(Welch 2001) Straight from the Gut
Jack Welch (b. 19-Nov-1935) was an iconic figure in American business.
From a 24 year old junior engineer at GE in 1960, earning $ 10,500 a year,
he went to Chairman on 19-Dec-1980, retiring in 2000.
Brilliant, brash, pushy, and womaniser?
Hailed by investors as a business great, and pummelled by the press for massive people downsizings.
An alleged roving eye, even before his affair with HBR editor Susan Wetlaufer.
In his own words the ‘sparks’ flew during their first interview. The affair led to his divorce from his second wife, Jane Beasley.
An ex-colleague who described Jack’s personal life as ‘absoluted incredible’, is reported to have reacted to the news with ‘uh oh, Jack’s back to his old ways again’.
The same colleague also regarded him as brilliant.
Insecurities
A self-described insecurity was his absolute dependence on his parents,
especially his Irish mother, growing up.
He would worry that something bad had happened to them when she was late returning home, picking up his father who worked late as a railroad conductor.
The insecurity was alluded to in the poress when describing hsi star-struck mutual love with Susan Wetlaufer. To paraphrase Welch, ‘She’d say she’s coming home, and I’d be looking out of the window in anticipation.’
It has been said that Jack craved a full audience - so it must’ve been hard for him to hand over the limelight to Jeff Immelt, his successor at GE in 2000.
The morning of 9/11 (11-Sep-2001) he appeared on TV to plug his first book – but was overtaken by anxiety post 9/11.
The book was supposed to be a salve and a doorway to sellout standing-room-only speaking engagements. 9/11 turned that into a time filled with trepidation – he was very scared of being exposed to an anthrax attack.
He described the Chairman’s role as ‘a job that’s close to 75 percent about people and 25 percent about other stuff’, and about working with ‘some of the smartest, most creative and competitive p;eople in the world – many a lot smarter than I was’.
Perhaps an incongruent claim for someone self-admittedly ‘brutally honest, impatient, and to many, abrasive’.
Self-esteem from an Irish mother
He describes his mother as one who ‘always held opinions of the people she met’,
‘could smell a phony a mile away’, and ‘could hold a grudge against anyone who betrayed her trust’, saying that he could as easily be describing himself.
Welch attributes to her, his trait of ‘competing hard to win, setting stretch goals, and relentlessly following up on people to make sure things get done’.
He attributes his self-confidence to her.
‘Confidence gives you courage and extends your reach. It lets you take greater risks and achieve far more than hyou ever thought possible.’
‘Building self-confidence in other is a huge part of leadership. It comes from providing opportunities and challenges for people to do things they never imagined they could do.’
He give a window into his self-esteem – his mother never focused on his speech impediment (stammer) that caused him comical incidents – re-inforcing the belief that it was because he was so smart that his tongue couldn’t keep up with his brain. So he grew up beleiving his mind worked faster than his mouth.
Despite being shor and the smallest in his batch – in his words ‘a quarter of the size of other players’ – he made it to sports teams in school and college (basketball, baseball, American football).
He was never conscious of his dimunitive size.
Regards his PHd. he says, even if he wasn’t the most intelligent, he was persistent - doint what was needed (the hours) to get the job done (finish his theses).
As a first-year junior development engineer at GE, Jack was peeved that his raise wasn’t differentiated (higher) than the rest - so he quit. His skip manager called him for dinner and convinced him to stay.
In Jack’s words,
‘I always gave him more than he expected.
On one occassion, a complete cost and physical property analysis of our new plastic versus every major competitor. By no means earth-shattering, but it was more than the usual form a guy in a white-lab coat’.