RIP NEUTRON JACK WELCH
RIP Neutron Jack Welch
One of the best all-time business books is Winning by Jack Welch.
Winning is great – not good – great – Jack Welch. There is no in-between – if you don’t win, you lose. Winning in business is great because when companies win, people thrive and grow. Good people are everything when it comes to winning. People matter. Winning leaders invest in those where the payback is highest. They cut their losses everywhere else. This is the best strategy for long-term success. Anyone can manage for the short-term – just keep squeezing the lemon. Winning leaders squeeze the lemon and strategically plan ahead at the same time.
The legendary CEO of General Electric from 1981 to 2001 passed away today. He was the son of a railroad conductor who Fortune magazine called the “manager of the century.” Welch at times had to act like a lunatic within his own company to impact change. Jack fought against the status quo and defeatist culture that had existed. His speed, simplicity, and self-confidence program and his rank or yank program helped the company fight complacency. His goal was always to be either number one or two in your market, raising expectations throughout the organization. GE became the most valuable company in the world.
Jack called Grace Welch – his mother – the most influential person in his life. She taught him the value of competition, how to be tough/aggressive as well as warm/generous. Welch said, “perhaps the single greatest gift she gave me was self-confidence, it’s what I’ve looked for and tried to build in every executive who has ever worked for me. Confidence gives you courage and extends your reach. It lets you take greater risks and achieve far more than you ever thought possible. Building self-confidence in others is a huge part of leadership. It comes from providing opportunities and challenges for people to do things they never imagined they could do – rewarding them after each success in every way possible.”
Winston Churchill – “never, never, never, never give up…”
If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t
If you like to win, but you think you can’t
It is almost certain you won’t.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later the man who WINS
Is the man who THINKS HE CAN!
(excerpt from a poem by Walter D. Wintle)