Jack Welch - Winning

EVERY DAY, THERE IS A NEW QUESTION

A FTER I FINISHED my autobiographya fun but crazily intense grind that I wedged into the corners of my real job at the timeI swore Id never write another book again.

But I guess I did.

My excuse, if there is one, is that I didnt actually come up with the idea for this book.

It was given to me.

It was a retirement present, if you will, from the tens of thousands of terrific people I have met since I left GEthe energized, curious, gutsy, and ambitious men and women who have loved business enough to ask me every possible question you could imagine. In order to answer them, all I had to do was figure out what I knew, sort it out, codify it, and borrow their storiesand this book was off and running.

The questions Im referring to first started during the promotional tour for my autobiography in late 2001 and through much of 2002, when I was overwhelmed by the emotional attachment people seemed to have to GE. From coast to coast, and in many countries around the world, people told me touching stories about their experiences working for the company, or what happened when their sister, dad, aunt, or grandfather did.

But with these stories, I was also surprised to hear how much more people wanted to know about getting business right.

Radio call-in guests pressed me to explain GEs system of differentiation, which separates employees into three performance categories and manages them up or out accordingly. People attending book-signing events wanted to know if I really meant it when I said the head of human resources at every company should be at least as important as the CFO. (I did!) At a visit to the University of Chicago business school, an MBA from India asked me to explain more fully what a really good performance appraisal should sound like.

The questions didnt stop after the book tour. They continuedin airports, restaurants, and elevators. Once a guy swam over to me in the surf off Miami Beach to ask me what I thought about a certain franchise opportunity he was considering. But mainly theyve come at the 150 or so Q & A sessions I have participated in over the past three years, in cities around the world from New York to Shanghai, from Milan to Mexico City. In these sessions, which have ranged from thirty to five thousand audience members, I sit on a stage with a moderator, usually a business journalist, and I try to answer anything the audience wants to throw at me.

And throw they havequestions about everything from coping with Chinese competition, to managing talented but difficult people, to finding the perfect job, to implementing Six Sigma, to hiring the right team, to leading in uncertain times, to surviving mergers and acquisitions, to devising a killer strategy.

What should I do, Ive heard, if I deliver great results but I work for a jerk who doesnt seem to care, or if Im the only person in my company who thinks change is necessary, or if the budget process in my company is full of sandbagging, or Im about to launch a great new product and headquarters doesnt want to give me the autonomy and resources I need? *

What can I do, people have asked, if managers in my company dont really tell it like it is, or I have to let go of an employee I really like but who just cant hack it, or I have to help lead my organization through the crisis weve been trying to deal with for a year?

There have been questions about juggling the colliding demands of kids, career, and all that other stuff you want to do, like play golf, renovate your house, or raise money in a walkathon. There have been questions about landing the promotion of your dreamswithout making any enemies. There have been questions about macroeconomic trends, emerging industries, and currency fluctuations.

There have been literally thousands of questions. But most of them come down to this:

What does it take to win?

And that is what this book is aboutwinning. Probably no other topic could have made me want to write again!

Because I think winning is great. Not good great.

I have been asked literally thousands of questions. But most of them come down to this: What does it take to win?

Winning in business is great because when companies win, people thrive and grow. There are more jobs and more opportunities everywhere and for everyone. People feel upbeat about the future; they have the resources to send their kids to college, get better health care, buy vacation homes, and secure a comfortable retirement. And winning affords them the opportunity to give back to society in hugely important ways beyond just paying more taxesthey can donate time and money to charities and mentor in inner-city schools, to name just two. Winning lifts everyone it touchesit just makes the world a better place. *

I think winning is great. Not good great. Because when companies win, people thrive and grow. There are more jobs and more opportunities.

When companies are losing, on the other hand, everyone takes a hit. People feel scared. They have less financial security and limited time or money to do anything for anyone else. All they do is worry and upset their families, and in the meantime, if theyre out of work, they pay little, if any, taxes.

Lets talk about taxes for a minute. In fact, lets talk about government in general.

Obviously, government is a vital part of society. First and foremost, it does nothing less than protect us all from the insidious and persistent challenges to national security that are with us now and for the foreseeable future. But government provides much more: the justice system, education, police and fire protection, highways and ports, welfare and hospitals. The list could go on and on.

But even with the virtues of government, it is critical to remember that all of its services come from some form of tax revenue. Government makes no money of its own. And in that way, government is the support for the engine of the economy, it is not the engine itself.

Winning companies and the people who work for them are the engine of a healthy economy, and in providing the revenues for government, they are the foundation of a free and democratic society.