CONTENTS Original Version in PM Bücherei Nr =O-4011 und auf INTRODUCTION P:\ALLE\LITERAT\FREMDLIT\Eingelesen\Welch\Winning Englisch\Welch- Winning-engl-orig.doc "Every Day, There Is a New Question" 1 UNDERNEATH IT ALL ONLY FOR INTERNAL USE! 1. MISSION AND VALUES So Much Hot Air About Something So Real 13 2.CANDOR The Biggest Dirty Little Secret in Business 25 3. DIFFERENTIATION Cruel and Darwinian? Try Fair and Effective 37 4. VOICE AND DIGNITY Every Brain in the Game 53 Jack Welch YOUR COMPANY with Suzy Welch 5. LEADERSHIP It's Not Just About You 61 To the thousands of men and women 6. HIRING who cared about business to raise their hands What Winners Are Made Of 81 7. PEOPLE MANAGEMENT You've Got the Right Players. Now What? 97 WINNING 8. PARTING WAYS ISBN: 0-06-075394-3 (hard-cover) Letting Go Is Hard to Do 119 ISBN: 0-06-079742-8 (soft-cover/Taschenbuch) 9. CHANGE 2005 Harper Collins Publishers New York Mountains Do Move 133 The authors’ profits from this book are being donated to charity. 10.CRISIS MANAGEMENT From Oh-God-No to Yes-We're-Fine 147 YOUR COMPETITION Introduction 11. STRATEGY It's All in the Sauce 165 "EVERY DAY, THERE IS A NEW 12. BUDGETING QUESTION" Reinventing the Ritual 189 AF T E R I F I N I S H E D my autobiography-a fun but crazily intense 13. ORGANIC GROWTH grind that I wedged into the corners of my real job at the time-I swore So You Want to Start Something New 205 I'd never write another book again. 14. MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS But I guess I did. Deal Heat and Other Deadly Sins 217 15. SIX SIGMA My excuse, if there is one, is that I didn't actually come up with the Better Than a Trip to the Dentist 245 idea for this book. It was given to me. YOUR CAREER It was a retirement present, if you will, from the tens of thousands of 16. THE RIGHT JOB terrific people I have met since I left GE-the energized, curious, gutsy, Find It and You'll Never Really Work Again 255 and ambitious men and women who have loved business enough to ask 17. GETTING PROMOTED 277 me every possible question you could imagine. In order to answer them, Sorry, No Shortcut all I had to do was figure out what I knew, sort it out, codify it, and borrow their stories-and this book was off and running. 18. HARD SPOTS The questions I'm referring to first started during the promotional tour That Damn Boss 299 for my autobiography in late 2001 and through much of 2002, when I 19. WORK-LIFE BALANCE was overwhelmed by the emotional attachment Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Having It All (But Were Afraid to Hear) 313 TYING UP LOOSE ENDS 20. HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE The Questions That Almost Got Away 339 Acknowledgments 360 Index 363 1 people seemed to have to GE. From coast to coast, and in many company who thinks change is necessary, or if the budget process countries around the world, people told me touching stories about in my company is full of sandbagging, or I'm about to launch a their experiences working for the company, or what happened when great new product and headquarters doesn't want to give me the their sister, dad, aunt, or grandfather did. autonomy and resources I need? But with these stories, I was also surprised to hear how much What can I do, people have asked, if managers in my company don't more people wanted to know about getting business right. really tell it like it is, or I have to let go of an employee I really like but Radio call-in guests pressed me to explain GE's system of who just can't hack it, or I have to help lead my organization through differentiation, which separates employees into three performance the crisis we've been trying to deal with for a year? categories and manages them up or out accordingly. People attending There have been questions about juggling the colliding demands of book-signing events wanted to know if I really meant it when I said the kids, career, and all that other stuff you want to do, like play golf, head of human resources at every company should be at least as renovate your house, or raise money in a walkathon. There have been important as the CFO. (I did!) At a visit to the University of Chicago questions about landing the promotion of your dreams-without making business school, an MBA from India asked me to explain more fully any enemies. There have been questions about macroeconomic trends, what a really good performance appraisal should sound like. emerging industries, and currency fluctuations. The questions didn't stop after the book tour. They continued-in There have been literally thousands of questions. But most of airports, restaurants, and elevators. Once a guy swam over to me in them come down to this: the surf off Miami Beach to ask me what I thought about What does it take to win? a certain franchise opportunity he was considering. But mainly they've come at the 150 or so Q & A sessions I have participated in And that is what this book is about-winning. Probably no other over the past three years, in cities around the world from New York topic could have made me want to write again! to Shanghai, from Milan to Mexico City. In these sessions, which Because I think winning is great. Not good great. have ranged from thirty to five thousand audience members, I sit on a stage with a moderator, usually a business journalist, and I try to Winning in business is great be answer anything the audience wants to throw at me. cause when companies win, people I have been asked And throw they have-questions about everything from coping thrive and grow. There are more jobs literally thousands of and more opportunities everywhere with Chinese competition, to managing talented but difficult people, questions. But most of to finding the perfect job, to implementing Six Sigma, to hiring the and for everyone. People feel upbeat them come down to this: right team, to leading in uncertain times, to surviving mergers and about the future; they have the acquisitions, to devising a killer strategy. resources to send their kids to What does it take to win? What should I do, I've heard, if I deliver great results but I work college, get better health care, buy for a jerk who doesn't seem to care, or if I'm the only person in my vacation homes, and secure a comfortable retirement. And winning affords them the opportunity to 2 3 give back to society in hugely That's why winning is great. important ways beyond just paying I think winning is more taxes-they can donate time Now, it goes without saying that you have to win the right way-cleanly great. Not good --great. and money to charities and mentor and by the rules. That's a given. Companies and people that don't compete Because when in inner-city schools, to name just fairly don't deserve to win, and thanks to well-honed internal company companies win, people two. Winning lifts everyone it processes and government regulatory agencies, the bad guys are usually touches-it just makes the world a found and kicked out of the game. thrive and grow. There better place. But companies and people in business that are honest-and that's the vast, are more jobs and When companies are losing, on vast majority-must find the way to win. more opportunities. the other hand, everyone takes a hit. This book offers a road map. People feel scared. They have less fi- nancial security and limited time or money to do anything for anyone It is not, incidentally, a road map just for senior level managers and CEOs. else. All they do is worry and upset their families, and in the meantime, if If this book helps them, terrific. I hope it does. But this book is also very they're out of work, they pay little, if any, taxes. much for people on the front lines: business owners, middle managers, people Let's talk about taxes for a minute. In fact, let's talk about government running factories, line workers, college graduates looking at their first jobs, in general. MBAs considering new careers, and entrepreneurs. My main goal with this Obviously, government is a vital part of society. First and foremost, it book is to help the people with ambition in their eyes and passion running does nothing less than protect us all from the insidious and persistent through their veins, wherever they are in an organization. challenges to national security that are with us now and for the You will meet a lot of people in this book. Some may remind you of foreseeable future. But government provides much more: the justice yourself, some may just seem very familiar: system, education, police and fire protection, highways and ports, There's the CEO who presents the company with a list of noble values-say, welfare and hospitals. The list could go on and on. quality, customer service, and respect-but never really explains what it means But even with the virtues of government, it is critical to remember that to live them.