Jack

Straight from the Gut

By: Jack Welch, John A. Byrne

Narrated by: Mike Barnicle

As CEO of General Electric for the past 20 years, Jack Welch has built its market cap by more than $450 billion and established himself as the most admired business leader in the world. His championing of initiatives like Six Sigma quality, globalization, and e-business have helped define the modern corporation. At the same time, he is a gutsy boss who has forged a unique philosophy and an operating system that relies on a "boundary-less" sharing of ideas, an intense focus on people, and an informal, give-and-take style that makes bureaucracy the enemy.

In anecdotal detail and with self-effacing humor, Jack Welch gives us the people who shaped his life (most notably his Irish mother) and the big hits and the big misses that characterized his career. Starting at GE in 1960 as an engineer earning $10,500, Jack learned the need for "getting out of the pile" when his first raise was the same as everyone else's. He stayed out of the corporate bureaucracy while running a $2 billion collection of GE businesses - in a sweater and blue jeans - out of a Hilton in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

After avoiding GE's Fairfield, Connecticut headquarters for years, Jack was eventually summoned by then-Chairman Reg Jones, who was planning his succession. There ensued one of the most painful parts of his career - Jack's dark-horse struggle, filled with political tension, to make it to the CEO's chair. A hug from Reg confirmed Jack was the new boss - and started the GE transformation. The riveting story of his last year - the elaborate process of selecting a successor and the attempt to buy Honeywell - is also told in compelling detail.

This is classic Jack Welch: down to earth, powerful, and filled with common sense.

©2001 by Jack Welch (P)2001 by Time Warner AudioBooks

Critic reviews

"As a self-portrait of one of America's most successful modern business leaders, Jack is remarkable for its candor." (Ther Economist)

Good portrait of the mind-set of a succesful CEO

Jack Welch clearly exposes the elements which made his career and his company succesful. Vision, passion, search for excellence, sharing of ideas throughout GE divisions, etc ... amazing how one man mobilized so many people. Also includes some interesing anecdotes gathered from his career.

great book!!!

Great book! Loved the story line. Good to know in such a huge company it's possible for management to honestly care about their employees and performance. It was an eye opener to GE, their values, and the people running the show. I would highly recommend this book. I listened on the way to and and from work. Definitely made my 50 minute commute alot easier.

In the top 5 books I've ever read.

It's quite a feat to get into the top 5. This book gets there easily.
Next to the Bible, there's Think & Grow Rich, As a Man Thinketh, Good Profit, Magic of Thinking Big, & now there's From the Gut.
The lens of creative business growth & continual pursuit of/adaptation to truth is how I relate to the world.
Jack reminds me like few others can that, while living my life this way is full of mistakes, bumps & bruises, it is without question the correct approach for a guy like me... and that perhaps, I'm not so crazy after all.
There are very, very few whom I can relate so strongly to. Moreover, this book couldnt have come at a better time in my life. It resonates with me to my very core, and Im immensely greatful for Jack being so gracious to share his story.

To review some MBA topis, good

If you want to have some ideas of how to create crisis inside your company (six sigma, trainning, flat structure...), this is good example. To follow this guy as a person, no, this is not a good book.

Para lectores en espa?ol, el libro es bastante ameno, tiene buenas ideas de negocios que se ense?an en las maestrias de administracion. El audio es facil de entender, el lector es muy bueno, se posesiona del libro.

Compulsary for any busness leader!

This recollection of facts, figures and thought processes are inspiring, even for me who is not really interested in GE as a company. Jack's leadership style is practical, simple and very effective. I made notes as I listened and I am sucessfully applying many of his ideas in my business.

Great book with great narration

Narrator has a similar accent to Jack Welch and reminds me of a younger Jack in his prime. Story is really good with lots of idea drops and perspective on running a giant company

Jack hits a homerun

Jack's message is clear and consistent: if you want your business to excel, you've got to provide the right culture, hire great people, reward the best employees and always expect more. Of course its not easy, I don't remember hearing that word much in the program. However, Jack provides the blueprint for making it happen; find out what works in your business or industry and duplicate it. Find out what doesn't work and fix it or get rid of it.

This book is full of examples of what worked and what didn't. There are plenty of stories to inspire you to find ways to shake up your business and break down the barriers that limit your company's potential. It's easy to sit back and say these strategies can't work for me. It's much harder to wake up every morning and make them happen.

Listening to this program will be the shortest 14 hours you'll ever spend.

Good insight

Jack Welch is by far one of the most talented CEOs today, The language is very uncomplicated and it has several stories in there that drive Welch's themes like candor and mission. It was odd to listen to another voice giving Jack Welch's autobiography, though.

Great knowledge share

An interesting journey which lets you understand an executive career and the challenges faced with continuos adaptation and learning mindset.

easier said then done

Jack Welch makes it sound easy, but we all know it is not. However, the listener gets a clear understanding of the handful of management levers that Welch used consistently over the years, in order to build GE into one of the best run companies in the world.