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The Welch Way: 24 Lessons from the World’s Greatest CEO

11 June 2016

In this book, we learn the 24 key points that allowed Jack Welch, the eighth youngest CEO in the history of General Electric, to revolutionize the company and transform it into a highly successful corporation. Here are some of the points that particularly appeal to me.

 

Face Reality

When Mr. Welch became the CEO of GE, everyone insisted that the company was doing very well. Despite the fact that it was indeed one of the most successful corporations in the United States, Jack Welch noted that it had lost much of its market value and was buried under bureaucratic burden. He decided to shake things up in order to gain a clear view of the reality, with no illusions.

• He looked at the company with unbiased eyes
• He avoided the trap of thinking that things would work out
• He considered several options and scenarios before deciding on the actions to take

 

Simplify

Simplifying was one of the keys to his success. He did his best to make the company’s processes uncomplicated. For Welch, self-confidence is essential to achieve simplicity. And self-confidence needs an informal context to reach its full potential. So he cut through the bureaucratic noise to:

• Simplify work organization
• Make meetings easier
• Eliminate complex memos and communications

 

“You can’t believe how hard it is for people to be simple, how much they fear being simple… Clear, tough-minded people are the most simple.”

 

See Change as an Opportunity

Most people do not like change. Change also happens a lot faster than most companies can cope with. Since Mr. Welch wanted to change GE products, attitudes, behaviors, etc., he did everything he could to make change a reality by sending the following messages to the employees:

• Change never ends
• Expect the unexpected, and act quickly to beat the competition
• Prepare those around you for the inevitability of changes that will affect their lives

 

Defy Tradition

According to Jack Welch, people must take destiny into their own hands; otherwise it is destiny that will have the upper hand. Here are his tips:

• Organize a meeting on the subject of “why do we do things this way?”
• Ask everyone involved to suggest an important change idea
• Do not hesitate to break the habits in place

“Shun the incremental and go for the leap.”

 

Live Speed

Mr. Welch blew all administrative blocks up to increase the company’s decision agility. He tried to infuse the corporate culture with the soul of a small business, and he succeeded by:

• Not pushing decisions
• Speeding up communication
• Integrating agility and speed in all activities and processes

 

Eliminate the Boundaries

The CEO eliminated the barriers than stood between the employees and their ideas, between different departments, etc.

• He encouraged ideas from everyone
• He looked for new ideas from everywhere, even outside the company
• He never stopped removing boundaries

 

“Leading a big company… means never allowing to take yourself too seriously, and reminding yourself constantly… that yesterday’s press clippings often wrap today’s fish.”

 

 

In short, this book illustrates the concepts we know in theory, but that actually proved to be a source of great success for GE.

 

Author: J. Krames

Sylvie Grégoire, MBA, CRHA

President, Totem Performance organisationnelle