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Jack Welch has died

wsj.com

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Re: Jack Welch has died

#41

Post by [deleted] »

briandear wrote: post #37
quaquaqua1 wrote: post #32

Jack Welch is indirectly the reason I got fired at Oracle, because some group of bean counters thought it is smart to fire people regularly based on some subjective measurement. However I am very sad he died because I subsequently got a raise and met my wife at my next company.

There is something to be said about your comment: this illustrates the value of free markets and the efficient allocation of resources; you were allocated more efficiently and you made more money and got your wife.

[deleted]

Re: Jack Welch has died

#42

Post by programbreeding »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #29

The article has a good summary of his legacy and his gracefulness: Under Mr. Welch, GE became known for consistent profit performance and a surging stock price. Much of those gains came from GE Capital, the finance arm that ballooned under Mr. Welch and would almost destroy the company during the 2008 financial crisis. GE’s profit has plunged in recent years, dragged down by hidden costs in the company’s Capital unit…

>Much of those gains came from GE Capital

>GE’s profit has plunged in recent years, dragged down by hidden costs in the company’s Capital unit

>he gave himself an A for his execution of its operations, and an F for his choice of successor

Am I reading it right that the reason GE Capital was so successful during his time was because there were hidden costs, making it appear more profitable than it was, that didn't come out until later? Or did this hidden costs actually not exist until choices that were made after he left?

Re: Jack Welch has died

#43

Post by [deleted] »

programbreeding wrote: post #42
KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #29

The article has a good summary of his legacy and his gracefulness: Under Mr. Welch, GE became known for consistent profit performance and a surging stock price. Much of those gains came from GE Capital, the finance arm that ballooned under Mr. Welch and would almost destroy the company during the 2008 financial crisis. GE’s profit has plunged in recent years, dragged down by hidden costs in the company’s Capital unit…

>Much of those gains came from GE Capital >GE’s profit has plunged in recent years, dragged down by hidden costs in the company’s Capital unit >he gave himself an A for his execution of its operations, and an F for his choice of successor Am I reading it right that the reason GE Capital was so successful during his time was because there were hidden costs, making it appear more profitable than it was, that didn't com…

[deleted]

Re: Jack Welch has died

#44

Post by abraxas »

soapboxrocket wrote: post #18
dralley wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can someone speak to his lasting major contributions? Inflicting "stack ranking" upon the world, for one. Not all contributions are positive.

This. And if you pull if forward, stack ranking did a lot of damage to both GE and Microsoft after Ballmer implemented it. The real failure of stack ranking is it never ends, so at some point you are firing good employees.

Also the list of "good" employees is not consistent year to year. Even if you don't fire people most will have better and worse years. Sometimes the swings can be dramatic when people find their groove or conversely when they face burnout or have personal problems.

Stack ranking is stupid, heartless and unscientific. Just like the man who invented it.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#45

Post by sokoloff »

pcurve wrote: post #33
dayofthedaleks wrote: post #4

My impression is that he was no management genius but rather fortunate in the timing of moving his company into the FIRE sector. All of that goodwill evaporated in the 09 crisis. Can someone speak to his lasting major contributions? I guess he also deserves the credit/blame for the ubiquity of Six Sigma.

Neutron Jack. We can all thank him for pioneering stack ranking and Vitality curve performance management that called for firing of bottom 10 percent each year. A Japanese head of company once said, "there's no point firing bottom 20 percent because given time, there will be new bottom 20 percent formed to take its place.

Is that an accurate quote? It would seem to make more sense if the first gerund was "firing" rather than the current "hiring"

Very, very few companies really want to hire the bottom 20% anyway.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#46

Post by pcurve »

sokoloff wrote: post #45
pcurve wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neutron Jack. We can all thank him for pioneering stack ranking and Vitality curve performance management that called for firing of bottom 10 percent each year. A Japanese head of company once said, "there's no point firing bottom 20 percent because given time, there will be new bottom 20 percent formed to take its place.

Is that an accurate quote? It would seem to make more sense if the first gerund was "firing" rather than the current "hiring" Very, very few companies really want to hire the bottom 20% anyway.

oops, typo. Yes I meant 'firing', not 'hiring'. Fixed.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#47

Post by hugi »

alehul wrote: post #31

Given that every single comment I've seen so far is a joke or a negative, it's worth offering a more respectful perspective of his accomplishments and story from Wikipedia [1]: Jack Welch was the child of a railroad conductor, born and raised outside Boston. He worked as a golf caddie, newspaper delivery boy, shoe salesman, and drill press operator, throughout middle school and high school. Welch joined GE in 1960 as…

They always make you sound nice in the obituary.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#48

Post by monocasa »

dayofthedaleks wrote: post #4

My impression is that he was no management genius but rather fortunate in the timing of moving his company into the FIRE sector. All of that goodwill evaporated in the 09 crisis. Can someone speak to his lasting major contributions? I guess he also deserves the credit/blame for the ubiquity of Six Sigma.

I once described the worst member of senior leadership I've had to deal with at a company as having no tricks other than cosplaying as Jack Welch. Like he instituted stack ranking at a 50 engineer company because he was old money, and it never occurred to him to interact with "the help" enough to know the engineers under him.

He's one of two people in the management chain I've met in my career that they working at a company (not even in my management chain, but there at all) is mutually exclusive with me working there.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#49

Post by geodel »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #29

The article has a good summary of his legacy and his gracefulness: Under Mr. Welch, GE became known for consistent profit performance and a surging stock price. Much of those gains came from GE Capital, the finance arm that ballooned under Mr. Welch and would almost destroy the company during the 2008 financial crisis. GE’s profit has plunged in recent years, dragged down by hidden costs in the company’s Capital unit…

> he sometimes said he gave himself an A for his execution of its operations, and an F for his choice of successor.

As Michael Scott would say "My biggest flaw is working too hard"

Jack is upset that his successor did not turn out to be person of questionable moral values and shady accounting genius.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#50

Post by dayofthedaleks »

quaquaqua1 wrote: post #32

Jack Welch is indirectly the reason I got fired at Oracle, because some group of bean counters thought it is smart to fire people regularly based on some subjective measurement. However I am very sad he died because I subsequently got a raise and met my wife at my next company.

See? Creative Destruction is real!
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