Jack Welsh`s book `Winning`

The Way of Winning

Life-Based Leadership Principles from Jack Welch

During the hundreds of millions of years of natural evolution on this planet , survival has always been a continuous challenge for living creatures . It has recently to come into light that in the past four million years , there have been scores of human species on the earth besides us homo sapiens . However , all of these various human-like beings including the Neanderthal man perished in the course of evolution we humans have outlived all of them . We have emerged as the true survivors

br We are the last man ' standing

However , in the whole history of the world , survival could have never been as tough as it is in today 's world of big business . It is an ever-changing , dizzingly fast-paced , intensely competitive and danger-saturated environment out there . There are many survivors and many winners in this arena , of course . Of all such exceptional people in the recent decades , there is one man who stands out as a celebrated icon of leadership and business success . And it is other than Jack Welch of GE , arguably the finest CEO in the latter half of the twentieth century

Speaking from a broad perspective , he is not just an exemplary business leader , but a hero , a survivor , a symbol of the triumph of man . Jack Welch is a man who believed that each individual should control his or her own destiny . Welch sums up his conviction thus : "Today , I see winning as people defining their objectives and fulfilling them , not being a victim . You define where you want to go , and then you go for it (Knowledge Wharton ) And from the depth of this belief perhaps sprang the secret of his greatness

Starting from the early Eighties , Jack Welch , CEO of the General Electric Corporation , has led his company through one of the most revolutionary and far-reaching changes ever witnessed in modern business history . Having taken GE with a market capitalization of about 12 billion , Jack Welch turned it into one of the largest and most admired companies in the world , with a market value of about 500 billion , when he stepped down as its CEO 20 years later , in 2000 Although Jack Welch was the legendary leader of a global manufacturing giant noted for its technological might and superiority , he has utilized a very human process to drive change through GE 's vast organization . He honoured the individual above all , and the humanity of the individual To him , the individual was the pivotal force in bringing about organizational change

And for the major part of his immensely successful career at the helm of GE he relentlessly embraced change . It was change that made GE businesses leaders in their markets , added profitable , productive businesses to GE 's family , and tapped the brains of knowledgeable employees . Welch worked for change , and change worked for him . Jack Welch of course knew how difficult change could be . Nevertheless he viewed change as his only real chance...