Jack Welch & the G.E. Way

August 3, 1998
Slater has written two previous books on General Electric chairman and CEO Jack Welch (The New GE, 1992; Get Better or Get Beaten!, 1994), so readers might wonder whether hard-driving Welch, stoic pioneer of downsizing, has anything new to add. Slater does not disappoint in this conversationally written, solid manual that, despite its promotional hype and adulatory tone, distills Welch's business philosophy--an amalgam of Zen-like axioms, bromides and tough-minded pragmatism--in a way that will reward managers at all levels who seek to create a learning environment and transform learning into action. Companies would do well to heed Welch's advice on how to foster an open-ended, informal work atmosphere that will encourage employees to speak out, breaking down the walls of hostility between managers and subordinates. Interweaving snippets of interviews with Welch, Slater (biographer of investor George Soros) competently traces GE's transition from manufacturing to a service-oriented enterprise, its takeover and turnaround of NBC, its expansion into financial services and overseas markets. Editor, Jeffrey Krames; agent, Chris Calhoun at Sterling Lord Literistic.

September 1, 1998
Jack Welch is famous for his turnaround of General Electric, now the world's most valuable company, in his 17 years as its leader. This book, coming two years before his scheduled retirement around November 2000 (when he turns 65), updates Slater's Get Better or Get Beaten! 31 Leadership Secrets from GE's Jack Welch (LJ 4/1/94). Slater is also the author of The New GE: How Jack Welch Revived an American Institution (Business One Irwin, 1992). This volume restates Welch's major accomplishments and programs, including the Six Sigma quality effort and Work-Out programs for employee involvement. The many quotations from Welch that fill the book show his emphasis on leadership as opposed to management and on learning and adaptation. He values his skills as a communicator and motivator, taking ideas wherever he can find them and getting people excited about them. Given the previous books on Welch and GE, the most valuable chapters here focus on GE's future and Welch's perspective on the economy of the 21st century--A.J. Sobczak, Covina, CA

August 1, 1998
This is a story about Welch, who, in his 17-year tenure as CEO of General Electric, has developed the firm into "Fortune"'s 1997 choice as the most admired company in America. Also in 1997, GE led "Business Week"'s list of all companies worldwide in market value for the second consecutive year and achieved near top ranking of the most profitable companies in the U.S. The book gives an overview of Welch's philosophy on how to manage and how not to manage and covers topics such as building a market-leading company, forging the boundaryless organization, harnessing people for competitive advantage, and pushing service and globalization for double-digit growth. This is the author's third book on Welch, and Slater enjoys complete cooperation from the subject and his company, which reaps highly effective public relations from this glowing report, although Slater contends that no approval of the manuscript was given by anyone at GE. Much can be learned from Welch's management philosophy, which has led GE to notable success in a highly competitive marketplace. ((Reviewed August 1998))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1998, American Library Association.)