises. For example, he just expects us to take his word that GE managers were meeting with DeBeers (basically a diamond monopoly company) for harmless reasons. Also, he never gives the EU's reasons for blocking the Honeywell merger, we're just supposed to accept his word that they were wrong. WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: Executives and managers interested in Jack Welch, GE, and how they've produced such great results over the past two decades.
Rating:  - His advice may seem obvious to some, but...
His advice may seem obvious to some, but how often is it actually practiced? I shouted "yeah!" to myself over and over as I read a couple chapters of this book.For example: the chapter about rating and rewarding his employees was excellent. For example, giving Class A employees 3x the salary increases over Class B employees-- Great!! Giving NO increases to Class C employees, and getting rid of them sooner rather than later...what can I say, I LOVE IT!! He's so right about the fact that it's more cruel to let Class C workers attain and maintain an certain income level (that they are not really worthy of), and waiting til they're older, with a large mortgage and kids in college before finallly telling them that they're not making the grade. I've worked with some people in the high-paying tech arena that, because of either blatant incompetence, bad attitude, and/or pure laziness, never should have gotten to where they are today. As far as I'm concerned, some never should have gotten past working in the food service industry. Eventually those people *do* get weeded out (I'm seeing it happen right now in this economy). Sooner is better than later, both for the employer and the employee. I also enjoy not having to work with those types.
Rating: - Thanks Jack
As an author with my debut novel in its initial release, I genuinely enjoyed reading Jack Welch's autobiography, JACK: STRAIGHT FROM THE GUT. I realize I'm a biased reader, though. Jack made me some money. During the years Jack served as CEO of GE, I did hold some stock in his company. That stock did okay while he was in charge. But, so what? His book is still an enjoyable read. He tells how he succeeded in business by really trying. He stayed out of the pack and rose to the top. As an economics instructor, I found his observations about corporate culture and suggestions about managment style well worth the price of the book. He talks about some of his correct decisions as well as some of his mistakes. He reveals quite a bit of personality. I enjoyed this book. For an icon of contemporary American capitalism, Jack Welch is living a fairly interesting life.
|
