Winning - Jack Welch [127]
This book started with two pages of scribbled notes about what it could be. The finished product in your hands is thanks to a stellar group of people, most notably the 4Es-and-a-P people at HarperCollins: our wonderful editor, Leah Spiro, whose probing mind and passion for this book never ebbed; Jane Friedman, a fervent believer and unflagging advocate from the get-go; and Marion Maneker, whose deep wisdom guided us all the way. We are also grateful to the terrific team that marketed this book; Joe Tessitore, whose savvy, energy, and decisiveness brought this book home, as well as Brian Murray, Stephen Hanselman, Paul Olsewski, Keith Pfeffer, and Larry Hughes; the book’s designer, Leah Carlson-Stanisic; its copy editor, Anne Greenberg; and Knox Huston, its editorial assistant. Our agent, Helen Rees, was a dear friend and enthusiastic supporter, and Megan LaMothe did tenacious duty as our fact checker.
My assistant, Rosanne Badowski, read every draft of this book, challenged the content, picked apart phrases, and made every chapter better. Her caring and attention were remarkable, and I thank her for the endless hours she gave this project.
Finally, there aren’t enough words to thank my wife, Suzy, for the job she did on this book. Her relentless questioning pulled out of me every idea I ever had about business, and her ability to organize and rephrase my (in many cases) random observations made this book so much better than I ever dreamed it could be. I always tell people that Suzy is just about the smartest person I have ever met, and during the last year of writing this book, she has proved it and then some. For every chapter you read in this book, Suzy wrote and rewrote countless drafts, and yet she never took a break from being an amazing mother to her four great kids. Every day, she astonishes me.
For the last year, we have had the greatest time day and night, debating and discussing all the material that went into this book. The conversation never stopped! As I traveled the world, meeting people, answering questions, and asking plenty of my own, Suzy was by my side, listening, analyzing, and opening my mind to what I knew and what more I could know.
It was hard work—and pure joy. Suzy, you made it happen.
Jack Welch
Boston
February 2005
INDEX
ABC
accountability
mission and
victimhood vs.
accounting fraud
mission-values disconnect and
prevention of
Sarbanes-Oxley Act and
acquisitions. See mergers and acquisitions
Africa
African American Forum (GE)
A.G. Edwards
Ahold
AIDS
AIG
Ailes, Roger
Airbus
Albertsons
AlliedSignal
Amazon
American Standard
Ames, Chuck
Amgen
AOL-Time Warner merger
Arthur Andersen
Artigas, Ric
Asian financial crisis
authenticity
career management and
in job choice
in job search
leadership and
autonomy
Bagby, Robert
Bank of America-Fleet Bank merger
Bank One
Bauer, Nancy
Begley, Charlene
Belichick, Bill
Ben & Jerry’s
best practices
as competitive advantage
continual improvement of
seeking out and improving
sharing of
three warhorses of
values and
work-life balance and
big aha, the
biotechnology
Blair, Jayson
Boeing
Bonsignore, Mike
bonuses
budgeting and
motivation and
See also compensation
Borg Warner
bosses
boss’s top priority
confrontation and
enduring difficult
going over boss’s head
political capital and
self-assessment and
trade-offs and
work-life balance and
boss haters
Boston Red Sox
boundarylessness
See also best practices
BP
Bronfman,