[rating:1]
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008)
323 pgs
This book review feature is not just for books we recommend that you read but also a place to suggest books you not waste your money on! This is one of those books. I must confess that as someone who is fascinated by business biographies, I wanted to do some reading on Jack Welch who has been highly acclaimed for his 20-year tenure at the helm of General Electric. The title of this book caught my attention. I was intrigued by how leaders use their words to lead people and I thought this might be an insightful book since as Lane worked with Welch closely for close to 19 years.
However, this book rubbed me the wrong way for a number of reasons. First, it is filled with profanities and crude language. Lane attempts to give an inside view of the working of Welch but quoting the profane language Welch used seems unnecessary and the vulgar language Lane uses in telling his story is simply unprofessional. Second, Lane is clearly a starry-eyed fan of Welch. He readily admits that Welch enabled him to become rich and he owes his success to him. This makes his analysis, although crudely transparent at times, to lack real punch or objective credibility. Third, Lane spends far too much time commenting on the alcohol he consumed, or the pretty secretary, or the dramatic rise in his stock options, or how much he was paid, or golf. It is as if he is still an inexperienced young man who hasn’t matured yet. He is still enamored with the most basic, crass pleasures and has not developed a more mature outlook on life or business. Lane also readily admits that he has never run a business or had much administrative experience. He is a speechwriter, not a businessman. And it shows. He often makes comments that would never be found in a higher-level business book.
He makes statements such as: “A forceful leader can turn a culture on a dime” (12) and “Companies that overindulge work-life balance are going to be undercompetitive” (218).
Lane made me want to give Welch another chance by a writer who knew more about what he was talking about. I can’t imagine Welch being pleased with this book, despite Lane being enamored with him. At one point, when discussing Welch’s pride in his golf game, Lane notes: “I just didn’t feel in the mood to fuel this gigantic ego with more nitromethane” (202). Lane reports numerous angry outbursts by Welch and his penchant for firing those who underperformed. He relates how Welch agonized to prepare a rebuttal in case Warren Buffet tried to “zing” him when introducing him at a meeting (214). When Welch was in a vanload of GE staff, he made them all return to the office when his lunchbox was missing its turkey sandwich (225). Lane tries to make the point that Welch demanded excellence from everyone, but the scene of this multimillionaire CEO forcing everyone to return to the office for his sandwich makes Welch seem petty and childish. When commenting on his contribution to Welch, Lane notes: “Ghosts like me are paid very well to be unmentioned in memoirs” (173). Lane also notes that when Welch took over at GE, he “probably couldn’t stand about 25 to 30 percent of the people in the room” (89). However, after a number of departures and retirements, “By January, he probably hated only 15 percent.”
Nonetheless, Welch clearly was a highly successful CEO who took his company to astounding heights. Obviously he did some things well. Several controversial moves by Welch included dismantling GE’s long range planning machinery (25). Welch refused to have “visions” and instead focused on best practices (80). Further, he famously declared that any business of GE that could not be number one or two in its field would be fixed or sold (99). This insistence on focus and excellence is similar to Steve Jobs who narrowed what Apple offered and demanded its inventory be of high quality.
Lane does comment that Welch was extremely responsive to notes that were sent to him (87). He also claimed self-confidence was the essential ingredient to leadership success (108). Welch insisted that integrity and candor be the basis of everything done at GE (141). Finally, he observes that everything Welch put his name to had to be “owned” by him (247). Clearly Welch’s insistence on performance and honesty paid huge dividends. Finally, Welch’s desire to become a “learning organization” and his large investment in training his leaders helped produce a hugely successful company that was filled with talented leaders who were highly sought after by other companies.
What is lacking in this book is any level of sophisticated analysis. It is as if Lane is a sycophant reporting what he heard in the inner office without having the ability to analyze or critique what was said. Clearly Welch was an extremely successful business leader who challenged many contemporary business theories and who was able to transform the culture of a large, successful, inbred organization. It is therefore disappointing that this volume skims the surface of Welch’s accomplishments.
Lane, quite naturally, assumes that Welch’s success is largely centered around business presentations. He introduces his book by claiming, “The vanity of communications is about never—ever—allowing anything but your best face, and that of your organization, to ever, ever appear in front of your constituencies or your employees or your mates. Come with me . . .” (3). In a fitting conclusion, Lane begins his acknowledgments page by saying, “I’d like to thank myself for sitting at the dining room table for the better part of a year cranking this out . . .” (323). He concludes, “Why did I write this? Jack, you have to understand vanity.” (324).