Jacked Up

[back cover]When it comes to leadership DO YOU KNOW JACK? NO MORE REPORTS: Jack got quiet for nearly a full minute, and stared down at the table with the semi-scowl that meant some kind of processing was going on. Then he said, loudly and decisively:"No, no, no! Were not doing this any more. No more 'reports. Were sick of reports. The only pitches that are worth anything are when you tell people what they ought to do. Otherwise its just a waste." And so it began, gradually, that GE began to move from a self-absorbed corporation to what Welch would later describe with much pride as "a real learning company."A SHOUT FROM THE BATHROOM: One day Jack brought a copy of a letter he had been sent. It was written by one of our very senior business leaders "explaining" some Corporate initiative. The letter made no sense, and Jack read passages of it aloud, with inflections that emphasized the absurdities in what the man had written. Finally he stopped laughing long enough to render his final criticism. "Its like something he yelled out the bathroom door to his secretary while he was sitting on the can. Thats it exactly. This is a shout from the bathroom." THIS IS JACK: UNCENSORED, IRREPRESSIBLE, AND UNBEATABLELane, Bill is the author of 'Jacked Up', published 2008 under ISBN 9780071544108 and ISBN 0071544100.