Jack

Straight from the Gut

By: Jack Welch, John A. Byrne

Narrated by: Mike Barnicle

Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

As CEO of General Electric for the past 20 years, Jack Welch has built its market cap by more than $450 billion and established himself as the most admired business leader in the world. His championing of initiatives like Six Sigma quality, globalization, and e-business have helped define the modern corporation. At the same time, he is a gutsy boss who has forged a unique philosophy and an operating system that relies on a "boundary-less" sharing of ideas, an intense focus on people, and an informal, give-and-take style that makes bureaucracy the enemy.

In anecdotal detail and with self-effacing humor, Jack Welch gives us the people who shaped his life (most notably his Irish mother) and the big hits and the big misses that characterized his career. Starting at GE in 1960 as an engineer earning $10,500, Jack learned the need for "getting out of the pile" when his first raise was the same as everyone else's. He stayed out of the corporate bureaucracy while running a $2 billion collection of GE businesses - in a sweater and blue jeans - out of a Hilton in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

After avoiding GE's Fairfield, Connecticut headquarters for years, Jack was eventually summoned by then-Chairman Reg Jones, who was planning his succession. There ensued one of the most painful parts of his career - Jack's dark-horse struggle, filled with political tension, to make it to the CEO's chair. A hug from Reg confirmed Jack was the new boss - and started the GE transformation. The riveting story of his last year - the elaborate process of selecting a successor and the attempt to buy Honeywell - is also told in compelling detail.

This is classic Jack Welch: down to earth, powerful, and filled with common sense.

©2001 by Jack Welch (P)2001 by Time Warner AudioBooks

Critic reviews

"As a self-portrait of one of America's most successful modern business leaders, Jack is remarkable for its candor." (Ther Economist)

Great read

20-70-10 super important !!! Remember do things fast ! Sigma 6= if you don’t know do some research asap!

Inspiring and educational

A great story of how Jack came to lead GE, and how GE changed over the years to improve. If you're looking for the human story of Jack Welch, you'll be listening to a lot of talk about the business in between those moments. If you're looking for the story of Jack Welch, and his insights and lessons learned from running GE, then you really want to listen to this. My impression of GE has changed considerably after listening, and I'm going to dive into learning about Six Sigma after seeing what it has done for GE.
It's not simple to lead a large organization, but I derive some confidence after hearing the stories of the various people at GE that, in my career, by sticking to principles, and staying creative and flexible, that I can go as far as I choose to.
The unabridged is definitely worth the extra time to listen to....

The perfect book for all business leaders

I really enjoyed this book. A great history of GE and Jack Welch.
Lots of great ideas and examples of leadership and teamwork.

Surprisingly Listen-able

I was initially skeptical that I could listen to a business autobiography (vs reading it) as I usually only listen to fiction. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. First, Jack Welch was a character, and all of his good points come across in a light, entertaining and informative manner. (You hear about some failures also, but there's a lot more time spent on the positives -- not surprising, as it's an autobiography.) Second, there is a lot to take away from his experience if you run a business or manage people. Third, it is well narrated -- I especially liked that the narrator has an accent appropriate for representing a Massachusetts native (as Jack Welch is).

The focus is extremely heavy on his professional life and his personal life gets little mention, which I personally liked, but that may not be for everyone.

Great Book

This book was fascinating and I would recommend to anyone interested in business at any level. Really enjoyed it.

Jack's Passion

I have read a number of books this year on managers' lives. None has so much passion and emotion as this one.
Two salient features of this audiobook are:
1. Jack Welch's passion is definitely one of the drivers of his life, and without which one cannot do much in one's life. Passion is a necessity for every manager, a requirement, a trait that defines manager.
2. Richness of ideas. So many of them. And I think the passion and the number of ideas are linked.
It is a "rich" book.
I highly recommend it!

Great book.

Loved the book. I was sad it ended. Haha. I enjoyed listening to it. Lots of awesome stories

Great read, a practical and pragmatic view mngt

Would you listen to Jack again? Why?

Yes, Very practical and pragmatic in an approach of the story line in management and leadership.

Which scene was your favorite?

Employee Performance manage specifically the four e's + p.

legendary

A very well written legendary book.

I would loved to read a shorter version, without missing the substance in the stories (ex aquisitions' structures).

Get it, you won't regret it.

Easy listen. Very interesting character. This books is Jack's auto biography on his life - of which his role as GE's CEO is a prime focus. I love it as its a break from your traditional business books - it doesn't try to be a business book. This is simply Jack telling the stories of his approach to business during various positions in GE. It's not preachy; you have to derive the lessons out of it yourself.

Get only the unabridged. Facinating guy.