Jack: Straight from the Gut

The Barnes & Noble Review
During his 21-year tenure as chairman and chief executive of General Electric, Jack Welch redefined business culture in America and across the globe. Today, Welch epigrams like “Fix, sell, or close” are part of our everyday vocabulary; Welch initiatives like Six Sigma have enabled many organizations to meet the demands of a highly competitive marketplace; and Welch disciples hold leadership positions throughout the Fortune 500. In Jack: Straight from the Gut, the first book ever written by GE’s legendary CEO, you’ll find out how a chemical engineer impatient with bureaucracy took a solidly prosperous company and remade it into an extremely profitable, aggressive, value-oriented business that serves as a model for executives from New York to New Delhi.

The first section of Welch’s narrative deals with his childhood (the fierce passion and integrity of his mother, Grace — who refused to allow her son’s stutter to stand in his way — resonate throughout the book), his formative experiences as he struggled to climb “out of the pile” while developing a new plastic called PPO for GE, and his ultimate accession — after two decades of hard work — to the post of chairman. As he recounts his rise through the ranks, Welch shares the principles that he believes were integral to his success. First and foremost is his commitment to creating a meritocracy in which the best people, those who truly distinguish themselves through the quality of their work, are rewarded: Nothing is as important as identifying, training, and holding on to talented people. Another core principle of Welch’s is the need for speed and responsiveness; “I wanted the company,” he writes, “to be more like a speedboat, fast and agile, able to turn on a dime.” A third principle could be called “informality” or even “joy.” As a manager, Welch loved the back-and-forth involved in a true exchange of ideas as well as the conviviality of a night out celebrating the latest victory with his team.

The second part of Jack: Straight from the Gut centers around Welch’s resoundingly successful and sometimes painful struggle to modify GE’s “hardware” (some business units were sold off or restructured while others, like NBC, were acquired) and its “social architecture” (the culture or values that drove the company). During this period, Welch revitalized Crotonville, GE’s famous management training center, and introduced the revolutionary concept of “boundaryless” thinking into the organization. Welch tells us, “The boundaryless company I saw would remove all barriers among the functions: engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and the rest…. It would eliminate the less visible walls of race and gender. It would put the team ahead of the individual ego.” The third and final section of the book discusses GE’s four top initiatives over the past decade — globalization, the growth of services, Six Sigma, and digitalization — and also includes a pithy chapter entitled “What This CEO Thing Is All About,” in which Welch distills the lessons of his amazing career. Throughout the latter part of the book, Welch also deals candidly with some of his most highly publicized problems, including the response to the layoffs of the ’80s; his difficulties with the acquisition of Kidder, Peabody; and the Hudson River PCB problem.

Always enlightening and informative, Jack: Straight from the Gut offers us an invaluable look into the mind of the man whom Business Week calls “the most impressive CEO of his time.” Although Welch doesn’t portray himself as General Electric’s savior (throughout the book, he generously acknowledges the contributions of his colleagues, thereby remaining true to his vision of team spirit), his book is essential reading for businesspeople and for anyone else who wants to understand the principles by which companies should be run. (Sunil Sharma)

A Review by Janet Lowe
The cover of Jack Welch’s autobiography uncannily reflects what has recently come to pass at General Electric — Jack has left the building. A relaxed, friendly, engaging Welch smiles directly into the camera — the sweetest guy you’d ever meet now that he’s retired. To see the toughest guy you would ever want to meet, the most competitive guy, the most ambitious guy, turn to the photos in the book’s centerpiece. In one, a glowering Welch menacingly raises his fist to make a point. Each of these Welches is the real Welch — they just represent who he was at different times and different places in his career. Now that Jack is no longer GE’s chief executive officer, he can and does settle down for an honest, candid talk about his personal life and his remarkable 40-year career at General Electric.

Despite the numerous volumes that have been written about him before, Welch’s hot-off-the-press biography is worth every penny. True, many of the details of his life, such as his relationship with his mother, his management principles, and the selection of his successor, have been covered at length. But Welch and his coauthor, John A. Byrne, have done a yeoman’s job of giving more colorful details, exploring ideas in depth, and infusing the book with Welch’s snap, wit, and energy.

The messages Welch hopes readers will get from the book are made clear by the words he uses over and over again — passion, integrity, and his enormous respect for intellect. He becomes a little defensive when discussing GE’s fight with the feds over polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination of the Hudson River. The chapter entitled “Go Home, Mr. Welch,” about the failed Honeywell merger, makes especially compelling reading. Students of business tactics will learn nearly as much from this failure as they will from his many king-sized successes.

Although it wasn’t his goal to do so, Welch displays himself in this book as a uniquely American executive at the head of a thoroughly American company. His willingness to smash through all kinds of social, political, and economic barriers shows us that American ingenuity is alive and kicking — in fact kicking hard. It also is clear (Welch says so himself) that he has been helped throughout his career by family, friends, teachers, bosses, and mentors who gave him chances to stretch and grow to his full potential. You might even say he enjoyed a lot of luck, unless you believe that most luck is nothing more than the convergence of brains, preparation and opportunity. If you want to know how this convergence works, read Jack: Straight from the Gut.

Janet Lowe is the author of 17 business books, including biographies of business leaders Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and most recently Welch: An American Icon. She is currently writing a book about champion mutual fund manager Bill Miller.