Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric is known as a modern day inventor of corporate entrepreneurship, effective management and a staunch fighter of bureaucracy. Despite the fact that GE was a huge company, Welch ran it as if it were a small, agile firm ready to do battle with any of its competition.
The result he got was uncanny and implemented certain techniques that helped formulate one of the best management theories and practices in modern day history. Below, you will find some of Welch's business and management philosophies / implementations and, hopefully you will be able to change your current thinking and implement these philosophies within your own organization.
Everybody Deserves A Voice, Everybody Deserves To Be Heard
Jack Welch understood that people, regardless of professional level want to heard and actively want to express their thoughts and opinions. Moreover, he knew that there was a lot of talent within the organization and urged his team of upper management to welcome open collaboration.
Prior to Welch's urgency and importance to put this management tactic in place, large firms never thought of such a thing and never anticipated the positive results it could yield.
Being Candid Is The Best Way To Make People Listen
During his tenure, and still to this day, Welch believes that being candid in speech and nature is the most effective form of communication. On a personal level, I could not agree more and, in business and sometimes personal life am quite candid in my delivery of thoughts and speech. Subsequently, Welch is spot-on as this approach yields more results and, in my belief, gets people to be more upfront about their feelings and motivations.
Welch stressed the point that people are not candid enough because it goes against our society and people believe candidness will hurt others' feelings and drive them away. Welch explains why this is quite the opposite result that one will obtain from being candid. He feels that it breeds openness and allows for collaboration amongst the group of employees within a company. This form of communication, upon being stressed at General Electric during Welch's term, saw tremendous results.
Risk Is A Good Thing - There Is No Better Gauge Then Your Gut Feeling
One of the best things about Welch is that he was not afraid to use his gut when making a decision. However, he was not immediate to pull the trigger as certain persuasion analysts have grouped him and others such as Oprah Winfrey as "Charismatic Decision Makers."
A charismatic decision maker is defined as somebody who, upon getting excited by an idea (and they are easily excitable) will ask those around them before making a decision, but subsequently moves quickly on an opportunity that they believe to be a sound decision. Welch prided himself on being able to take calculated risks and having the ability to use his intuition to make big calls that resulted in a strong, positive impact within the organization. He also encouraged those at the firm to do the same - a sign of a true entrepreneur.
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