Customer Reviews

The Jack Welch Lexicon of Leadership: Over 250 Terms, Concepts, Strategies & Initiatives of the Legendary Leader

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

As Dean and Professor at the Alan Shawn Feinstein Graduate School at Johnson & Wales University I have adopted Mr. krames book as the major theme for our 700 MBA students. The succint, valid, and sophisticated manner in which Mr. Krames transmits Mr. Welch's ideas and philosphies is remarkable. The next best thing to Jack Welch is Jeffrey Krames and this book is the inner psyche of one of the world's greatest business legends. I strongly recommend this book to instructors, business leaders, and managers in every field. It is a one stop shopping trip of the wisdom and intellectual stimulation provided by Jack Welch through his alter ego, Jeffrey Krames. This book should be on the list of every "Great Business Books" series for the world's top business schools and on the shelf of every manager anywhere in the world.

I have known who Jack Welch is but had never read any books on him. With all of the recent attention regarding Mr. Welch I decided it was time to read about him. But I wanted a book that would focus on his philosophies and strategies.

I found Jeffrey Krames' book to be an exceptional book introducing me to the business philosophies and strategies that Welch has brought into the world. Krames takes the time to clearly explain the concepts from impetus to actual practice and what the results were for GE.

Many of these strategies/philosophies can easily be applied to my position as a software salesperson. I know I will read other material on Mr. Welch, but the Lexicon of Leadership book will be kept in my office as a reference manual!

Krames makes skillful use of the lexicon format to present the essential concepts, principles, and values by which Welch led GE for more than 20 years. He achieves three goals:

1. "To give readers a guided tour of the language and strategies of all things Welch"

2. "To impart additional insights into Welch's key company initiatives"

3. "To chronicle the evolution of Welch's leadership thinking"

Krames presumably had a difficult choice when selecting a format. He had several options, including alphabetical sequence (items listed A to Z) and chronological narrative (permitting career milestones and cause-and-effect decisions to illustrate business values and principles). Given the wealth of material at Krames's disposal, either format could have been effective but each poses certain challenges. For example, deciding where an especially complicated subject such as "Six Sigma" fits ("C" for Concept? "P" for Process? "Q" for Quality? or "Six" for obvious reasons). Ultimately, the format is merely a convenience for the reader to locate specific subjects.

For me, the book's greatest value is derived from Krames's masterful cross-correlation of specific subjects within their respective historical contexts. He carefully examines several of Welch's key initiatives: turning the GE hierarchy on its head (1989), launching the "employee-driven quality" campaign throughout GE (1995), introducing the product services movement (also 1995), and GE's "e-Initiative" (1999). Each of these and other initiatives had a background and each has since had profound impact, nor only on GE but on its multi-dimemsional global marketplace. Moreover, each of these and other decisions illustrates most (if not all) of what Krames refers to as "recurring Welch themes": command-and-control is not the best way to run a company; involving everyone is the key to enhancing productivity; ideas and intellect rule over hierarchy and tradition; market-leading businesses can ensure long-term growth; finding leaders who live the values is more important than finding those who make the numbers; and finally, developing a learning culture is the key to creating a competitive enterprise.

Those who share my high regard for this book are encouraged to check out Jack: Straight from the Gut (Welch), Get Better or Get Beaten! (Slater and Krames), Jack Welch and the GE Way (Slater), and Business the Jack Welch Way (Crainer).

This author puts Jack Welch's tools to succeed in business and in life in the reader's hands. It really hits the mark by accurately blending practicality and inspiration.

Comprehensive in its coverage, this book takes you through all the phases of modern business yet it is timeless in its application. Truely, a book to be referred to over and over. A real gem that will age well, because the lessons learned here gain in depth and significance as time passes.

As a sales consultant and trainer, I find this content provides the reader a roadmap to success and enables them to control their destiny.

This is an excellent book!

It is well written and contains a great deal of interesting information.

If not already familiar with Jack Welch, this book is a great introduction and overview of his many accomplishments and business techniques.

If you are already a Jack Welch fan, Lexicon of Leadership will provide you with new insights to the reasons for his continued successes, and does a much better job than previous "Jack Welch" books in capturing the essence of his business strategies.

For any individual in business, this book can be used as a roadmap to success. The concepts tht Jack Welch employed over his career are timeless, and Lexicon of Leadership has captured and explained these concepts in such a manner that they are immediately understood and can be transferred to today's business climate easily and effectively.

This is an insightful examination of Welch's management principles, initiatives and strategies that will be valuable to anyone in business. It sheds light on the origin, evolution, implementation and significance of Welch's signature initiatives and concepts--such as "#1, #2," "fix, close or sell," boundaryless, the four E's of leadership, globalization, Six Sigma, the learning organization and more--and explains how he turned GE into a global powerhouse. It also shows how managers can apply Welch's methods to their own businesses. Jeffrey Krames has done an outstanding job of capturing the mindset and seminal ideas of one of history's most successful CEOs. Highly recommended.

This isn't a bad book by any stretch of the imagination. However I found it hard to follow at times. It simply outlays some of Jack's strategies one-by-one with only a limited amount of examples to provide context and concrete learning experiences. I would strongly recommend you get Jack Welch's "Winning" with Suzy Welch instead. "Winning" gives more concrete examples, is much easier to read, and the me-to-you conversation style is almost like sitting through a high powered seminar with Jack, rather than reading a book. And I have to say, the way Jack applies all the "management theories" you typically learn in a university degree into a practical, simple business approach anyone can use is just amazing. He really is a management "guru". I would have loved to have worked with him at his peak!

Jack Welch is no stranger to the world of business. In his book, "Jack Welch on Leadership: Executive Lessons from the Master CEO", he hit the mark on what it truly takes to be a leader in any organization. In this book, he has once again shared his expertise and wisdom in the world of business. As a business management trainer, counsellor and consultant, I can honestly say that when it comes to business and strong leadership, "The Jack Welch Lexicon of Leadership" ranks near the very top of my list in providing quality, insightful business philosophy. I find myself quoting to my students "infamous words of wisdom" discovered in many of Welch's previous books. From globalization to effective customer service, Welch shares a wealth of advice on a vast number of topics. I particularly enjoyed the section on the significance of the Internet as the Internet has, indeed, changed the way we do business in today's marketplace. "The Lexicon of Leadership", which to me is like a "business bible", is highly recommended reading material. It makes an extraordinary reference guide and is most deserving of a five star rating.

This is an outstanding book as it contains overviews of all GE's and Welch's strategies and initiatives without the "fluff." It is direct and to the point. A benchmark and guide for all to use. Well worth the time and money.

This is a great find for the reader who wants to truly understand what makes Jack Welch such an icon. For years, I've been subjected to "Welchisms", loosely tossed about by everyone from managemenet consultants to managerial wannabes.
In "The Jack Welch Lexicon of Leadership", the author provides a comprehensive look beyond the man to his underlying principles. He discusses the significance of each and highlights Welch's initiatives within the perspective of the man's career as a trailblazer. Best of all, it's succinct, which is more than I can say about some of the amateur "Welchism" purveyors I've encountered over the years!