Leadership Style of Jack Welch

Analyzing GE’s corporate-level strategy from 2001 – present with Jeff Immelt as CEO, GE focuses on the growth and development platforms. Technology is the key driving force for GE’s future and growth. Advancements in industries such as energy, health and aviation fueled demand for cleaner and more efficient energy production. GE identified new markets with potential high-growth that offered attractive returns through strategic mergers and acquisitions. As CEO, Jeff Immelt established a process for identifying projects that offered attractive growth potential which were then nurtured and treated as special projects or initiatives that were not subject to strict budget constraints. Immelt introduced GE’s three strategic imperatives as: (1) sustaining its strong business model, (2) strengthening the business portfolio, and (3) driving its growth initiatives. www.ge.com

Prior to Welch taking over the position as the CEO, General Electric’s organizational structure was a little out of hands even for his predecessor. There were too many layers of sectors transmitting information to the CEO. Welch came with a new strategic planning idea in mind. Restructuring was one of his early priorities. Shortly after, Welch became the new face of the company;

I am writing my essay on the leadership styles between Jack and Ralph, which will explore the autocratic and democratic political systems in which they are dedicated to follow. Also explore the possible motives behind these two leaders rise to power, yet explain why leaders will need advisers for resources, for control and sustainably of the community. Lastly faults of their rule and how they could’ve rewritten the course of history on the inland, and deliver my hypothesis on what is the fate of Jack’s tribe.

Washington was leading the creation of an entirely new political construction. He had to organize the executive branch. The authors present how although Washington was a transactional leader, handling circumstances effectively and efficiently. Washington was a leader “managing, supervising, delegating, compromising, mastering the centrifugal forces in the government” (Burns and Dunn, 83). He acted as an advisor, overseeing the complicated government, working with the Senate, and respecting their authority. Although he respected the power of the bodies of government, when necessary, Washington would use his presidential power to be a transactional leader, such as his veto capability. He also had to give the nation a sense of unity by “giving

Jack Welch joined General Electric in 1971 where he created a new organization based on increased efficiency and less bureaucracy increasing the value of the organization during his term 4,000% (Bloom, 2013). His leadership led to the creation of GE Workout that consisted of a system of meetings or steps, a problem can be solved and decisions made rapidly, eliminating bureaucracy (Bloom, 2013). The five steps included Step 1: Problem identification, Step 2: Team development, Step 3: Town meeting, Step 4: Upper management decision, and Step 5: Sponsorship. As shown in Figure 1, Work-out was the

Urban Meyer is the head coach for The Ohio State Buckeyes football team. He is 49 years old and was born in Toledo Ohio. He attended University of Cincinnati where he played football. Coach Meyer is married and has three children. Prior to coaching Ohio State he retired from coaching was working as a sports analyst for ESPN. Before retiring and working for ESPN, Coach Meyer was the head coach for the University of Florida. He led the Gators to two BCS championship wins and he held the highest percentages of wins for any active college football coach. (www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com).

Jack Welch was the former CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. During his time at General Electric, the value of the company grew 4000%, making it the most valuable company in the world at the time. In the movie, “Jack Welch: Icon of Leadership,” Jack discussed his experiences as CEO of General Electric and shared valuable insight into his management practices which he implemented throughout his career. While listening to Jack, I felt the most important aspects of his managing practices included being a proper leader, picking the right people for the job, and having integrity.

Welch has shepherded a corporate entity comprised of several diverse lines of businesses that became the ”Most respected company in the world.” according to the Financial Times. Will GE be able to sustain the success that it has realized during the past twenty years under Welch as the acting CEO once he departs?

When people sign up for the ministry; or better stated, when people are called into the ministry, they often assume that most of their time will be spent studying the bible, conversing with lost souls about the good news of Jesus and seeking God in prayer. However, successful ministers and ministries are the result of effectively executed administrative duties. According to Robert Welch and his book Church Administration, a study of pastors revealed, “about 57 percent of their ministry was tied up in strictly nonpastoral administrative duties.”1 What is more, many ministers admitted, “counseling, visitation, family time, prayer and personal devotions suffer in too many cases.”2 Is this simply a case of misguided expectations, poor leadership

Analysis - GE has likely been so successful over the years because of its ability to foresee major trends and capitalize upon them. In the 1960s, for instance, GE was one of the eight major computer companies. Even recently, since 1986, GE has continued to acquire several organizations; portions of NBC, wind manufacturing, universe pictures, aerospace industries, international firms, software and hardware manufacturing, even oil companies abroad. The company culture describes itself as not one company, but many each unit a vast and complex enterprise in and of itself, with a corporate

Mark, your reference that “Leadership involves motivating a group of people and aligning their interests towards a common goal in the aim of achieving it” is the epitome of Hightower and Welch’s leadership style even though their leadership style was very different. Hightower accomplished his goals at Disney by empowering his managers to follow through on his initiatives with complete autonomy, as he describes himself as having “a hammer in one hand and a velvet glove in the other hand” (Jick & Peiperl,2011, p. 418), this approach would naturally weed out the mangers that was noncompliant in advancing his new agenda. As oppose to Welch’s heavy hand revolutionary approach by dismantling the status quo and current infrastructure through

Welch encountered a very difficult situation in 1981; the economy was in a recession, almost one of the worst recessions any organization has witnessed since the Great Depression of 1929.  The strong dollar was losing value and the unemployment rate was at an all time high.  Interest rates were consistently on the incline during the time Welch took over as CEO of GE.  Jack Welch was both a transformational and transactional leader who displayed an aggressive competitive style of leadership.  He did not let the recession deter him from maintaining a competitive advantage over the competition.  His philosophy was to ensure that GE was either #1 or #2

A variety of leadership characteristics, traits, and behaviors of the chosen leaders are examined especially as designed during the reign of the two CEOs. An analysis of the reign of both Jack Welch Period (1981–2001) and Jeff Immelt (2001-2008) and their sweeping radical changes into the organizational culture and leadership provide an over view in relation to the management of the change process. The changes were at the heart of a magnificent transformation of the strategy of GE. The strategies employed triggered enhanced and more efficient performance on the managerial level as well as internal operations, (Aghion, & Durlauf, 2005).

GE was found by Thomas Edison in 1893. It has around 343,000 employees and operation over 100 countries. The company experienced continuous

Jack Welch’s vision of what GE was possible of gave the company a vision for twenty years while he was the CEO and chairman. He states, “leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it.” (Winning, pg 67) He not only allowed for employees to stretch, but demanded it. In teaching workers to stretch Welch knew that workers “may fail. In fact, they probably will fail. But stretching, and stretching the business, is going to improve performance results.” (Jack Welch on Leadership, pg 105) He also states that “only by setting the performance bar high did it become possible to discover people’s capabilities.” Jack Welch’s emphasis on candor and breaking the bureaucracy of modern business separated him from his contemporaries. He excited others of the possibility of being the biggest and best company in the world and rewarding his best employees that shared the values of GE. According to FORTUNE Editorial Director Geoffrey Colvin In "The Ultimate Manager, Welch leads the annals of management history not for anticipating the new world's changes ahead, but for acting on them: "His great achievement is that having seen it, he faced up to the huge, painful changes it demanded, and made them faster and more emphatically than anyone else in business. He led managers into this new world, which we still inhabit, and just as important, he showed business