A Few Parting Thoughts on GE

Here is the farewell note that I posted on my GE blog yesterday after Larry Culp announced that I'll be retiring as President & CEO of the GE Global Growth Organization (“GGO”) at the end of this month:

As we put the final touches on what I've been calling "GGO 3.0" - a leaner, more focused but highly-capable organization that, with a terrific next generation of leaders in place, will remain critical to GE's success - I am coming to the bittersweet realization that I'm about to reorganize myself out of a job at GE for the third time in the past seven years. This time around, as Larry Culp announced last night, I’ve decided it’s time for me to retire from the Company when I turn 60 at the end of this month. To be sure, I share everyone's angst about GE’s recent circumstances. But I will always be proud of my twelve years at GE. Our work makes an important difference to people throughout the world. Never forget this.

I am grateful to my bosses, my teammates, our directors and everyone who has believed in me. I especially want to thank my teams for inspiring me always to try my best. Your excellence, resilience and friendship made the good times possible and the bad times bearable. Keep having each other's backs. The fierce but principled determination with which our global teams bring the resources and know-how of GE to bear on their countries never ceases to amaze. The grace and passion with which Global Law & Policy represents and advocates for GE and its people always impresses and reassures. It’s also been a privilege to witness the power of diversity and inclusion in action. When we are all empowered as genuine equals and encouraged to bring our whole selves to work, the results are something to behold. Always strive to make GE everyone’s Company.

I believe in GE and I always will. It says a lot about our Company that, despite the serious challenges of the past two years, we have not strayed from our commitment to integrity. Yes, GE can be hard and even exasperating at times. But remember that progress does not travel in a straight line for an institution calibrated for decades of success. Making high-tech and life-changing products takes years to do right and requires interacting with generations of political and commercial leaders. We operate in 180+ countries with unique political systems, domestic complexities, daunting bureaucracies and differing traditions. Everything we do is scrutinized to an extraordinary degree because GE is held to the highest standards, a challenge that we should proudly welcome. Decades of experience in competitive markets and industries have also taught us that, to succeed, we must engage and fight hard for what we think is right.

GE’s mission could not be worthier of these efforts - and then some. Our products and services really do build, move, power and cure the world.  I’ve seen how GE has made a tangible difference in the lives of people across the globe by electrifying countries and continents; delivering life-changing healthcare technologies; transporting millions of people safely; pushing the frontiers of science, technology and innovation; digitizing and modernizing countries and industries; promoting the rule of law and transparent governance and standing up for what we think is right; and creating high-quality career opportunities for hundreds of thousands of women and men of all colors, ethnicities and nationalities. GE also stands for something bigger. Commercial ties are a foundation for engaging on civil and human rights, bridging differences between governments and cultures and fostering the principles enshrined in The Spirit & The Letter [GE’s code of ethics]. Whenever and wherever we show up, we bring our commitment to excellence, integrity, dignity, transparency, opportunity, inclusion and equality. This is what makes GE so special.

So please keep showing up, with a humble belief in our mission, a relentless determination to do right by our customers, an abiding commitment to our values and a firm conviction that constructive engagement is the best path toward progress in all the countries that GE is privileged to call “home.” This path will not always be easy, but neither is the world in which our Company operates.

As for me, I will remain a loyal alumnus and shareholder. I have faith in Larry Culp, Rachel Duan [who will be the new President & CEO of GGO in addition to her existing leadership responsibilities in GE China and GE Healthcare], Mo Cowan [who will lead the executive teams in Canada and Europe as well as continuing to serve as President of Global Government Affairs & Policy] and Mike Holston [my successor as General Counsel], and I have faith in you. It's been an amazing privilege for this first-generation American kid from Central Illinois to have been a tiny part of what GE has accomplished over the past 125+ years.

Thank you … for everything.