Jack: Straight from the Gut [Paperback]

It's hard to think of a CEO that commands as much respect as Jack Welch. In Jack: What I've Learned Leading a Great Company and Great People, Welch, with the help of Business Week journalist John Byrne, recounts his career and the style of management that helped to make GE one of the most successful companies of the last century. Under his leadership, General Electric reinvented itself several times over by integrating new and innovative practices into its many lines of business. Beginning with Welch's childhood in Salem Massachusetts, the book quickly progresses from his first job in GE's plastics division to his ambitious rise up the GE corporate ladder, which culminated in 1981. What comes across most in this autobiography is Welch's passion for business as well as his remarkable directness and intolerance of what he calls "superficial congeniality"--a dislike that would help earn him the nickname "Neutron Jack." In spite of its 496 pages, Jack: Straight from the Gut is a quick read that any student or manager would do well to consider. --Harry C Edwards --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

It's hard to think of a CEO that commands as much respect as Jack Welch. Under his leadership, General Electric reinvented itself several times over by integrating new and innovative practices into its many lines of business. In Jack: Straight from the Gut, Welch, with the help of Business Week journalist John Byrne, recounts his career and the style of management that helped to make GE one of the most successful companies of the last century. Beginning with Welch's childhood in Salem, Massachusetts, the book quickly progresses from his first job in GE's plastics division to his ambitious rise up the GE corporate ladder, which culminated in 1981. What comes across most in this autobiography is Welch's passion for business as well as his remarkable directness and intolerance of what he calls "superficial congeniality"--a dislike that would help earn him the nickname "Neutron Jack". In spite of its 496 pages, Jack: Straight from the Gut is a quick read that any student or manager would do well to peruse.--Harry C. Edwards --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Jack Welch was perhaps the greatest corporate leader of the 20th century. When he first became CEO of General Electric in 1981 the company was worth $12 billion. Twenty years later it is worth a total of $280 billion. But Welch was more than just the leader of the most successful business in the world. He revolutionised GE’s entire corporate culture with his distinctive, highly personal management style: the individual appreciation of each of his 500 managers, the commitment to an informal but driven work style and the encouragement of candour were all part of the Welch approach. Following John Harvey Jones's Making it Happen and Troubleshooter, Jack has already become the businessman’s bible for the 21st century – an inspiration for a new generation of corporate players.

Jack Welch was born in 1935 in Peabody, Massachusetts, the son of a Boston & Maine train conductor. He joined the General Electric Co in 1960 and was CEO of the company from 1981 to 2001.