The Man Who Broke Capitalism Audiobook By David Gelles cover art

The Man Who Broke Capitalism

How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America—and How to Undo His Legacy

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The Man Who Broke Capitalism

By: David Gelles
Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
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New York Times Bestseller

New York Times reporter and “Corner Office” columnist David Gelles reveals legendary GE CEO Jack Welch to be the root of all that’s wrong with capitalism today and offers advice on how we might right those wrongs.

In 1981, Jack Welch took over General Electric and quickly rose to fame as the first celebrity CEO. He golfed with presidents, mingled with movie stars, and was idolized for growing GE into the most valuable company in the world. But Welch’s achievements didn’t stem from some greater intelligence or business prowess. Rather, they were the result of a sustained effort to push GE’s stock price ever higher, often at the expense of workers, consumers, and innovation. In this captivating, revelatory book, David Gelles argues that Welch single-handedly ushered in a new, cutthroat era of American capitalism that continues to this day.

Gelles chronicles Welch’s campaign to vaporize hundreds of thousands of jobs in a bid to boost profits, eviscerating the country’s manufacturing base, and destabilizing the middle class. Welch’s obsession with downsizing—he eliminated 10% of employees every year—fundamentally altered GE and inspired generations of imitators who have employed his strategies at other companies around the globe. In his day, Welch was corporate America’s leading proponent of mergers and acquisitions, using deals to gobble up competitors and giving rise to an economy that is more concentrated and less dynamic. And Welch pioneered the dark arts of “financialization,” transforming GE from an admired industrial manufacturer into what was effectively an unregulated bank. The finance business was hugely profitable in the short term and helped Welch keep GE’s stock price ticking up. But ultimately, financialization undermined GE and dozens of other Fortune 500 companies.

Gelles shows how Welch’s celebrated emphasis on increasing shareholder value by any means necessary (layoffs, outsourcing, offshoring, acquisitions, and buybacks, to name but a few tactics) became the norm in American business generally. He demonstrates how that approach has led to the greatest socioeconomic inequality since the Great Depression and harmed many of the very companies that have embraced it. And he shows how a generation of Welch acolytes radically transformed companies like Boeing, Home Depot, Kraft Heinz, and more. Finally, Gelles chronicles the change that is now afoot in corporate America, highlighting companies and leaders who have abandoned Welchism and are proving that it is still possible to excel in the business world without destroying livelihoods, gutting communities, and spurning regulation. Biographies & Memoirs Business Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Professionals & Academics Capitalism Middle Class Banking Management Employment Inspiring Funny Economic disparity Stock Socialism
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Critic reviews

"This takedown of the legendary CEO of General Electric would be interesting even without Kevin R. Free’s exceptional performance. But his artistry provides exceptional listening. Nevermind Free’s appealing diction, impressive phrasing, and ability to orchestrate the ebb and flow of mood or tone. What really impresses is how perfectly he applies these vocal skills to every dramatic detail and underlying thread in the gripping story of Welch’s brutal management style and its lasting impact on American business culture. The author shows how Welch and his acolytes reneged on traditional corporate responsibilities by prioritizing short-range profits, cutting jobs, and misleading the public with dishonest accounting practices. They rewarded shareholders and managers at the expense of workers, customers, innovation, and even safety."
Well Researched Analysis • Eye-opening Insights • Excellent Narration • Thought-provoking Content • Clear Delivery

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Capitalism is not the word here he broke corporate management. Certainly, he messed up proper publicly traded company management. Capitalism is mostly double entry accounting between buying and selling. What he did do was let investors think making a quality product/service too hard to understand so look at the MBAs instead of technology

Good story but wrong title

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Helps one understand how we to to where we are today. well performed, beautifully written.

A must-read.

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Well-researched, well-written, and well-read, Gelles’s book is a heartbreaking and infuriating must-read for anyone who wishes to know how we got where we are, well down the path to the level of divergence between the haves and have-nots that eventually leads to rebellion and revolution. Though he offers a glimpse of hope at the end, that perhaps the tide is shifting, one cannot but worry that it may be too late, that we may have passed some sort of societal and economic tipping point. At any rate, it is a fascinating explanation of how we arrived here.

“It was a terrible sight, and yet I could not look away.”

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As somebody who worked at General Electric from 1989 to 2009 and interfaced with Jack Welch on a relatively regular basis in my role as an anchor at CNBC, I find that this book nails everything that was right and wrong with the Welch way.

The insane zeal to “beat the street” by a penny, employee be damned, was one of the awful legacies Jack Welch left us. As the author explains, Welch’s successor Jeff Immelt was no better. I will leave the storytelling to Mr. Geddes and simply say that I witnessed a lot of this personally at the time I was too naïve, too starstruck and too dependent on my job at GE/NBC, to speak up or say anything.

As for the narrator of this book, what an awful job. He didn’t even pronounce Jack Welch’s name properly on multiple occasions, he used the French pronunciation when it wasn’t warranted and didn’t when it was. His overall lack of facility with business and corporate information in any detail proved him to be someone way over his head in terms of subject matter. This book would have been much better if it’s audio version had it been read by someone with an understanding and command of the situation at GE and corporate America in general. Simon & Schuster can and should have done better in selecting a narrator!

Wonderful Book, Awful Narration

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This book goes a long way towards exposing those responsible for deconstructing the American economy and our manufacturing base while walking away with billions in remuneration and bonuses.

A great History Lesson

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