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Jack Welch retired from GE in 2001. He was voted Manager of the Century in 1999. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Welch https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jac

Jack Welch retired from GE in 2001. He was voted Manager of the Century in 1999. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Welch https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Welch

sokoloff 2y ago
Indeed. This article: > In 2015, GE was the third largest manufacturer of wind turbines globally by both capacity and revenue, trailing only Vestas and Siemens. By 2023, it had fallen to 8th and had a more limited geographical market than either Siemens Gamesa or Vestas. Translated: 14 years after Jack Welch retired (edit to add: and 14 of 17 years into Jeff Immelt’s term as CEO), GE was #3. 8 years later, they had fallen to #8, so clearly Jack Welch is to blame for the slip. /s
- vlovich123 2y ago
  The two ways to measure a leader is how an organization performs with them at the helm and how well it performs when someone else replaces them. This also ignores the impact of long term bets and changes in the environment may cause you to be unsuccessful in the path you’ve taken for nearer term success and survival.
  - sokoloff 2y ago
    Agree, though my conclusion is that Jeff Immelt (CEO from 2001 to 2017) is far more proximal to the 2015-2023 change cited than Welch. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Immelt https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Immelt
  - SR2Z 2y ago
    > The two ways to measure a leader is how an organization performs with them at the helm and how well it performs when someone else replaces them. We live in a world where CEOs get truly absurd pay packages. I don't think that it's unreasonable to expect Welch's successors to justify their own pay.
- havblue 2y ago
  We could just as easily argue that Welch kept their turbine business afloat. Or, that someone else tanked it. Or that they were just beat out by competitive foreign markets! So we basically know nothing.
- FireBeyond 2y ago
  What came out after Welch's retirement is that the company was really overvalued because of the growth of the financial sector. His rank and yank also highly optimized for the short term, and stock markets loved it. He may well have given rise to that whole corporate mindset - "quarterly profits over long term results", leading to debacles like their battle with the EPA (Welch hilariously argues that it was a witch hunt, and that PCBs are apparently just fine to go in the water supply).

Jack Welch retired from GE in 2001. He was voted Manager of the Century in 1999. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Welch https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Welch

sokoloff 2y ago

Indeed. This article: > In 2015, GE was the third largest manufacturer of wind turbines globally by both capacity and revenue, trailing only Vestas and Siemens. By 2023, it had fallen to 8th and had a more limited geographical market than either Siemens Gamesa or Vestas. Translated: 14 years after Jack Welch retired (edit to add: and 14 of 17 years into Jeff Immelt’s term as CEO), GE was #3. 8 years later, they had fallen to #8, so clearly Jack Welch is to blame for the slip. /s

vlovich123 2y ago
The two ways to measure a leader is how an organization performs with them at the helm and how well it performs when someone else replaces them. This also ignores the impact of long term bets and changes in the environment may cause you to be unsuccessful in the path you’ve taken for nearer term success and survival.
- sokoloff 2y ago
  Agree, though my conclusion is that Jeff Immelt (CEO from 2001 to 2017) is far more proximal to the 2015-2023 change cited than Welch. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Immelt https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Immelt
- SR2Z 2y ago
  > The two ways to measure a leader is how an organization performs with them at the helm and how well it performs when someone else replaces them. We live in a world where CEOs get truly absurd pay packages. I don't think that it's unreasonable to expect Welch's successors to justify their own pay.
havblue 2y ago
We could just as easily argue that Welch kept their turbine business afloat. Or, that someone else tanked it. Or that they were just beat out by competitive foreign markets! So we basically know nothing.
FireBeyond 2y ago
What came out after Welch's retirement is that the company was really overvalued because of the growth of the financial sector. His rank and yank also highly optimized for the short term, and stock markets loved it. He may well have given rise to that whole corporate mindset - "quarterly profits over long term results", leading to debacles like their battle with the EPA (Welch hilariously argues that it was a witch hunt, and that PCBs are apparently just fine to go in the water supply).