Quotes by Jack Welch

About Jack Welch:

John Francis is a retired American business executive, author and chemical engineer. He was chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. During his tenure at GE, the company's value rose 4,000%. In 2006, Welch's net worth was estimated at $720 million. When he retired from GE he took a severance payment of $417 million, the largest such payment in history.
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Giving people self-confidence is by far the most important thing that I can do. Because then they will act.

Jack Welch

If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it you almost don't have to manage them.

Jack Welch

The essence of competitiveness is liberated when we make people believe that what they think and do is important - and then get out of their way while they do it.

Jack Welch

If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete.

Jack Welch

Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.

Jack Welch

You can't grow long-term if you can't eat short-term. Anybody can manage short. Anybody can manage long. Balancing those two things is what management is.

Jack Welch

The idea flow from the human spirit is absolutely unlimited. All you have to do is tap into that well. I don't like to use the word efficiency. It's creativity. It's a belief that every person counts.

Jack Welch

There's no such thing as work-life balance. There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences.

Jack Welch

You got to be rigorous in your appraisal system. The biggest cowards are managers who don't let people know where they stand.

Jack Welch

Public hangings are teaching moments. Every company has to do it. A teaching moment is worth a thousand CEO speeches. CEOs can talk and blab each day about culture, but the employees all know who the jerks are. They could name the jerks for you. It's...

Jack Welch

Any jerk can have short-term earnings. You squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, and the company sinks five years later.

Jack Welch

Management is all about managing in the short term, while developing the plans for the long term.

Jack Welch

I was never the smartest guy in the room. From the first person I hired, I was never the smartest guy in the room. And that's a big deal. And if you're going to be a leader - if you're a leader and you're the smartest guy in the world - in the room, ...

Jack Welch

One of the jobs of a manager is to instill confidence, pump confidence into your people. And when you've got somebody who's raring to go and you can smell it and feel it, give 'em that shot.

Jack Welch

The 1980s will seem like a walk in the park when compared to new global challenges, where annual productivity increases of 6% may not be enough. A combination of software, brains, and running harder will be needed to bring that percentage up to 8% or...

Jack Welch

My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too.

Jack Welch

Give me a highly successful unionized industry.

Jack Welch

The story about GE that hasn't been told is the value of an informal place. I think it's a big thought. I don't think people have ever figured out that being informal is a big deal.

Jack Welch

The biggest cowards are managers who don't let people know where they stand.

Jack Welch

CEOs can talk and blab each day about culture, but the employees all know who the jerks are. They could name the jerks for you. It's just cultural. People just don't want to do it.

Jack Welch

You measure your people and you take action on those that don't measure up.

Jack Welch

Author Bio

  • NameJack Welch
  • DescriptionAmerican executive: General Electric CEO
  • AliasesJohn Francis Welch, Jr.
  • BornNovember 19, 1935
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionBusinessperson; Writer; Engineer