Winning
by Jack Welch, Suzy Welch
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Book Reviews of Winning
Book Review: Winning, but maybe at the wrong game
Summary: 4 Stars
I wish Jack Welch a long life, but he may be the first to show that a person on his deathbed can wish that he had spent more time at the office. Work was, and still is, his great passion, and being a successful businessman is the only thing he ever wanted in life. Other than playing some golf and cheering for the Red Sox, he developed no hobbies or outside interests. "My kids were raised, largely alone, by their mother," he admits.
Of course he was a successful businessman, spectacularly successful in fact, and learning from that success is the whole point of the book. He is a bright man, and both from his career at GE and his business contacts elsewhere, he knows a lot about what works and what doesn't in the corporate world. His basic views on hiring, firing, and motivating employees are already widely emulated in the business world, and he explains them well here, with lots of examples. His emphasis on candor in the workplace, instead of people withholding information or criticism as the organization heads for a false and potentially disastrous consensus, was my favorite chapter. And for someone who never left the fast track to success, Welch has excellent advice on handling setbacks and dealing with bad bosses.
Considering that the book is for highly educated professionals, the style of the writing is surprisingly light and simple. Sentences are short and often end with exclamation points. Chapters are broken up into sections that are only a few pages long. I'm not complaining, mind you. I read much of the book in a noisy cafeteria during my lunch break, and it would be nice if all authors realized that reading usually isn't done in monastery-like conditions. However, some of the subjects Welch tries to address, like Six Sigma and corporate mergers, require more intellectual heft than this format is able to provide. The book's front cover blurb, "No other management book will ever be needed," is an unkept promise.
Learn from Jack Welch; there's certainly a lot of wisdom in the book. But don't be exactly like him. Pursue a hobby, volunteer in your community, and raise your children.
Book Review: this time Welch nails it
Summary: 4 Stars
It appears that (after a couple of misfires) Jack Welch has finally written a book to match his legend. It probably also helps that his new wife Suzy (and co-author), a former editor at HBR, knows a thing or two about writing. No matter what you think of either Welch, this book is worth the price of admission.
Put "Winning" on the top shelf next to "Good to Great" and "Built to Last." In fact, Welch's "Winning" is the perfect complement to Collins' two-some. Collins' work is dramatically research-based, Welch's is utterly life-based. In particular, I enjoyed his 8 leadership principles that balance soft skills (communicating vision, building trust, motivating others) and character attributes (making the tough call, being positive, being nurturing to the core). I also enjoyed how Welch answers his critics on the infamous 20-70-10 rule and his hiring frameworks.
One strength of "Winning" is in the breadth of topics covered - both in the realm of organizational leadership as well as career development. Lots of books do one well, but Welch manages to excel in both without being superficial or glossying-over (though most other books aren't 350+ pages!).
Make no mistake about it - the ideas presented are not new. For example, two of Welch's leadership principles: "exude positive energy" and "push and probe with a curiousity that borders on skepticism" sound a lot like Collin's "confront the brutal facts, yet never lose faith" principle. But it's Welch's down-to-earth writing style that helps you understand these timeless principles in a fresh way. As you're reading, you can almost picture him speaking the words in some business school auditorium or some Fortune 100 management retreat. The words are deceptively simplistic, but it's Welch's wisdom at its best - boiled down to the very essence from four decades of rough-and-tumble managerial experience.
If you're still unsure, I found this excerpt in Newsweek (google "jack welch newsweek excerpt 2005") to be helpful and informative.
Book Review: A Great Mentor
Summary: 5 Stars
In this book, the renowned former CEO of GE, Mr. Jack Welch, talks about running a business to win. This book is a summary of his decades of business experience, organized into the following major sections: (1) a review on relevant foundational business theories, (2) managing the company and its people, (3) handling the competition, (4) managing one's career, and (5) miscellaneous current issues. The authors state that the book is an organized summary of the answers for various questions asked worldwide.
It is any reader's great opportunity to learn from this world-class executive through reading his book. Mr. Welch is a great mentor who is generous in sharing his own knowledge. He is not afraid of sharing his successes, failures, and the lessons he has learned from them. His stories and experiences further validate the fact that, in general, the theories learned in the business school are very applicable in the real world. In addition to that, I am really impressed with the particular solutions or explanations given to some detailed and tough business questions. I always remember one thing that Mr. Welch said even before the publishing of this book: it is not hard to manage for the short term or to manage for the long term; it is the balancing between the two that is difficult in management. Similarly, the authors have done a great job in balancing communicating formal business knowledge and sharing useful nuggets of knowledge from experience in various aspects of executive management.
The writing in this book is down-to-earth and the logic behind is clear and sensible. In each chapter, important concepts are organized as several important points that are further explained and supported with examples.
Through reading this book, one can also tell that Mr. Welch did run the company with all his heart when he was working at GE. In this book, he remembers many names of his former colleagues and the particular things that they had done or said.
Book Review: Weaker than his last book
Summary: 3 Stars
Jack Welch makes a strong case for honest feedback, so here is mine. I liked his previous book, Straight from the Gut, very much. Even though that was put together in a rush while he was still the Chairman and CEO of GE, Jack Welch really came alive. His new book, though not bad, does not come close, for two reaons:
First, one of Jack Welch's defining features, it seems, is that he has the gift to be brutally honest with those around him and with himself. While this shines through at times here, far too often the language is softened, there is an attempt to include all perspectives, and there is too much consultant-lingo. The approach and style sonehow seem distinctly more like a Harvard Business Review article than the last book. There's nothing wrong with that except it's distinctly not Jack Welch's style. Sentences like "you can win" or "change is not bad" are really unforgivable. At least I don't want to pay money for them.
Second, this book was written from the perspective of the retiree who participated in many Q&A sessions after retiring from GE. This somehow contrasts with the powerful authority Jack Welch had when he was writing as the Chairman and CEO of the world's most valuable company, and it shows in his style.
The book is strongest where he recounts his GE experience - there's no doubt about up or down and right or wrong. But it gets weaker where he does not talk about first hand experience - eg, the paragraphs about anonymous friends or acquaintances who experienced this or that.
Some of the chapters are very powerful - the one on differentiation and the one on work life balance, for instance. What makes them great is that they are the condensed wisdom of many years of experience of a truly impressive leader. Had he just kept is at that, this could have been a great book. As it is, he changed his perspective (and editor) to the last one. And yes, change can be bad. Very bad. It can cost two stars.
Book Review: Good, but not Great
Summary: 4 Stars
Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, has written a second book on business and the lessons he's learned in four decades with GE and two decades as GE's CEO. His basic advice on strategic planning and vision statements are alone worth the price of the book. He also discusses how to select a career path, how to get promoted, how to deal with a tough boss, and the evolution of the work-life balance as a concept for today's executive.
He also goes into greater detail about his controversial doctrine that managers should evaluate their staffs. He believes in using a model that says that 20% are outstanding and should be promoted as leaders, 70% are average and should be further investigated to see who might be developed into leadership, and 10% are underpeformers who should be placed on probation with an eye to dismissing them from their employment. Welch believes that most employee assessment processes do a disservice to the employee as well as the organization by not candidly assessing true performance. This leaves organizations performing below capacity and some employees vulnerable to dismissal during lean times while having no clue why they were the ones chosen and having had no opportunity to improve.
His perspective is heavily influenced by his own experiences ad those of his former company, GE. Few examples come from other corporate environments, or from history and the experiences of others outside GE. Welch shares a weakness common to business book authors -- the ability to generalize from personal experiences to life in general, but an inability or neglect for taking life in general and applying it to his or others' specific situations. Accept this limitation, work around it by using your own imagination, and the book becomes much more useful and enjoyable.