Customer Reviews

The Welch Way : 24 Lessons from the World's Greatest CEO

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Jack Welch, the former chairman of General Electric, is still a heroic managerial figure to many businesspeople, and his wisdom has found its way into the book market in many and various ways. Of course, numerous books are available about Six Sigma, the managerial philosophy that Welch made famous. But Six Sigma was only part of Welch's legacy. In this slim guide to the counsel of the man who earned the sobering sobriquet "Neutron Jack," author Jeffrey Krames summarizes Welch's philosophy in 24 leadership principles, followed by brief notes and exercises for training managers. We recommend this admiring condensation of Jack Welch's managerial strategies as an introductory summary which may whet your appetite for a deeper look at Welch's distinctive take on corporate leadership

The Welch Way authored by Jeffrey Krames is a real handy employee handbook for enhancing corporate performance. I found the book educative and entertaining with easy to use and easy to apply lessons to work life. This short book is different in the sense that it offers profound information and value in the form of 24 lessons from the wisdom of the world's greatest business leader, Jack Welch. No wonder The Business Week aptly describes Welch as 'The Gold standard against which other CEOs are measured'. During his tenure he transformed GE into the global benchmark for corporate leadership, maximizing productivity and labor efficiency.

The lessons offer insights into the aspects - Lead Vs Manage, importance of being informal, keep it simple, face reality, embrace change as an opportunity, challenge tradition, fight bureacracy, respect intellect and values, live speed, instill confidence, articulate vision and have fun etc.

The three most important points to pick up are - simplicity, speed and self-confidence.

It is learnt that on the foundations of boundarylessness Welch constructed his learning organisation. The declaration of Welch that 'Six sigma is the most important thing we've ever had - it is better than going to Harvard Business School' is interesting.
Further his 4E's of leadership - Energy, Energize, Edge and Execution inspire any leader. He says speed is everything which keeps business and people young. He declares that Business is about passion, winning, creating new things. Business is about ideas and fun and excitement and celebrations - a superlative perspective indeed !

Jeffrey Krames, Publisher of McGraw-Hill's business books has given a wonderful gist of what Jack Welch has to offer to the corporate world. The book is crisp in rendition and short. An ideal refresher and a handy handbook for all employees.

A must read to reflect and share the wisdom with colleagues.

Welch's paternalistic management wisdom as revealed through his prophet, Jeffrey Krames.
In handy, bite-sized nuggets, too--not a chapter
longer than 2 pages. Each chapter illustrates a "Lesson",
how Jack Welch learned it and put it into action and how
you can do it, too, along with a saying of Chairman Jack.

Sadly, the book is written in an annoying style that
combines the breezy cheerfulness of self-help books
and the unquestioning reverence of official Communist
Party biographies of Stalin or children's Sunday
School stories about the works of Jesus.
The "in today's <insert modifier(s) here> world"
phrase, beaten to death in so much of what passes
for business writing abounds here.
Why are so many business books so poorly written ?
The author is VP and Publisher of McGraw-Hill's business
books division. Hmmm, may have answered my own question.

Of course there are many good suggestions in this book,
but none terribly original; whole business book genres
revolve around "quality", "eliminating boundaries"
and getting rid of bureaucracy. Unfortunately, most
bad managers probably think they have already learned
these lessons,too.

Very positive, abstract, and florid.

Helpful points.

It sounds good. But will it be followed?

This book could have provided specific examples and real-life situations.

Still worth having, however.

Jeffrey Krames' book allows you to gulp in quickly the easy to apply and often powerful bite-size success strategies of Jack Welch. This book is the perfect buy for any manager who wants a condensed version of the Welch Way, with an opportunity to apply the lessons learned on a personal level. Great job!