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Summary: Lessons from GE's Revolution
Review: 'Control Destiny or Someone Else Will' is deeply insightful and comprehensive examination of GE's transformation. It contains detailed, valuable lessons for all those interested in Jack Welch and his GE, as revolutionaries.Noel M.Tichy and Stratford Sherman write, "The old way, exemplified by Henry Ford's production line, calls for top managers to analyze the work that needs to be done, then devise rules even an idiot can follow. Managers, divorced from the actual work, become bureaucrats, while their frustrated subordinates tighten the bolts...The new way-GE's way-breaks the intellectual framework that defines the limits of traditional management...Instead of seeking better ways to control workers, Welch says he aims to liberate them. As he explains, that goal is based on self-interest: The old organization was built on control, but the world has changed. The world is moving at such a pace that control has become a limitation. It slows you down. You've got to balance freedom with some control, but you've got to have more freedom than you ever dreamed of" (pp.19-20). At this point, after outlining basic characteristics of old and new ways, Noel M.Tichy describes the difference between them in terms of sports: 1. Old Way-Machine Age: Hierarchical, control-focused, and bureaucratic. He notes, "The old GE resembled a football team: Each player had carefully prescribed roles, yielding a carefully orchestrated pattern. The coach called all the plays. Even the strategic-planning guidebook that governed GE policy were like the playbooks in football." 2. New Way-Information Age: Networks, flexibility, knowledge, and creation. He notes, "The New Way GE is like hockey; roles are blurred, play flows uncontrollably from one side of the rink to the other, there are no timeouts, players adjust to new situations almost every moment and think for themselves while looking out for the team as a whole." In this context, throughout the book, Tichy and Sherman show GE's process of corporate transformation as three-act drama. I highly recommend this business classic to all revolutionaries of the new century.
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Summary: One of the best
Review: By far one of the best case studies I've ever read. Shows you why Jack Welch is considered by many to be the greatest manager of the 20th century
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Summary: An educational, yet entertaining, read
Review: I came into this book assuming a book on the history of Jack Welch's early years with GE. It ended up being much more and I was pleasantly surprised at the overall educational value of the book. The book is broken down into three "acts" which recount the years of Jack Welch - when and how he was made the CEO with GE, the early years of layoffs, the early resistance to his ideas, reorganization of GE, the need for globalization, and eventual acceptance of his ideas as he empowered GE's employees. Welch's ideas of empowering the employee encompassed such things as "boundarylessness", strong values, leadership, simplicity, and productivity. As the book progresses, the reader is provided with the real world GE examples that qualified Jack's ideas and their results. Nor does the book hold back from describing Jack's missteps and describes the lessons learned. Overall the book was a good read. The examples read as stories that both entertain and educate. Welch's ideas, as presented in Control Your Destiny, are probably now considered common sense business practices. The ideas seem simple today, yet were revolutionary for that time as you'll read. The end of the book provides a manual that can be used to carry out a similar revolution with your business and employees. I didn't really work my way through it - it seemed more appropriate for larger organizations.
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Summary: Great info needed by all
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this insightful book because it lays out what we as workers in this ever-changing world need to know in order to succeed. It shows in detail how we should put responsibility where it should rest: in ourselves. Also recommend ""The Leader's Guide: 15 Essential Skills,"" which also addresses success through specific skills we need to learn (an aspect of self-responsibility).
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Summary: Great info needed by all
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this insightful book because it lays out what we as workers in this ever-changing world need to know in order to succeed. It shows in detail how we should put responsibility where it should rest: in ourselves. Also recommend ""The Leader's Guide: 15 Essential Skills,"" which also addresses success through specific skills we need to learn (an aspect of self-responsibility).
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Summary: Road to mastering destiny
Review: Jack Welch, the revolutioanry CEO of GE shows his business acumen in mastering change. A must-read for today's business managers ... a practical guide to business transformation amidst modern competition and changing business processes. Articulately crafted by the duo Tichy and Shermon, the philosophy of Jack Welch reminds me of Deming's Cycle (Plan, Do, Check and Act). The GE case study will find similarities in the modern industrial scenario - where managing change is the most challenging job. The approach of Welch towards modern management is based on both pragmatism and gut-feeling. He tried to explore a semblance of harmony amidst chaos, often pushing his executives to express themselves freely without contraints, and transformed threats into opportunities, thus bringing the GE juggernaut from the brink of collapse to remarkable recovery.
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Summary: A must read for those concerned about good business
Review: Noel Tichy and Strat Sherman do a masterful job in presenting the natural genius of Jack Welch's business ideas. When he came to head GE, Welch was a man ahead of his time. Now, his ideas are considered to be fundamental to good business practice. Although I may not have agreed with every action he took in implementing his thinking,
the business results Jack Welch has achieved cannot be disputed. Thanks to Noel and Strat for an insightful and entertaining account.
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Summary: Changing the modus operandi of a modern US corporation
Review: This book encapsulates how Jack Welch has changed the modus operandi of a modern U.S. corporation. His principles of number-one-or-number-two, integrated diversity, boundarylessness, and speed, simplicity, and self-confidence have become a part of everyday life at General Electric. The basis of these principles -- what drives these principles -- is Welch's view of a strong business, which "...must consistently grow both revenues and profits: increasing revenues through a constant stream of new ideas and product innovations and increasing profits through unceasing improvements in productivity." Although Welch's view of a successful business may not be new, the techniques and operating procedures employed to attain these characteristics are vastly different than previous practices at GE. This is another way of saying that the modus operandi, or method of operating, at GE has been changed by Jack Welch. This change is summed up nicely by a statement in the book: "This is the story of how General Electric got through the wall, from one man exhorting his subordinates to a team of hundreds of thousands of people working together."
Rating:
Summary: Changing the modus operandi of a modern US corporation
Review: This book encapsulates how Jack Welch has changed the modus operandi of a modern U.S. corporation. His principles of number-one-or-number-two, integrated diversity, boundarylessness, and speed, simplicity, and self-confidence have become a part of everyday life at General Electric. The basis of these principles -- what drives these principles -- is Welch's view of a strong business, which "...must consistently grow both revenues and profits: increasing revenues through a constant stream of new ideas and product innovations and increasing profits through unceasing improvements in productivity." Although Welch's view of a successful business may not be new, the techniques and operating procedures employed to attain these characteristics are vastly different than previous practices at GE. This is another way of saying that the modus operandi, or method of operating, at GE has been changed by Jack Welch. This change is summed up nicely by a statement in the book: "This is the story of how General Electric got through the wall, from one man exhorting his subordinates to a team of hundreds of thousands of people working together."
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Summary: Decent read, lessons to be learned.
Review: This book looks dauntingly thick when you pick it up, but some brief exploration will show that including the interviews only 311 pages are the Jack Welch story-- the rest of the book is Afterword, GE Timeline, GE Shareholder Reports, Bibliography and finally a section meant to be applied to your own business. I suppose that there are readers out there who wanted that level of completeness in their history of GE. I didn't. I stopped reading after the afterword. The book covers GE during the period of Jack Welch's reign. Specifically, it charts his efforts in five major initiatives: Services, Six Sigma, Digitization, Succession, and the Honeywell acquisition. I found it interesting and readable, although I was left with the feeling (despite the author's best efforts) that these were very difficult achievements to duplicate if you weren't Jack Welch. Although ostensibly a business biography, I still had much more of a feel of personality than facts when I was done. I would have been pleased to have a less broad-ranging treatment which delved a little bit more deeply into some specific numbers and consequences. Although this information might have been contained in the investor reports, I didn't have the patience to page through it and find the information.
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