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Financial writer Janet Lowe is the author of numerous business biographies, including
Jack Welch Speaks, which analyzes what the legendary chairman of General Electric has had to say about himself and his career. In her new book,
Welch: An American Icon, Lowe defines the legacy he will leave behind, when he retires sometime after the end of 2001, by examining how Welch "made himself into a global icon representing American business in its most powerful, most impressive, most efficient, and most admired incarnation." Her opening section looks at the man--who he is, where he came from, what he believes--along with the inimitable personal style that earned him
Fortune magazine's Manager of the Century designation. Part Two details the changes Welch imposed on GE during his 20 years at the helm, from restructuring the management and employee ranks to revamping the business lineup, implementing the Six Sigma quality initiative, and committing to both globalization and the Internet. It also discusses the hundreds of firms he jettisoned or acquired, and the way he used the company's 67,588 patents to build from within. The final part speculates on the future: GE after Welch (including challenges facing his successor, like rebuilding the management team and managing the public's perception of it) and Welch after GE (with activities ranging from a bigtime book tour and golf to charity work and a possible foray into e-commerce). Prior to the release of Welch's own book after he steps down, this offers probably the most up-to-date look available at this highly competitive strategist whose shoes will indeed be difficult to fill. --
Howard Rothman
From Publishers Weekly
When business writer Lowe (Damn Right!, etc.) approached GE Chairman Jack Welch about a book (Jack Welch Speaks, her first book on him), "[h]e said he did not see any purpose in. . . yet another book." Lowe's respectable, ultimately redundant book portrays Welch as a captain of industry who commands the kind of attention that top executives crave and almost never get. The near-mythical story of GE's wrenching turnaround earns Welch abundant positive and negative buzz. Unlike many of Welch's contemporaries, he has stayed with the same company for the long run (since 1960), becoming chairman in 1981 and immediately restructuring the massive conglomerate, earning the moniker "Neutron Jack" because of his huge layoffs along the way. Through a combination of radical structural changes, a near-fanatical devotion to the Six Sigma management system and an acquisition blitzkrieg, GE leapt into the 21st century, taking no prisoners. Critics noted that under his stewardship, deep workforce reductions accompanied Welch's own ballooning salary and a tendency to treat workers and their hometowns as dispensable (Welch has said, "Ideally, you'd have every plant you own on a barge, to move with currencies and changes in the economy"). Lowe promises a balanced look at Welch that pulls no punches; for the most part, she delivers. But the book's distracting, episodic style (a lot of the material was left over from the first book) makes it seem little more than an attempt to capitalize on curiousity about Welch prior to the publication of his much-touted upcoming book. Several abundant appendices are informative but do little to explain Welch's icon status.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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