Welch Speaks P

The world tries to keep up when JACK WELCH SPEAKS: "Jack Welch has long been one of my heroes. When you read this bookyou will understand why." -Warren Buffett Chairman, BerkshireHathaway."Jack Welch is a management genius who attacks life as he doesbusiness-with unconventional flair, a restless intellect, and notolerance for phonies. And I'd say that even if he weren't myboss!" -Tom Brokaw Anchor and Managing Editor, NBC"Jack Welch describes himself as 'just a man in a room.' Janet Lowetakes us into this room by letting the man speak for himself.Through his own words, it becomes clear why he is listened to andemulated all over the world. Big man, big room." -Sam Nunn FormerU.S. Senator; Partner, King and Spalding."All too often, the journalistic adulation heaped upon businessleaders is misplaced or vastly overstated. In the case of Welch, he's even better than his press." -Larry Bossidy Chairman and CEO, Allied Signal Inc."Jack Welch Speaks shows business at its most fascinating. It givesthe reader a valuable insight into the mind and personal philosophyof one of America's keenest, most effective business leaders." -ElyCallaway Founder and Chairman, Callaway Golf."The gold standard against which other CEOs are measured."-BusinessWeek."The most acclaimed SOB of the last decade is the most acclaimedCEO of this one." -Industry Week.He is one of the most praised, perhaps the most feared, andcertainly one of the most confounding and controversial bosses inAmerica-a complex, intensely private man, revered as the manager'smanager. As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GeneralElectric, Jack Welch has been at the forefront of thereconstruction of American industry. From the moment he assumed hisposition 16 years ago, Welch sought dramatic and swift change. Hequickly realized the demands of the new, global, high-techenvironment, and met the challenge with decisive action and, in theopinion of many, ruthless determination. He broadened corporateAmerica's vocabulary with words that still strike terror in thehearts of many an employee: restructuring, downsizing, rightsizing.In the process, Jack Welch turned an aging, albeit highly respectedand historic, business icon into what is considered by many todayto be the best managed company in the world and, above all, one ofthe most profitable.Now, Janet Lowe, author of the bestselling Warren Buffett Speaks, presents in Welch's own words the insights, vision, passions, andpersuasions of a legendary leader. Here's just a sample of whatyou'll find inside: * "We're going to demand from you earnings growth every year. . . .Those are the rules of the road. . . . You take charge of yourdestiny. If you don't, we will."* "As I went to bigger pieces of GE, I found bigger bureaucracies, layers and all that stuff and it wasn't friendly. Business was veryserious-turf-boxes. Business isn't that. Business is ideas and funand excitement and celebrations, all those things."* "When you're running an institution, you're always scared atfirst. You're afraid you might break it."* "If someone tells me 'I'm working 90 hours a week, ' I say, 'You're doing something terribly wrong.' I go skiing on theweekend, I go out with my buddies on Friday and party. You've gotto do the same or you've got a bad deal."* "Speed is everything. It is the indispensable ingredient incompetitiveness. Speed keeps business and people young. It'saddictive, and it's a profoundly American taste we need tocultivate."