Jack Welch

From BookJive

Born:	1935
Died:
Residence:
School:	University of Mass. and University of Illinois
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Contents 1 Biography 2 Books

[edit] Biography

Jack Welch or John Frances Welch Jr. was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1935. He graduated in 1957 from the University of Massachusetts with a B.S. in chemical engineering. Welch continued his education at the University of Illinois, with M.S. and Ph.D degrees in chemical engineering.

Welch was hired by General Electric in 1960. Welch considered quitting after only a year to take a job offer he had received from International Minerals & Chemicals. This was due in large part to the measly raise he was offered and what he felt was GE's strict bureaucracy. Welch was working as a junior engineer in Pittsfield, Mass., at a salary of $10,500.

Although he felt under appreciated by his boss, Welch obviously made quite an impression on Reuben Gutoff, a young executive who was one level higher than Welch. He took Welch and Welch's former wife Carolyn out, where they sat for 4 hours straight while Gutoff tried to convince Welch to stay. Gutoff was disappointed by Welch's upcoming departure, and promised him a different kind of bureaucracy, one with the dominating attitude of "small-company environment, with big-company resources."

Gutoff knew that Welch would be an important asset to the company, and tried his hardest to keep him onboard. Welch, and in turn GE, have Gutoff to thank for what became of the company.

Welch's steadfast rise to the top of the GE ranks was thanks to his aggressive marketing of the company's products and services. He was named vice-president in 1972, senior vice-president in 1977, vice-chairman in 1979, and became GE's youngest and eighth Chairman and CEO in 1981, as Reginald H. Jones' successor.

During his 20-year tenure as CEO of GE, Welch has been credited with changing the corporation around, and inflating the company's market value from $12 billion in 1981, to approximately $280 billion in 2001.

Welch's success as CEO is in large part due to his tremendous leadership skills. Welch knew how to effectively communicate key ideas to the rest of the staff, not only by delivering messages, but persistently repeating them over and over, and ultimately driving the messages home. His concept of change was also aggressive, by clearly outlining what needs to change.

Welch's corporate culture is like no other; what he hated about the organization in his early days as a chemical engineer, is exactly what he transformed as CEO: the red tape and bureaucracy of the company. He changed that by making it an informal learning environment, which he liked to refer to as a "grocery store."

This informal approach allowed Welch to get to know his employees, interact with them and get involved in all aspects of the business. Welch also prided himself on his personal touches, such as the handwritten memos sent to employees. But while he's known as personable and persistent, he is also renowned for being a demanding leader, which is why many employees have coined him Neutron Jack.

Whatever his tactics, the fact that Welch is one of the most successful business leaders of all-time is indisputable. He has swelled the market value of the company to a degree unmatched by any other CEO, an accomplishment not even Bill Gates, Michael D. Eisner or Warren Buffett could lay claim to.

After 40 years with GE -- 20 years of running the place -- Welch left his position as CEO in 2001, to embark on a whole new journey: retirement. But not before serving as corporate consultant to a group of Fortune 500 companies, all in different industries.

He has written about his life experiences and business strategies in the books, Straight From the Gut and Winning.

Thanks to a redefined corporate culture, leadership skills and an original approach to business, the icon surely brought good things to life. Jack Welch had a long and distinguished career at one of the world's largest companies, General Electric.

You can read more about Jack Welch on his newly-launched official website, The Welch Way.

[edit] Books

Title: Winning Author: Jack Welch, Suzy Welch Winning is basically what everyone is asking for. All question are to acquire and strategies that help us win. Winning is great. Winning in business creates wealth, security, jobs and retirement funds. Winning is business makes a huge impact on those around us.

Title: Jack: Straight From the Gut Author: Jack Welch, John A. Byrne It's hard to think of a CEO that commands as much respect as Jack Welch. Under his leadership, General Electric reinvented itself several times over by integrating new and innovative practices into its many lines of business. In Jack: Straight from the Gut, Welch, with the help of Business Week journalist John Byrne, recounts his career and the style of management that helped to make GE one of the most successful companies of the last century.