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Read It Anyway!

Written by: Tom Peters

Article Overview: I really dislike the recently released Jacked Up: The Inside Story of How Jack Welch Talked GE into Becoming the World's Greatest Company. I put it down several times. I threw it down several times.

Read It Anyway!

I really dislike the recently released Jacked Up: The Inside Story of How Jack Welch Talked GE into Becoming the World's Greatest Company. I put it down several times. I threw it down several times. Written by Welch's long-time speech writer, Bill Lane, it is a self-serving picture of an organization run by a misogynist egomaniac—you'd have to be nuts or a former male Navy Seal to want to have worked there. Welch comes across as a brutal, soulless, foul-mouthed boss who revels in putting people down in the most demeaning ways.

So why read it, you ask? Because despite the wretched culture Lane depicts, it also tells a remarkable story about one guy wrestling a ten-thousand ton rabid gorilla to the ground. The fact is that, per the hopeless message of the Post immediately above, Welch brought GE back from the dead, removed an astonishing number of barnacles from its hapless hull, circa 1980, and left behind an execution machine, deep in leadership talent, the likes of which is rare beyond measure. (Perhaps he did too well. GE is inherently unmanageable, and probably should have been broken up long ago. Welch kept it together and functioning in a way that I'd judge cannot be sustained—by Jeff Immelt or anyone else. But that's another story for another day.)

On top of all the problems with the book, it's a fact, I'd guess, that nary a single reader of this Post runs a quarter-million person outfit. Still, there is in the end, I decided, a bunch of stuff that we can learn from as we try to deal with Norberto Odebrecht's, "Everything in existence tends to deteriorate." (See above.) Though I hate the idea of putting the royalties into Bill Lane's pocket, I suggest you take a look at the book. You may pick up a tip or two or three from the good parts—and the bad parts are so bad that they have, or had for me, a perverse attraction.

(Fear not, Mr Lane will definitely not, under any circumstances, be a "Cool Friend.")

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Article Tags: astonishing number, barnacles, execution, gorilla, hopeless message, jeff immelt, leadership talent, left behind, misogynist, navy seal, norberto odebrecht, nuts, person outfit, perverse attraction, remarkable story, revels, royalties, several times, speech writer, ten thousand



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Re: Looking for a Blog topic? - Great advice GT. This and every other quality forum, every book you read, every article or website can be a source for your own writing. Find a topic, blog about it and LINK BACK to the source (or acknowledge the author if it is a book - or add an Amazon link). Every time you link out a good site you are giving your readers value. Don't worry about losing traffic or getting/not getting back-links. Just DO IT! It will make your blog much more informative and therefore more valuable and more attractive. The best blogs always have tons of links heading out to whatever good stuff the blogger finds. Read, learn, write, link. Read, learn... etc.
Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Jan 21, 2011 - I'm already working my way down the list. Read 3 of them so far. Thanks as always!
Re: Don’t worry, Enrich your life and Be happy - [quote="lisa":1rc4ik2q]Start saying positive things especially about yourself. How you communicate to yourself affects your thinking and your emotions, as well as your self-esteem.Change your mental pictures. What and how you see yourself and your surroundings make a difference to your thinking.Read more. Read about how those people who fought fear with courage and succeeded in life. Through reading, you will gain new knowledge and understanding and it will help you clear whatever is blocking your thinking and create more ideas. [/quote:1rc4ik2q] Lisa is right about this. Positive self talk can really make a difference. When you catch yourself saying something negative (whether verbally or just thinking it), turn it around and make it into the opposite. You have to remember to do this continually until it's just habit that the positive thought/saying becomes the first thing you hear instead of the second. It becomes automatic.
Re: New Google Tool Makes Websites Twice as Fast - I love that you guys are so action oriented! David installing the Read Later button, Mal writing the HostGator ticket - you are all awesome!
Re: What works for you? - Read Mal's reply very closely. He is not talking about pressuring oneself to achieve goals. Have goal and achieve it with passion. Robert.


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