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If this is really Bill Gates talking about Jack Welch, we're in real trouble. It's simplistic to think there was a single cause of failure. Sure, toadyism mig

by w10-1 3y ago

If this is really Bill Gates talking about Jack Welch, we're in real trouble. It's simplistic to think there was a single cause of failure. Sure, toadyism might delay bad news, but how exactly did they lose their market and product advantages in each of their businesses? Partly I think it's just too easy to steal expertise once it can be packaged and processed, whether business or engineering or manufacturing. A lot of very expensive value probably just walked out the door. I suspect that has been the business strategy for most of the up-and-coming engineering and product companies today. I wonder if there's some way to quantify that hypothesis?

PakG1 3y ago
I suspect that Bill Gates knows that it's simplistic to think there was a single cause of failure. In the book Breaking Windows, the author quotes Bill Gates complaining about people who think that companies fail because of one simplistic reason. I think he understands that it's complex.
Eisenstein 3y ago
The article written by Bill Gates very much glosses over anything Welch did, with the notable exception of praising him as someone who wrote a bunch of books and who was looked at as a visionary. He goes on to mention a few things for the downfall: * Lack of understanding of financial investments by the management and executives * Encouraging hearing 'good news' and hiding 'bad news' by leadership, which meant they were ignorant of many festering problems that needed fixing * Diversity in enterprise -- lack of ability for anyone to understand how all the pieces fit together * Cooking the books to keep Wall Street happy I think perhaps you took something from the article that wasn't present, or I missed the part where he attributed 'simplistic' causes. However, in my personal opinion I think Gates is too close to the situation and the actors to have a qualified and unbiased opinion. Refusing to blame Welch for anything besides being slightly ignorant of financial complexities illustrates that he isn't willing to look at Welch's leadership critically.

by w10-1 3y ago

PakG1 3y ago

I suspect that Bill Gates knows that it's simplistic to think there was a single cause of failure. In the book Breaking Windows, the author quotes Bill Gates complaining about people who think that companies fail because of one simplistic reason. I think he understands that it's complex.

Eisenstein 3y ago

The article written by Bill Gates very much glosses over anything Welch did, with the notable exception of praising him as someone who wrote a bunch of books and who was looked at as a visionary. He goes on to mention a few things for the downfall: * Lack of understanding of financial investments by the management and executives * Encouraging hearing 'good news' and hiding 'bad news' by leadership, which meant they were ignorant of many festering problems that needed fixing * Diversity in enterprise -- lack of ability for anyone to understand how all the pieces fit together * Cooking the books to keep Wall Street happy I think perhaps you took something from the article that wasn't present, or I missed the part where he attributed 'simplistic' causes. However, in my personal opinion I think Gates is too close to the situation and the actors to have a qualified and unbiased opinion. Refusing to blame Welch for anything besides being slightly ignorant of financial complexities illustrates that he isn't willing to look at Welch's leadership critically.