Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two books in one, 18 Sep 2008
A number of excellent books have already been written by or about Jack Welch and I wondered why Bill Lane would write another. More accurately, I was curious to know what (if anything) he could add to the life and career of arguably the most effective CEO during the last 50 years. As it turns out, Lane provides an eyewitness account that is (pardon the cliché) up close and personal to Welch from the time he was selected by Reginald Jones as his successor in 1981 until he retired in 2001. After seven years of service in the Army's Congressional office at the Pentagon, Lane was hired by GE in 2000 and was later named GE's Manager, Chief Executive Officer Communications and was Welch's speechwriter. For almost ten years, Lane probably spent more one-on-one time with Welch than did anyone else at GE.
What I did not expect when reading this book was the abundance of information and advice Lane provides with regard to effective communications. Because I hold Jack Welch in high regard, I was delighted to be able to tag along with Lane as he and Welch worked closely together on various projects. However, I also thoroughly appreciate what Lane shares when discussing what he has learned about public presentations, written communications, and (yes) collaborating with egomaniacs such as Welch who could be endearing one moment and insufferable the next. So there are two ways to view this book: as a remarkably candid profile of Welch that uses real-world situations (e.g. communications) to reveal his personality and character, or, a remarkably detailed manual on effective communications that that uses real-world situations (e.g. assignments for Welch) to demonstrate key points.
It is worth noting that Lane can be as endearing and insufferable as Welch. (Both are masters of what could be called "strategic" use of temperament.) At no time does he seem to be haunted by self-doubt. He knows his stuff, knows that he knows his stuff, and leaves no doubt in anyone else's mind that he knows his stuff. Perhaps only someone such as Lane could have survived close proximity to Welch for a period of almost ten years. I should add that both Welch and Lane also come across as sensitive, thoughtful, and caring persons. Both possess what Ernest Hemingway once described as "a built-in, shock-proof crap detector." It would not be unusual for one to shout at the other "I love you, goddammit!"...and mean it.
Amidst the on-going drama of testosterone on steroids, while Welch "blows up GE" as Jones urged him to do, providing the leadership that enabled it to increase its market value from $14-billion to than $410 billion by the end of 2004, Lane includes what could serve as a primer of corporate communications. He illustrates all of his key points with real-world examples, adding insights provided by numerous GE associates. Here are a few representative examples:
"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." (Page 3)
"The best presentations I've done in my life - including my father's five-minute eulogy - are ones about which people I respected came up and said: `It was great, but it was too short. I wanted to hear more.'" (Page 33)
"Handle the dirty guts of your business or operation. Doing so will give you the confidence to walk into any meeting rooms immune to fakery and with no need to engage in that activity yourself." (Page 112)
"In any presentation, to any audience, you must `season' a success story - even a triumphant success story - with some commentary on `where we came up short' or `where we could have done better' or "if we had to do it over, we might have taken a slightly different approach.' These are enormous credibility-enhancers. An unalloyed `success story' sounds like `blow and go,' and causes any audience to switch on its BS detectors." (Page 157)
"Start off strongly with a hint of urgency in your voice. Memorize your opening. Sharpen it like a spear and then fire it into the hearts of the audience after you bound up to the lectern to do your pitch. And, if there is a particular anecdote that set you off on this subject and frames your thinking on the subject you are about to present, tell it. The dramatic effect of a powerful anecdote is immense. Grab them by the throats; pique their interest and their curiosity in those first few seconds." (Page 279)
Lane begins his Introduction as follows: "Is there a crying -- or even whimpering - need for this book? I'm not sure. My book fills three gaps that you, the reader, can decide were better filled or not." They are the details of Lane's life, how Jack Welch transformed GE, and his need to help the reader become a better communicator. If not filling each of the three "gaps," Lane certainly adds substantially to each. In process, he provides a remarkably lively, frequently entertaining account of both his relationship with Jack Welch and of what he learned during his own years at GE. Near the end of the Introduction, Lane sets the tone of the narrative that follows when recalling Welch's retirement party ("the hottest ticket in town") at the Crotonville campus. "My favorite tribute to Jack was by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog from the Conan O'Brien Show, who, peering out at us in contempt with a cigar in his mouth, said, "Look at this crowd of GE executives and celebrities at Jack Welch's party. I haven't seen so many parasites since my last stool sample.'...It was a real celebration."
And so is this book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Ego Trip, 31 Mar 2008
If you're looking for the inside skinny on what it was like to work at GE during Jack Welch's tenure then this is the book for you. Likewise if you want the goss' on how the author often dated several secretaries at once or forgot his golf shoes at the GE Leadership Conference in Boca and bought a new pair on his expense account then you've come to the right place.
However if you want to know more about effective communications in a large company then this book won't really hit the mark. There's no question Mr Lane did a great job writing speeches for Jack Welch - and if we are in any doubt he tells us in great detail how he was taking home "seven figures" by the time he was packaged off when Welch himself retired. However Lane also readily admits that he was not successful in distlling Jack Welch's own brand of candid and straightforward communication down through all levels of the company - surely a critical success factor of any large corporate communications programme?
Congratulations to Bill Lane on a long and successful career at GE... however I'm not sure why in his retirement he felt compelled to share it with the rest of us.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Revealing look at charismatic speaker Jack Welch, 1 Sep 2009
Jack Welch was the most famous CEO in the U.S. when he ran General Electric. During the Welch era (1981-2001), GE's value skyrocketed, making millionaires of employees with stock options. CEOs across the globe adopted Welch's strategies for streamlining operations, reducing payrolls and dominating markets. Welch retired superrich (current estimated net worth: $720 million) - not bad for a short, stumpy, middle-class guy with a lifelong stutter and an explosive temper. GE staffers called Welch "Neutron Jack" because of his temper, his pettiness and his heavy hand with firings, more than 100,000 during his first four years as CEO. In this book, Bill Lane, Welch's speechwriter for two decades, reveals the true man, warts and all. Despite his singular accomplishments, Welch comes across in Lane's book as an abusive tyrant and a bully. Lane doesn't make himself look much better, from commenting on a female stockbroker's "great legs" to throwing around expletives. He paints an unattractive picture of overpaid, self-indulgent, immature executives, pitching things at each other and acting, as Lane puts it, like "little boys competing for attention in the schoolyard." getAbstract finds that this book is a top-notch primer on executive communication and recommends it for that purpose. Just don't pay as much attention to the way its stars comport themselves when they're not in public.
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