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Those who enjoy this review will also enjoy Philip's review [1] of "Straight from the Gut" by Jack Welch (former CEO of GE): If you want to learn the names of

Those who enjoy this review will also enjoy Philip's review [1] of "Straight from the Gut" by Jack Welch (former CEO of GE): If you want to learn the names of every person who ever worked at GE during Jack Welch's 40 years there, you'll find this book invaluable. If you want to learn something about what made GE successful, however, good luck picking out the few saplings of wisdom from the thick forest of names. Golf and tennis fans will also find the book fascinating for its endless catalog of golf and tennis resorts nationwide. Apparently being anywhere near the top at GE requires moving to Fairfield, Connecticut and aping the Lifestyles of the Bland and WASPy. One interesting thing I learned is that GE went from 0 percent employee ownership to 31 percent during Jack Welch's tenure as CEO, primarily through granting of stock options to top managers such as Jack himself. Jack doesn't talk about this except to say that he's proud of the number. He doesn't get into the question of whether the investors from 1980 are happy now that they own less than 70 percent of the company. Nor does he talk about what would have happened to GE's earnings if they'd accounted for all of these stock options at time of issue. The useful and interesting content in this book could have been presented in 75 pages if the editors and ghostwriter had been doing their jobs. But they weren't doing their jobs. So the readers all have to "give 110 percent" or "give 1000 percent". Maybe this is what Jack Welch wanted because he uses these expressions numerous times throughout Straight from the Gut. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Straight-Gut-Welch/dp/0446690686 http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Straight-Gut-Welch/dp/0446690686

hkmurakami 13y ago
Wow, I'm flabbergasted that Greenspun has authored over 250 reviews on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1TNG2A1GAG14B/ref=cm_cr_dp_nh_pdp http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1TNG2A1GAG14B/ref=cm_c...
- philwelch 13y ago
  What else are you going to do when you retire early? (cf http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/ http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/)
  - tjr 13y ago
    He's been writing Amazon reviews pretty consistently since before he "retired".
sinnerswing 13y ago
His reviews would've been a lot funnier if Arsdigita didn't crash and burn years ago. >He doesn't get into the question of whether the investors from 1980 are happy now that they own less than 70 percent of the company. They should be happy considering GE's value rose 4000% during Jack Welch's tenure at GE.[1] When Jack Welch became General Electric’s CEO in 1981, the company was worth about $14 billion. When he retired 20 years later, GE was worth nearly $500 billion.[2] [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Welch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Welch [2]http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/jack-welch-and-the-lone-ranger-theory/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/jack-welch-and-...
- paganel 13y ago
  GE does build lots of cool engineering things, but those alone couldn't have made it the most valuable company in the world at one point. It also involved a lot of, well, financial engineering, which this guy started to describe better than I could ever have: https://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/immelt-ge-capital-and-the-financialization-of-manufacturing/ https://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/immelt-ge-capital... I also remember than in the hot days of early October 2008 there were talks of GE the entire company going down on behalf of its subsidiary, GE Capital. Those were indeed some crazy days.
  - sinnerswing 13y ago
    GE Capital was founded in 1932. Jack Welch left GE in 2001 (GE's market cap was $500 billion), 7-8 years prior to the financial crisis. If you're going to blame someone for GE's problems blame Jeff Immelt, don't blame Jack Welch.
- jseliger 13y ago
  His reviews would've been a lot funnier if Arsdigita didn't crash and burn years ago. On the other hand, it's famously uncertain as to whether that's his fault: http://waxy.org/random/arsdigita/ http://waxy.org/random/arsdigita/ . I haven't seen a compelling rebuttal of this narrative.
  - 13y ago

hkmurakami 13y ago

Wow, I'm flabbergasted that Greenspun has authored over 250 reviews on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1TNG2A1GAG14B/ref=cm_cr_dp_nh_pdp http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1TNG2A1GAG14B/ref=cm_c...

philwelch 13y ago
What else are you going to do when you retire early? (cf http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/ http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/)
- tjr 13y ago
  He's been writing Amazon reviews pretty consistently since before he "retired".

sinnerswing 13y ago

His reviews would've been a lot funnier if Arsdigita didn't crash and burn years ago. >He doesn't get into the question of whether the investors from 1980 are happy now that they own less than 70 percent of the company. They should be happy considering GE's value rose 4000% during Jack Welch's tenure at GE.[1] When Jack Welch became General Electric’s CEO in 1981, the company was worth about $14 billion. When he retired 20 years later, GE was worth nearly $500 billion.[2] [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Welch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Welch [2]http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/jack-welch-and-the-lone-ranger-theory/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/jack-welch-and-...

paganel 13y ago
GE does build lots of cool engineering things, but those alone couldn't have made it the most valuable company in the world at one point. It also involved a lot of, well, financial engineering, which this guy started to describe better than I could ever have: https://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/immelt-ge-capital-and-the-financialization-of-manufacturing/ https://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/immelt-ge-capital... I also remember than in the hot days of early October 2008 there were talks of GE the entire company going down on behalf of its subsidiary, GE Capital. Those were indeed some crazy days.
- sinnerswing 13y ago
  GE Capital was founded in 1932. Jack Welch left GE in 2001 (GE's market cap was $500 billion), 7-8 years prior to the financial crisis. If you're going to blame someone for GE's problems blame Jeff Immelt, don't blame Jack Welch.
jseliger 13y ago
His reviews would've been a lot funnier if Arsdigita didn't crash and burn years ago. On the other hand, it's famously uncertain as to whether that's his fault: http://waxy.org/random/arsdigita/ http://waxy.org/random/arsdigita/ . I haven't seen a compelling rebuttal of this narrative.
- 13y ago