Winning

Winning offers an insight of the management philosophy of Jack Welch – ex CEO for GE. The book attempts to provide perspective on how to manage your company, your competitors and your career to create a winning outcome.

Jack Welch also talks about some of the contemporary practices in strategic management – such as building company’s mission and values, six sigma and meritocracy. He highlights some of the rationale as well as the pitfalls associated with the implementation of all management practices. For instance, he reiterated that mission and values should be reinforcing for them to be effective. Moreover, to integrate them into the corporate culture, behaviours aligned to the value system should be publicly acknowledged and rewarded.

On the section of managing your company, Jack Welch emphasized that management of the people is essential to the success of the company. People management starts from hiring phase. Sometimes, the management recruits based on the technical expertise of the employee so that the employee can quickly contribute in the position. However, when the growth potential of the individual is not considered, there is a risk that when the company grows, the employee will fall behind and replacement has to be recruited. Other than people management, handling change and crisis are also essential skills which management should possess.

For salaried employees, we constantly wonder how we can better manage our career to progress both professionally and personally. The first issue to consider is whether we are in the right job. Once we affirm that we are in the job we desire, then we need to look at how we can get ourselves promoted or how to deal with a difficult boss. A successful career often requires certain sacrifices and compromises especially in work-life balance. Jack Welch believes that attaining work-life balance should be the responsibility of the employee and not that of the employer.

It is an insightful summary of the management philosophies of one of the world’s well-known corporate leaders. After reading the ‘Bitch at Work’, ‘Winning’ will be the next appropriate choice.