Rating: 
Summary: not that impressive
Review: So Jack created profitability at GE. Big deal. So he 'invented' six sigma. a totally useless business model. Towards the end of his book he becomes so esoteric that he seems to have lost grasp of what running a company means. Living the good life and waltzing around with a new woman apparently got to his head. Six Sigma is cute but its useless if thats the only thing you focus on, some esoteric model that has nothing to do with down to earth business, its a number crunchers dream but a realists nightmare.A terrible treatment. Iaccocas book is more real and down to earth. This book started out with a down to earth irsihman who built himself up but it ends with someone who has a head thats too big for us all and thinks he is better then the world(strolling around in his cheesy kashmir sweaters). Jack wastes pages and pages detailing all the waste he contributed to charity and community involvement. My company has a community involvement program, I wouldnt volunteer if I was paid to. Business shouldnt be wasting time in lobbying or in charity, it should do what its essential goal is, to do business. Leave charity to the philanthropic organizations. If Jack really cares for charity as much as his book says he does then I feel sorry for the people at GE, forced to waste time with kids and art and useless things like that they could be doing on their own time. Not a fan. Yet there are parts of the book that detail some interesting parts of GE. Like when Jacks Predeccesor says to him "if a plane crashed and everyone was killed in the top leadership who would you save to lead the company". And then "what three people would you want to live to manage the company." So it deserves a few stars. Besides like Henry Ford, I dont trust anyone with a PhD running a company.
Rating:
Summary: Educational
Review: It was interesting to look into the mind of the modern CEO and understand what and how he thinks. Now that Jack is at the end of his life, it is safe to judge based on his own autobiography that when he is done with living, on balance he had created more unhappiness in the world than he had created happiness. Under his will, hundreds or thousands have lost their livelihood, and with it their homes, self-respect, families, and so on. Only few - Jack's close pals - have gained extra satisfaction by earning extra dollars. While none of us here on Earth are saints and all of us hurt others routinely, some of us by gaining access to a bigger bat do more damage. Jack wielded his gigantic club with a fanatical zeal. The book reads like a one long sermon or perhaps rationalization on the virtue of clubbing and disposing of the weakest ones under one's dominion and control. If you want to emulate Jack's type of success, this book does offer some insight. But I am giving it only 3 stars because this book is mostly boasting and a mechanical recounting of thechronology. Jack might be a businessman, but he is no writer. But there are bits and pieces of "how to". May God in the future send us fewer people like Jack to walk among us.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Movie
Review: Want to hear how Jack changed GE? This book offers insight to how culture/values play a role in corporate American. Management or admin, you should read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, although a bit of a fairy tale
Review: Although overall an excellent description of Jack's career at GE, the story slightly lacks objectivity by presenting mostly Jack's victories, but tells very little about the defeats and the reasons behind them.
The passages where Jack does indeed describe his failures sometimes seem artificial, as if just to shut up the critics.
Rating:
Summary: WYSIWYG
Review: A direct and straightforward memoir from a very strong personality, this book covers the highlights of Mr. Welch's acension to the throne of GE. The primarily focus is the challenges he faced as CEO, and the results he brought to the table. These results naturally tend be painted very positively, but then again it's hard to argue with GE's results during his tenure. Less attention is placed on GE itself, although the reader is able to get a good feel of the complexity present within one of the world's leading firms. His personal life is only touched upon very briefly, although this may accurately reflect the proportion of time he spent at the office. Straight From the Gut offers an interesting opportunity to peer into the mind of a top CEO, and to understand the motivations which drive him in his work. Mr. Welch does come across as an arrogant individual who is very proud of his accomplishments, but these are probably the same characteristics which got him to where he was. One is indeed inspired to go out and follow in his footsteps after reading this book. The book ends with a good summary of 'takeways' for managers todays, and with an interesting compilation of Mr. Welch's forecasts of challenges for businesses in this new century. Overall, this book is an enjoyable and useful read, particularly for anyone even remotely interested in the field of business.
Rating:
Summary: Well done...highly insightful and entertaining
Review: I won't rehash much of what has been said already. Rather, I'll share some specific, random thoughts on this book. 1. I think we can divide the book into three general timeframes: Childhood & pre-GE, GE before becoming CEO, then the CEO years. Each one is interesting, but for different reasons. Jack is living proof that it's not where you come from that counts, but what you do with what you have and want (goals) that leads to success. 2. The notion of identifying and replacing the bottom 10% of your employees every year remains a radical concept, in my view. The anecdote towards the end of the book (where Jack is pulled aside by the manager of the clothing store) exemplifies how difficult this can really be. Even more difficult is the recognized need to develop processes and metrics to measure performance, then having the discipline as a organization to stick with the "rules". If you manage people, are you willing to let 10% go? If so, who? Do they know how their performance is being assessed? 3. Conversely, I've been asking myself "Am I an 'A' performer?" How am I being evaluated? Does the method of evaluation make sense, given our business? If not, how should I be evaluated? These are critical questions which are important for every manager and employee to consider. If I am a 'B" performer, how do I become an 'A'? If I am a 'C', should I leave and do something else? 4. This book finally answers the question "What does a CEO actually do?" Or, perhaps, "What should a CEO be doing?" In Jack's case, it's primarily resource management, both human and financial. He spent an extraordinary amount of time on human resources, e.g., developing systems to measure performance, assessing managerial performance, etc. His speech in the Appendix on the GE corporate "strategy" is priceless. Everyone who is a student of strategic thinking should read this brief, but important speech. 5. If I had to read only one chapter, excluding the speech in the Appendix, it would be the one explaining the concept of boundarylessness. This is a critical concept. Is your organization boundaryless? If not, how can you make it so? I know mine isn't... Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely. While it is not intended to be an academic book on corporate strategy, it can be read in that light, and much can be gleaned from that perspective.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone can learn from Jack
Review: First off, let's get one thing straight - it's Jack Welch. No other CEO in modern times has been as instrumental in such a monumental turnaround of a corporation as has Jack Welch with GE. Welch recounts his impressive and expeditious rise to the top of the food chain as well as his unique and provocative strategies that catapulted him there. This book proves to be a veritable must have for anyone who desires to learn a thing or two about improving upon one's management credo. Welch divulges anecdotes with self-effacing humor including the revolutionary concepts that helped forge his place in corporate history. Included are such simple, yet oftentimes overlooked, ideas such as boundaryless sharing of ideas, an intense focus on ideas, an informal give-and-take style that makes bureaucracy the enemy, and of course, his efficacious cornerstone of differentiation. Read it and learn from the best. As Jack so laconically states, "Never underestimate the other guy."
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: This book is an excellent look into one of our generation's greatest leader. Many people regard Jack Welch as the most admired CEO of big corporations. The organization of the book is a little odd but he makes it work. He gives a very candid look into the issues facing a CEO and how he feels and reacts to those. In one part he is informed of a giant hole in the accounting of the company's assets, which he promptly empties the contents of his stomach. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned some valuable lessons on leadership, golf, and balancing life with work. I intend to buy other books from him.
Rating:
Summary: Recent GE History
Review: "Straight from the Gut" provides a VERY detailed GE history over the twenty year reign of Mr. Welch as CEO, all from his perspective. As a former GE employee, I found all this very interesting. I had hoped for more biographical material or management self-help, but there is not much of either. If you like to read Forbes or the MarketPlace section of the WSJ, you'll like this book. It provides a good view of corporate life and the application of corporate strategies through the eyes of one of the better corporate managers of our time.
Rating:
Summary: The Great Jack Welch
Review: I recommend this book to anyone because Jack Welch makes it possible for anyone to work from the bottom of a company to the very top, with a matter of time. He overcame many struggles with bosses, jobs, family, and friends to become the poewrful corporate man he is today. Jack helped me understand what it takes to be a "top dog"; what it takes to reach the top. If you ever wanted to know any insight into a big company like GE and how it works, this is a good book for you. Jack was born in Salem Massachusetts in 1936. He received his B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts in 1957 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois. In 1981, he became the eighth Chairman and CEO in the Company's 121-year history. He retired in the fall of 2001. Jack's greatest triumph came in 1985 when GE acquired RCA, in the biggest non-oil takeover in US history. This helped GE expand on just light bulbs and TVs.
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