WWJWS - What Would Jack Welch Say?

Whenever a crisis occurs we always look to history to see what great leaders have done to navigate turbulent times.

One such leader who is widely admired is Jack Welch.

He led GE for nearly 20 years and as far as it goes for that time it was considered a success.

Though he has his detractors and some commented he had a checkered legacy ... he was widely called the manager of the 20th century.

It is worth to take time to understand what his leadership style was and how some of it can be applied from some of his very short but effective ... Quotable Quotes.

• If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete

• If your CFO (Chief Financial Officer) is more important than your CHRO (Chief Human Resource Officer) you're nuts!

• If you managed a baseball team, would you listen more closely to the team accountant or the director of player personnel?

• The value decade is upon us. If you can't sell a top-quality product at the world's lowest price, you're going to be out of the game

• Hierarchy is an organization with its face toward the CEO and its ass toward the customer

• In any bad situation you cannot let yourself be a victim

• If we wait for the perfect answer, the world will pass us by

• Protecting underperformers always backfires

• When employees underperform, a leader tells them so

• HR should be every company's killer app. What could possibly be more important than who gets hired?

• You measure your people and you take action on those that don't measure up

• You got to be rigorous in your appraisal system. The biggest cowards are managers who don't let people know where they stand

• Control your destiny or somebody will

• Culture drives great results

• On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world

• An overburdened, overstretched executive is the best executive, because he or she doesn't have the time to meddle, to deal in trivia, to bother people

• The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders - people who not only have enormous amounts of energy, but who can energize those whom they lead

• So every time you think about your work-life balance issue, remember what your boss is thinking about - and that's winning. Your needs may get heard - and even successfully resolved - but not if the boss's needs aren't met as well

• If we get the right people in the right job we've won the game

• Focus on a few key objectives ... I only have three things to do. I have to choose the right people, allocate the right number of dollars, and transmit ideas from one division to another with the speed of light. So I'm really in the business of being the gatekeeper and the transmitter of ideas

• Just because you are the boss doesn't mean you are the source of all knowledge

• Ninety-nine point nine percent of all employees are in the pile because they don't think

• Not surprisingly, work-life moaners tend to be a phenomenon of below-average performers

• For a large organization to be effective, it must be simple

• You have no right to be a leader if someone who works for you doesn't know where they stand

• The story about GE that hasn't been told is the value of an informal place. I think it's a big thought. I don't think people have ever figured out that being informal is a big deal

• Arrogance is a killer, and wearing ambition on one's sleeve can have the same effect. There is a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence

• Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy . . . Your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products

• Getting the right people in the right jobs is a lot more important than developing a strategy

• If you're a leader and you're the smartest guy in the world - in the room, you've got real problems

• Some think that it is cruel or brutal to remove the bottom 10 percent of our people. It isn't. It's just the opposite. What I think is brutal and "false kindness" is keeping people around who aren't going to grow and prosper. There's no cruelty like waiting and telling people late into their careers that they don't belong - just when the options are limited and they're putting their children through college or paying off big mortgages

• I might not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but I'm pretty good at getting most of the other bulbs to light up

• If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it you almost don't have to manage them

• Nothing of any importance has ever been accomplished by a pessimist

• Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence

• Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be

• Someone, somewhere has a better idea

• The most important quality of leadership is intellectual honesty. The reality principle - the ability to see the world as it really is, not as you wish it were

• No one can guarantee you a job other than satisfied customers. That's the only thing that works. Nothing creates work other than products and services you provide that create satisfied customers

• Insecure managers create complexity. Frightened, nervous managers use thick convoluted planning books and busy slides filled with everything they’ve known since childhood … They worry that if they’re simple, people will think they’re simple minded. In reality, of course, it’s just the reverse. Clear, tough minded people are the most simple

• No vision is worth the paper it's printed on unless it is communicated constantly and reinforced with rewards

• There's no such thing as work-life balance. There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences

• Never miss out on an opportunity like a good recession

• In the end, your integrity is all you've got

• Don't lose youself on the way to the top

• Does coaching work? Yes. Good coaches provide a truly important service. They tell you the truth when no one else will

• Celebrating creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Imagine a team winning the World Series without champagne spraying everywhere. And yet companies win all the time and let it go without so much as a high five. Work is too much a part of life not to recognize moments of achievement. Make a big deal out of them. If you don't, no one will

• The 3Ss of Winning in business are speed, simplicity, and self-confidence

• Number one, cash is king... number two, communicate... number three, buy or bury the competition

• First and most obvious, bring out the three old warhorses of competition - cost, quality, and service - and drive them to new levels, making every person in the organization see them for what they are, a matter of survival

• If there is anything I would like to be remembered for it is that I helped people understand that leadership is helping other people grow and succeed. To repeat myself, leadership is not just about you. It's about them

• Companies don't give job security. Only satisfied customers do

• Simple messages travel faster, simpler designs reach the market faster and the elimination of clutter allows faster decision making

• The most important job you have is growing your people, giving them a chance to reach their dreams

• A leader's role is not to control people or stay on top of things, but rather to guide, energize and excite

• Great leaders love to see people grow. The day you are afraid of them being better than you is the day you fail as a leader

• When it comes to strategy, ponder less and do more

• What Sam Walton did was to go into one of the most mature industries of all and find a way to make it grow, grow, grow, double-digit, month after month, year after year. He did it by innovation, customer focus, and above all, speed

• When all is said and done, teaching is what I try to do for a living

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/j/jack-welch.asp