Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company
Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company
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Overview
In September 2001, Jeff Immelt replaced the most famous CEO in history, Jack Welch, at the helm of General Electric. Less than a week into his tenure, the 9/11 terrorist attacks shook the nation, and the company, to its core. GE was connected to nearly every part of the tragedy—GE-financed planes powered by GE-manufactured engines had just destroyed real estate that was insured by GE-issued policies. Facing an unprecedented situation, Immelt knew his response would set the tone for businesses everywhere that looked to GE—one of America’s biggest and most-heralded corporations—for direction. No pressure.
Over the next sixteen years, Immelt would lead GE through many more dire moments, from the 2008–09 Global Financial Crisis to the 2011 meltdown of Fukushima’s nuclear reactors, which were designed by GE. But Immelt’s biggest challenge was inherited: Welch had handed over a company that had great people, but was short on innovation. Immelt set out to change GE’s focus by making it more global, more rooted in technology, and more diverse. But the stock market rarely rewarded his efforts, and GE struggled.
In Hot Seat, Immelt offers a rigorous and raw interrogation of himself and his tenure, detailing for the first time his proudest moments and his biggest mistakes. The most crucial component of leadership, he writes, is the willingness to make decisions. But knowing what to do is a thousand times easier than knowing when to do it. Perseverance, combined with clear communication, can ensure progress, if not perfection, he says. That won’t protect any CEO from second-guessing, but Immelt explains how he’s pushed through even the most withering criticism: by staying focused on his team and the goals they tried to achieve. As the business world continues to be rocked by stunning economic upheaval, Hot Seat “takes you into the office, head, and heart of the man who became CEO of GE on the eve of 9/11, and then led the iconic behemoth for sixteen fascinating, and often turbulent, years. A handbook on leadership—and life” (Stanley A. McChrystal, General, US Army [Retired], CEO and Founder, McChrystal Group).
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781797118031 |
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Publisher: | Simon & Schuster Audio |
Publication date: | 02/23/2021 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
Product dimensions: | 5.00(w) x 5.90(h) x 1.20(d) |
About the Author
Amy Wallace is a writer based in California. She splits her time between magazines and books. Her magazine work has appeared in GQ, Wired, The New Yorker, New York, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Details, The Nation, The New York Times Magazine, Elle, and other national publications. Two of her profiles—“Hollywood’s Information Man” (Los Angeles, 2001) and “Walking Time Bomb” (New York, 2019)—have been National Magazine Award finalists. An archive of her work can be found at Amy-Wallace.com. In 2014, she collaborated with Ed Catmull, then the president of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, on his New York Times bestselling book Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. Her second collaborative book, this one with former CEO of General Electric Jeff Immelt, is Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company.
Jeff Immelt was the ninth Chairman of GE and served as CEO for sixteen years. He has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s. During his tenure as CEO, GE was named “America’s Most Admired Company” by Fortune magazine and one of “The World’s Most Respected Companies” in polls by Barron’s and Financial Times. Immelt has received fifteen honorary degrees and numerous awards for business leadership and chaired the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness under the Obama administration. He is a member of The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a lecturer at Stanford University. Immelt earned a BA in applied mathematics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard University. He and his wife have one daughter.
Table of Contents
Prologue 1
Chapter 1 Leaders Show Up 7
Threading the Needle 9
Stoking GE's Growth Engine 12
Waking to a Nightmare 14
Facing Disaster 17
Absorbing Fear 19
Putting Customers First 22
Chapter 2 Leaders Learn Every Day 27
"Don't Complain-Fix It!" 30
Be Willing to Stand Apart 32
Choose Purpose Over Money 34
See Through Your Customer's Eyes 36
Learn to Take the Heat 41
Get a Thicker Skin 44
Valuing Growth 46
Launching the LightSpeed 48
Who's Next in Line? 50
Your Peers Promote You 54
Chapter 3 Leaders Invest in Growth 57
A Time For Change 61
Technology First 63
Protect the Builders 67
Fulfilling the Dreamliner Dream 71
Don't Fall in Love with an Idea 76
Pivot to Grow 77
Seize Opportunity 81
Don't Be Afraid to Act 87
Chapter 4 Leaders Are Systems Thinkers 93
Communicating with the World 96
Green Is Green 99
The Digital Future 107
Competing for Talent 112
Bringing the Team Along 113
Not Finishing the job 116
Chapter 5 Leaders Persevere in a Crisis 119
Bundle at Your Peril 121
Beware a Cold Snap 123
Darkness Visible 126
Rolling Paper 132
"Let's Get the Money" 133
Fishing for an Anchor 136
The Killer Chart 138
Stepping into Liquid 141
Cutting the Dividend 143
Chapter 6 Leaders Make Big Companies Small 149
Facing Reality 151
Retaining the Best 153
It Starts with You 154
The Soul of GE 160
Reimagining Crotonville 161
Leadership Explorations 163
Valuing Everyone 166
Chapter 7 Leaders Compete Around the World 173
Becoming the jobs Czar 179
There's Always a Crisis Somewhere 182
Investing in Local Capability 185
Persisting Through Volatility 187
Cementing Relationships 190
Hiring Local Teams 194
China Matters Most 196
A Little Bit of We 204
Chapter 8 Leaders Manage Complexity 207
Creating Incremental Value 209
Pattern Recognition 211
An Aspiration to Lead 213
Private Equity: A Modern Conglomerate? 216
Developing Trustworthy Leaders 220
A Bias for Innovation 222
Constantly Simplifying 224
Operational Transparency 229
Peer Learning & Peer Pressure 230
Chapter 9 Leaders Solve Problems 233
Managing Risk 234
Welcome to the Hotel California 238
Shooting for the Moon 239
Keeping the Lid on Tight 243
Secretive No More 250
Leveling with Our People 251
Activists Abound 254
Sell, Sell, Sell! 256
Mission Accomplished 258
Chapter 10 Leaders Are Transparent 261
A Simple Deal (in a Market We Knew) 263
A Position of Strength 265
A Leader Stops Leading 268
Integrating Alstom 269
Overt Transparency 271
Close the Deal, Lose the Leader? 276
The Business Suffered 278
Chapter 11 Leaders Are Accountable 285
Grooming the Candidates 287
The Home Stretch 291
Valuing the Company 292
Every job Looks Easy (Until You're the One Doing It) 300
Activist Investors Weren't the Answer for GE 301
A Short Tenure 303
Chapter 12 Leaders Are Optimists 309
Owning Some Mistakes 312
The Case for Listening (Most of the Time) 315
Life After GE 316
Change for the Better 318
Acknowledgments 321
Index 325