The GE Way Fieldbook: Jack Welch's Battle Plan for Corporate Revolution [Paperback]

Robert Slater (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071354816 | ISBN-13: 978-0071354813 | Publication Date: November 23, 1999 | Edition: 1

"If management is an art, then surely Jack Welch has proved himself a master painter."
- BusinessWeek

Boardroom legend Jack Welch is widely regarded as one of the most effective CEOs in business history. Welch’s groundbreaking programs—including Six Sigma and Work-Out—along with his numerous strategies on business leadership have helped transform GE into the global benchmark for maximized productivity and labor efficiency.

Now, The GE Way Fieldbook explains how you can implement the same programs that helped turn GE into a $100 billion juggernaut. Drawing from his unprecedented access to GE’s top-level corridors of power—including a never-before-published full-length interview with Jack Welch—veteran business author Robert Slater packs innovative strategies, easy-to-use diagnostic exercises, detailed questionnaires, and more into the most hands-on, applications-oriented book ever written on General Electric. Only in The GE Way Fieldbook will you find:

• "The Boca Raton Speeches"—Never-before-seen excerpts taken from Jack Welch’s internal speeches to GE employees
• More than 100 exercises, overheads, and exhibits from the files of Jack Welch and GE
• The most complete treatment of GE’s Six Sigma program ever published
• Step-by-step action plans that are blueprints for implementing Six Sigma and Work-Out—and creating the boundaryless organization

The fieldbook has become one of today’s most popular, effective teaching tools—but never before has one focused on the inner workings and strategies of a specific company. The GE Way Fieldbook gives you an inside look at the stunningly successful Jack Welch era at GE, provides the techniques and tools you need to focus every worker in your organization on progress and growth, and outlines a strategic roadmap for implementing GE’s business practices—and removing the boundaries to success—within your own organization. (20000121)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Slater, author of three previous books on Jack Welch, General Electric's CEO, explains Welch's successful strategies and provides a road map for seamlessly implementing those strategies in other companies. The book includes self-assessment exercises, action steps, and internal GE documents and is divided into two sections. The first section is devoted to the company's concept of leadership, empowerment, organization, and customers. The second section is devoted to Welch himself, with a reprint of an extensive interview, selected speeches, and descriptions of Welch's management style in dealing with his executives. With the notable acclaim that Welch and General Electric have earned in the business community, it is not surprising that a flood of books is being written to capitalize on that popularity, especially since Welch has recently announced his retirement after almost 20 years at the helm of GE. Although interesting, this is clearly an insider book with, a positive bias prepared with the involvement of the company and Welsh himself. Mary Whaley

Review

'Explains Welch's successful strategies and provides a road map for seamless implementing those strategies in other companies.' (Booklist )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (November 23, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071354816
• ISBN-13: 978-0071354813
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #669,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Slater was born in New York City on October 1, 1943, and grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. He graduated from Columbia High School in 1962 and graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, where he majored in political science. He received a masters of science degree in international relations from the London School of Economics in 1967. He worked for UPI and Time Magazine for many years, in both the United States and the Middle East.
Slater has written 16 books about major business personalities before his new book on Donald Trump:
' The Titans of Takeover (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1987).
' Portraits in Silicon (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987).
' This ... .Is CBS: A Chronicle of 60 Years (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988).
' The New GE: How Jack Welch Revived an American Institution (Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin, 1993).
' Get Better or Get Beaten! 31 Leadership Secrets from GE's Jack Welch (Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin Professional Publishing, 1994). This book made the business best-seller list in Japan.
' SOROS: The Life, Times, and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor (Chicago, IL: Irwin Professional Publishing, 1996). This book profiles superinvestor George Soros, and it appeared on the Business Week best-seller list.
' Invest First, Investigate Later: And 23 Other Trading Secrets of George Soros, the Legendary Investor (Chicago, IL: Irwin Professional Publishing, 1996).
' John Bogle and the Vanguard Experiment: One Man's Quest to Transform the Mutual Fund Industry (Chicago, IL: Irwin Professional Publishing, 1996). This book profiles the most important business figure in the mutual fund field.
' Ovitz: The Inside Story of Hollywood's Most Controversial Power Broker (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1997). This book made the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times business best-seller lists.
' Jack Welch and the GE Way: Management Insights and Leadership Secrets of the Legendary CEO (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1998). This is an updated look at the business secrets of General Electric's chairman and chief executive officer. It made the Business Week and The Wall Street Journal best-seller lists.
' Saving Big Blue: Leadership Lessons & Turnaround Tactics of IBM's Lou Gerstner (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1999).
' The GE Way Fieldbook: Jack Welch's Battle Plan for Corporate Revolution (New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 1999).
' The Eye of the Storm: How John Chambers Steered Cisco Systems Through the Technology Collapse (New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 2003).
' Magic Cancer Bullet: How a Tiny Orange Capsule May Rewrite Medical History (New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 2003), co-authored with Novartis CEO, Dan Vasella.
' The Wal-Mart Decade: How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 Company (New York, NY: Portfolio, 2003). A paperback version was published in June 2004.
' Microsoft Rebooted: How Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer Re-Invented Their Company (New York, NY: Portfolio, 2004
' No Such Thing as Over-Exposure: Inside the Life and Celebrity of Donald Trump (New Jersey, Pearson, Prentice Hall, February 2005)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons from the Legendary Leader., October 8, 2000

By 

Turgay BUGDACIGIL (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The GE Way Fieldbook: Jack Welch's Battle Plan for Corporate Revolution (Paperback)

"Jack Welch is arguably the most lauded CEO in the world...Such leading magazines as Time, Fortune, and Business Week all lavished praise upon him. They described him at times as the best CEO in America; at times, these magazines credited GE with being the best-run company in the nation...Welch built GE into the most successful American corporation of the late twentieth century by forging and then implementing a series of business strategies that have become his trademark: Business is simple. Don't make business overly complicated. Face reality. Don't be afraid of change. Fight bureaucracy. Get boundaryless. Use the brains of your workers. Find the best ideas, inside or outside your company, and then put those ideas into practice. These strategies and others have formed the building blocks of Jack Welch's battle for corporate revolution...The Welch strategies have been described in a number of popular business books...Most of these books describe the aforementioned business strategies, and others as well, and give an excellent overview of what Welch and GE have accomplished. What The GE Way Fieldbook sets out to accomplish is not simply to explain the strategies but to offer a blueprint of how other companies can implement those strategies expeditiously and seamlessly in their own business...In contrast with the other fieldbooks, The GE Way Fieldbook is the first of its kind to focus on the inner workings and business strategies of a specific company...While we include much of the GE story throughout the book, the primary objective is to provide a road map for those wishing to implement GE's practices in their own organizations. As a result, most chapters include not only textual material but also self-assessment exercises, action steps, and internal GE documents. It is worth noting that these documents, most of which have been provided by General Electric, have never appeared in book form" (pp.1-2).

In this context, Robert Slater divides his book into two main sections. But, in this review, I only focus on the first section as follows.

I. The GE Way: A Fieldbook for Corporate Revolution: In this section, he focuses on the different GE business strategies and initiatives within four learning modules.

1. The Leadership Module (Chapters 1-4): In this module, Slater explains:

* five characteristics of best quality leaders described by Jack Welch in 1997.

* key GE leadership ingredients-the four E:energy, energizer, edge, and execution-, and authentic leadership model of GE as refined views of Welch on leadership in 1999.

* advices of GE's successful executives to GE's senior and middle-level executives all around the world:

(1) Performance: Focus on current job performance...,

(2) Expertise: Become proficient in one business/technical area...,

(3) Ownership: Don't whine about your career...,

(4) Challenge and Visibility: Take the hard job...,

(5) Mentors/Supporters/Role Models: Broaden your base support...,

(6) Global Experience/Cultural Breadth: Expose yourself and family to different cultures early...,

* GE's assessment-360 degree feedback- and reward policy.

2. The Empowerment Module (Chapters 5-6): In this module, Slater explains:

* Welch's Work-Out model and six basic objectives of this model:

(1) reducing bureaucracy,

(2) improving organizational processes,

(3) empowering employees; reducing vertical boundaries,

(4) breaking down intra-organizational walls,

(5) developing formal alliances or informal relationships with customers,

(6) developing other extra-organizational relationships.

* how GE implements this Work-Out model.

3. The Organization Module (Chapters 7-10): In this module, by providing a series of questionnaires and other self-assessment exercises, Slater explains Welch's boundaryless organization strategy as the GE's emerging culture and the soul of GE's integrated diversity.

4. The Customer Module (Chapters 11-15): In this module, Slater presents a complete picture of GE's Six Sigma program, how it began, how it works, what impact it has had on the company, and what Jack Welch thinks about it. Welch argues that "Six Sigma is the most important management training thing we've ever had. It's better than going to Harvard Business School."

I highly recommend this invaluable guide.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to learn how GE operates, then read this book, April 10, 2000

By 

Sheri Stockman (Fort Wayne, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The GE Way Fieldbook: Jack Welch's Battle Plan for Corporate Revolution (Paperback)

This book captures the areas that are important to the businesses of GE and explains them well enough that a non-employee can understand. Being a past employee of GEIS, I found that the book explained the areas as they really are. No fluff. The book is easily set up as modules so there is no need to worry about reading one chapter to understand the next. Great Tool!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ge Way Fieldbook: Jack Welch's Battle Plan for Corporate, March 29, 2000

By 

Richard R Mourey (Hartford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The GE Way Fieldbook: Jack Welch's Battle Plan for Corporate Revolution (Paperback)

If you believe in Welch and want to understand how he made it happen then this is the book. No editorial prose. Basics and common sense suberbly executed.......