JACK’S MEAGRE SECONDS
Winning
by Jack Welch HarperBusiness 372 pages, $36.95 A year ago, Warren Buffett reportedly sent 100 of his closest business buddies copies of Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson’s self-published, spiral- bound, management guide, Swanson’s Unwritten Rules of Management. An endorsement from Mr. Buffett, the so- called Oracle of Omaha, never hurts.
Now Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric Co., is on the market with a collection of his own management teachings. The front cover of Winning features a much-coveted endorsement from Mr. Buffett: “No other management book will ever be needed.”
Sorry, Mr. Swanson — it looks like Mr. Buffett has decided to back another horse.
Winning is basically what the Internet people would call an FAQ — a list of the “frequently asked questions” he has faced at public appearances since his retirement from GE in September, 2001.
He tells us that most of these questions can be boiled down to one thing: “ What does it take to win?” And you can boil down his teachings to a single, pithy quote from page 7: “ The team with the best players wins, so find and retain the best players.” Do you really need to pay $36.95, plus tax, to figure this out?
What’s more, much of the advice dispensed in Winning is covered in greater detail in Mr. Welch’s first book, Jack: Straight From the Gut. Mr. Welch left everything on the proverbial field when he told his first book. seems to suffer from secondbook syndrome.
Still, Winning breaks a little bit of new ground. An example would be Mr. Welch’s chapter on crisis management. Mr. Welch uses his own experience to illustrate what can happen if you fail to respond to scandals promptly and candidly.
Speaking of scandal, if you know something about Mr. Welch’s personal background, you’re probably curious whether he addresses two recent controversies.
The first involves his generous retirement package; the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said GE should have given investors more detail about Mr. Welch’s retirement perks. The second involves a public divorce from his second wife, attributed in part to an alleged affair with a woman who later became his third wife. Juicy stuff — but you won’t find too much dirt on these topics in the book. It’s hard to classify either situation as an example of winning.
Still, there are managers who will never tire of learning how Mr. Welch led GE to create more than US$400-billion in market value during his 20-year tenure. The book explains a little bit about the strategy that made this happen. In brief, Mr. Welch decided early on that GE would aim to be either number one or number two in every one of its markets. Any division that didn’t cut the mustard would have to be fixed, sold or closed. Mr. Welch’s point is that if you keep your mission clear, your staff will understand what they have to deliver.
Mr. Welch also defends his most controversial view: Managers need to have the guts to fire people who don’t deliver. This view has earned Mr. Welch nicknames such as “ Neutron Jack” ( after the bomb that would kill people but not destroy buildings) or the “Toughest Boss in America.”
Mr. Welch says firing is no fun, but he explains there is a right way to do it. The secret is candor. Bosses shouldn’t be afraid to point out employees’ weaknesses. Bosses should never write glowing evaluation reports for employees who don’t deserve the praise. Employees should be told precisely what they need to do to improve their performance. If they can’t, the dismissal should come as no surprise.
Warren Buffett might think Winning is the only book you’ll ever need about management. But if you really want to get to the heart of what Mr. Welch is all about, you really should read the first book, Jack. Winning advances lessons covered in the earlier book. On its own, it reads a bit thin.
Financial Post dhasselback@ nationalpost. com