Synopses & Reviews
When it comes to leadership, do you know Jack?The power, the passion, the profanity-Welch's speechwriter reveals how the CEO's manic attention to communications was the cornerstone to great leadership and GE's meteoric rise
Cross The Art of War with The Devil Wears Prada, and you might have something like this raucous, revealing, and irreverent portrait of business mega legend Jack Welch. Welch's speechwriter of 20 years, Bill Lane, takes you “backstage” and shows how ferociously Welch prepared for presentations.
Whether he faced angry congressmen, critical shareholders, or hostile union members, Welch knew how to win hearts and minds. Jack's ability to lead came from his ability to communicate and his intolerance of others who could not communicate clearly. As in politics, communication equaled the ability to lead. From his controversial firing of the bottom 10 percent of managers to his staggering increase of GE's capitalization to $400 billion, Jacked Up gives readers get an up-close, fly-on-the-wall view of Welch's riskiest moves: his falling out with his top lieutenant, Gary Wendt, the Long Bow Key analyst presentation that ignited GE's explosive stock growth, his “circle the wagons” reaction to Larry Bossidy's surprise departure to run Honeywell, and other landmark events.
The book also describes Welch's most outstanding speeches, outspoken opinions, outrageous philosophies, and outside-the-box principles that teach and inspire, shock and provoke, all at the same time. Like Jack himself, it's bold, brilliant-and a real kick-in-the-pants for the business world.
An inside look at the genius of GE
“Jack got quiet for nearly a full minute, as if I were no longer in the room and stared down at the table with the semi-scowl that meant some kind of processing was going on. This phenomenon did not happen that often, but even the senior people in the company would sit quietly until the internally tempestuous little reverie worked itself out.
“Then Jack said, loudly and decisively, 'No, no, no! We're not doing this any more. No more reports. We're sick of reports. The only pitches that are worth anything are when you tell people what they ought to do. Otherwise it's just a waste.' And so it began…”
Synopsis
AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE GENIUS OF GEBill Lane was Jack Welch's speechwriter for 20 years. In the first book by a GE insider, Lane shows that the real secret to Welch's immense success as a leader was Welch's ability as a master communicator. Welch launched a communications revolution that took GE from a ponderous supertanker of a company, to what Welch called a high speed “cigarette boat” capable of radical moves and rapid learning from the best institutions in the world.
Jacked Up gives you a front row seat to Welch's twenty-year campaign to transform GE. Lane's first-hand, fly-on-the-wall account reveals some of Welch's most vivid and exciting moments, including:
- An analysts presentation in Florida, where Welchs angry remarks ignited GEs stock growth
- A packed GE classroom at Crotonville, N.Y., when Welch and Bob Nardelli decided to stop construction on a multimilliondollar investment based on a class presentation
- Welchs frankand hilariousexplanation for financial services superstar Gary Wendts departure from GE
- Meetings with his top advisors, where Welch dissed dullpresenters and lavished kudos on articulate managers
You'll learn Jack's simple, often brutally enforced guidelines for “making a great pitch”, and how Welch practiced them himself in his memorable appearances before employees, financial analysts and customers--and his zero-tolerance of BS. You'll witness laugh-out-loud-funny cameo appearances from boldface names like Southwest Airlines Herb Kelleher, Don Imus, Jack's ex-wife Jane Welch, Conan O'Brian, and “Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog”. And you'll understand exactly how every leader can master the art of communication, to teach and inspire, shock and provoke, all at the same time.
This is Jack at his out-and-out best. This is the only book a leader or aspiring leader will ever need on effective communications.
Synopsis
When it comes to leadership,DO YOU KNOW JACK?
NO MORE REPORTS:
Jack got quiet for nearly a full minute, and stared down at the table with the semi-scowl that meant some kind of processing was going on. Then he said, loudly and decisively:
“No, no, no! Were not doing this any more. No more ‘reports. Were sick of reports. The only pitches that are worth anything are when you tell people what they ought to do. Otherwise its just a waste.”
And so it began, gradually, that GE began to move from a self-absorbed corporation to what Welch would later describe with much pride as “a real learning company.”
A SHOUT FROM THE BATHROOM:
One day Jack brought a copy of a letter he had been sent. It was written by one of our very senior business leaders “explaining” some Corporate initiative. The letter made no sense, and Jack read passages of it aloud, with inflections that emphasized the absurdities in what the man had written. Finally he stopped laughing long enough to render his final criticism.
“Its like something he yelled out the bathroom door to his secretary while he was sitting on the can. Thats it exactly. This is a shout from the bathroom.”
THIS IS JACK: UNCENSORED, IRREPRESSIBLE, AND UNBEATABLE
About the Author
Bill Lane joined GE as a speechwriter in 1980, after seven years at the Pentagon. From 1982 to 2001, he was Manager, Executive Communications for the Company, and Jack Welchs speechwriter.