Jack Welch was the CeO of Ge for many years. I know there are people who don't agree with his management style, but he definitely had the ability to lead and motivate people.

One of points I most remember from this book was his method for consistently raising the average capability of his pool of employees. Basically he suggests grading on the curve. The top 20% of his workers are highly rewarded and trained for advancements. The middle 60% are encouraged to increase their productivity to the ranks of the top 20%. The bottom 20% are told that their performance is lower than what is desired and given two years to move out of the lower group. If they are unable to do this they are let go.

While at first this sounds cruel, Welch points out that people are going to be happier working where they perform well. He sees this as being much kinder than letting someone work poorly in a position for 20 years and then firing them during poor economic times when the company has cutbacks. For a business this constant removal of the bottom 20% helps insure that there is always fresh talent coming in and filtering to the top.

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Amazon's Description
It's hard to think of a CEO that commands as much respect as Jack Welch. Under his leadership, General Electric reinvented itself several times over by integrating new and innovative practices into its many lines of business. In Jack: Straight from the Gut, Welch, with the help of Business Week journalist John Byrne, recounts his career and the style of management that helped to make GE one of the most successful companies of the last century. Beginning with Welch's childhood in Salem, Massachusetts, the book quickly progresses from his first job in GE's plastics division to his ambitious rise up the GE corporate ladder, which culminated in 1981. What comes across most in this autobiography is Welch's passion for business as well as his remarkable directness and intolerance of what he calls "superficial congeniality"--a dislike that would help earn him the nickname "Neutron Jack." In spite of its 496 pages, Jack: Straight from the Gut is a quick read that any student or manager would do well to consider. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards

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Customer Reviews

Good account of Jack Welch's life
This is a good account of Jack Welch's life and philosophy - a good read. For more detailed insight into his management practiceas also read "Winning" by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch.

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Great insight from a superstar CEO
When I become aware of a person, I really want to know where they came from. What did they start out as? How did they get to where they got?

Were they born rich and just got richer? (Trump and Gates, for instance.)

Were they splitting rails like Abe Lincoln?

In the case of this book, Jack Welch was born to relatively modest beginnings and became one of the most powerful men in the world.

I found this book to be a great story of a man who went on to lead a giant corporation and gain status as a superstar CEO.

It was, to me, a fascinating book.

Good stuff about what it's like to play in the big leagues.

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Over 239 customer reviews..
..yet one more won't hurt?!

I finally got some time off from travel and got around to finishing Jack's biography

Peppered with anecdotes and `stories' of one of the most charismatic CEOs of his time, the biography makes for an interesting read. Though the narrative and stories are great, they don't really go deep enough. For instance, coverage of GE's globalization or offshoring initiatives in India would perhaps require a book in itself, not a few pages in the book.

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