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@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023
Jack Welch photo

“Getting every employee's mind into the game is a huge part of what a CEO job is all about. Taking everyone's best ideas and transferring them to others is the secret. There's nothing more important.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 24.

Jack Welch photo

“Business success is less a function of grandiose predictions than it is a result of being able to respond rapidly to real changes as they occur.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 24.

Jack Welch photo

“Business has to be fun. For too many people, it's "just a job."”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 24.

Jack Welch photo

“I enjoy challenging a person's ideas. No one loves a good and passionately fought argument more than I do. This isn't about being tough-minded and straightforward. That's the job. But so is sensing when to hug and when to kick. Of course, arrogant people who refuse to learn from their mistakes have to go. If we're managing good people who are clearly eating themselves up over an error, our job is to help them through it. That doesn't mean you have to take it easy on your top performers.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 3.

Jack Welch photo

“At the heart of this culture is an understanding that an organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive business advantage.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Cited in: Robert Slater (1998), Jack Welch & The G.E. Way: Management Insights and Leadership. p. 12

Jack Welch photo

“Being a CEO is the nuts! A whole jumble of thoughts come to mind: Over the top. Wild. Fun. Outrageous. Crazy. Passion. Perpetual motion. The give-and-take. Meetings into the night. Incredible friendships. Fine wine. Celebrations. Great golf courses. Big decisions in the real game. Crises and pressure. Lots of swings. A few home runs. The thrill of winning. The pain of losing. It's as good as it gets! You get paid a lot, but the real payoff is in the fun.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 24.

Jack Welch photo

“Getting the right people in the right jobs is a lot more important than developing a strategy.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 24.

Jack Welch photo

“In manufacturing, we try to stamp out variance. With people, variance is everything.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 11.

Jack Welch photo

“Loyalty to a company, it's nonsense.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Originally said to the Wall Street Journal, quoted by Mark Ames in Going Postal: Rage, Murder and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (2005), p. 98

Jack Welch photo

“I wanted to change the rules of engagement, asking for more— from fewer. I was insisting that we had to have only the best people…If you wanted excellence, at a minimum, the ambience had to reflect excellence.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 9.

Jack Welch photo

“If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it you almost don't have to manage them.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Jack Welch photo

“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Jack Welch photo

“The best way to support dreams and stretch is to set apart small ideas with big potential, then give people positive role models and the resources to turn small projects into big businesses.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 3.

Jack Welch photo

“If you are not confused, you don´t know what is going on.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Jack Welch photo

“Change before you have to.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Jack Welch photo

“Arrogance is a killer, and wearing ambition on one's sleeve can have the same effect. There is a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence. Legitimate self-confidence is a winner. The true test of self-confidence is the courage to be open—to welcome change and new ideas regardless of their source. Self-confident people aren't afraid to have their views challenged. They relish the intellectual combat that enriches ideas.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 24.

Jack Welch photo

“When you were made a leader you weren't given a crown, you were given the responsibility to bring out the best in others.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Jack Welch photo

“Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Jack Welch photo

“When the rate of change outside exceeds the rate of change inside, the end is in sight.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Variant: If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.