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Get Better or Get Beaten!: 31 Leadership Secrets from Ge's Jack Welch

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There are a series of great books available on Amazon.com that much better explore the world of Jack Welch and GE. After attending a workshop I picked up three from Amazon and two at the library. This was the weakest of the three. First, this is a poorly constructed paperback version. It is just plain cheap. Feels cheap and looks cheap. Thats it for the layout and format.

Second, many of the paragraphs seem to be cut and pasted from one chapter to another. I felt that I was re-reading essentially the same ten paragraphs scattered throughout the book. Very frustrating because it indicates either laziness by the author or redundancy to be pedantic.

Next, many books claim to have a special insight since the author was given rare access to the GE training center known as the "pit." This book claims that as well and quotes Welch at a number of public meetings...in an attempt to reinforce the concepts.

As Welch soon retires, I wonder if these same books will hold the interest they now capture. You are better served by more narrative, substantial texts on Welch and his management style. As always, Amazon readers can rate reviews and many loyalists vote against critics. I have a great admiration for Welch, and what he managed to accomplish. This book does neither him, nor his accomplishments real justice.

Reading this "guide for leaders" I wondered if Welch would look at it and laugh at its simplicity.

Jack Welch would be the first to point out that none of the 29 Leadership Secrets to which the subtitle refers is really a secret. In fact, most of the material in this book has been recycled or updated from previous publications, notably from Slater's excellent Jack Welch and the GE Way and The GE Way Fieldbook, both of which I also highly recommend. Slater is an excellent judge of material and writes very well. After more than 25 years as a successful journalist, he has developed a keen sense of what key business issues are, and, how Welch's comments on those issues can be most effectively shared with the reader. Two factors set this book apart from most other business books which also share "secrets." First and obviously, Welch's well-deserved reputation as a great leader. Also, the business context in which Slater anchors each of the 29 key points. With brevity and precision, Slater addresses questions such as these:

* How to "harness the power of change"?

* What does "Face Reality!" mean? Also, what does it require?

* What is the best process for evaluating your organization with a "fresh eye"?

* What are the major perils as well as benefits of Six Sigma initiatives?

* What are some of the most effective e-business strategies?

* How can e-business "put the final nail in bureaucracy"?

Thanks to Slater, as I read the book I felt as if Welch himself were making a series of assertions directly to me. In response to each I am inclined to ask, "Exactly what does he mean by that?" An explanation then follows, based on the wealth of information about Welch which Slater and others have accumulated over the years. Slater also includes a series of lists of "Welch Rules" and then, in an Appendix, a list of "GE Values"...the same list which (reproduced on a laminated card) is carried by each GE employee.

Welch himself has been and continues to be an avid student of business. Time and again, he has gratefully acknowledged what he has learned, not only from other great business leaders but also from his associates at GE...especially from younger GE executives who share his contempt for what Jim O'Toole has characterized (in Leading Change) as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom."

If you share my great admiration of Jack Welch and also wish you could spend some time with him one-on-one, here's probably your best opportunity to do so. For me, the experience was as much a pleasure as it was a privilege.

When I first got this book and started reading it in the late evening, I found it so interesting and insightful that I read it completely until the early hours of morning the next day.

Jack Welch is no ordinary leader and GE is no ordinary company. To find out how and why they are so successful and far ahead of their competitors, you should read this book.

While Jack Welch is not perfect (he is human after all), this book is great, in the sense that it explains the basic principles behind GE's extraordinary success.

The best thing about this book is that it quotes extensively and piquantly from the writings and speeches of Jack Welch. The intriguing list of "29 leadership secrets" (which could have been reduced to ten) is more selective than secret, given that Welch has been preaching them loudly from a very prominent platform for more than 20 years. However, the book will be valuable to Welch neophytes and to fans who want more Jack, or the essence of Jack. Author Robert Slater assumes a certain familiarity with GE's history and initiatives, and sometimes refers to them without explanation. Welch long ago transcended management to become sort of a leadership prophet, and his utterances are sometimes paradoxical, if not contradictory. He says nurture people, but downsize; he says cut bureaucracy, but implement a paperwork intensive Six Sigma program. We promise that somewhere in here, you'll find a managerial principle to fit almost any occasion. What more can you ask of a handbook?

I received a copy of the book while I worked for GE several years ago, and picked it up again recently. When I received the book I felt Jack Welch's ideas were simple, straightforward and obvious. It is only after working for other companies that I realize the genius behind them, and how rare it is for these "simple" concepts to be played out elsewhere in corporate America. Jack Welch is truly a business visionary, and this book outlines many of his ideas, albeit in sketch format. His ideas about re-structuring, de-layering, change management, corporate speed and employee empowerment were all way ahead of their time. Thirty-one of his best ideas are presented here, but unfortunately, with little substance behind them. I would suggest that this book is a great place to start if you are interested in GE's business and corporate philosophies, however, to get more in depth analysis and explanation you will need to look elsewhere. I would recommend this book for a trip, as it is good airplane reading, and may spark some ideas for your business.

This is the first book about GE's Jack Welch I ever read. I bought it because the title is so far the most attractive amongst its keens. "Get Better or Get Beaten" is certainly the norm in today's competitive world. Remarkably, the content is of the same quality as its title. It is so well written that I finished it in 1.5 day.

In fact, the core concepts or the secrets are nothing new. Quality and Re-engineering gurus like Peter Drucker, Philip Crosby, Tom Peters etc had stressed the importance of quality, customer orientation, corporate culture, employee involvement blah blah blah for decades. It's just that Jack Welch had been so successful a real life practitioner and advocate that nobody can neglect. Think about the 6 sigma phenomenon and you know what I mean.

In case you just want to know the secrets without the elaboration, or that you cannot afford one, go to the table of content (Thanks to Amazon) and have a look. All the secrets are already there. (Sorry, Mr. Slater). However, I still think it is a good collectible for your personal library.

p.s. I had worked in an acquired subsidiary of a Fortune 20 company. I am sorry that what happened there was far from what Mr. Welch preached. The result is: The leader five years ago (when it was acquired) is now the fifth in the market.

This is a rather superficial book with questionable value. It presents 31 Jack Welch's slogans and without almost any discussion declares them genius. Jack Welch is a very interesting manager whose methods and results deserve a lot more detailed approach. Each of the slogans or ideas should be analyzed, discussed and explained on a good example. Otherwise, as the book is written, the ideas can not be taken seriously by any professional. This book serves as a good introduction to Jack Welch as a manager, but if you want to really learn something, better buy a different book.

I picked up this book in a bookstore and I did not know what to expect. I was amazed at the wisdom that this man posses when I began to read this book. He is very straightforward and very cool. All the principles are appliable to any kind of business I think. One of the best business books I ever seen, and its based on a man who practice what he preaches. BUY IT !!!

I previously read "Jack Welch and the GE Way", also by Slater and published in 1999, but I never read the original version of "Get Better or Get Beaten". This newer version of "Get Better..." contained a substantial amount of material that was already covered in more detail in "the GE Way" book. Except for some of the material covering events since 1999, I think "the GE Way" was a better choice of the two, especially if you're looking for more detail and analysis. In many ways I felt like I was just re-reading the other book. On the other hand, if you're looking for sort of the 'Cliff Notes' version and want some good insight into Six Sigma, this newer, smaller work by Slater is certainly satisfactory. There's only marginal benefit to reading both of these.

Robert Slater puts together a factual and wonderfully insightfull collection of Jack Welch's Leadership Secrets. A must read for anyone who wants to be an effective leader.