Winning - Jack Welch [134]
The people in the field are operating with one simple goal, albeit unstated: to minimize their risk and maximize their bonus.
At this point, you might be thinking, “Yeah, yeah, this approach sounds great, but what about my bonus?”
What good is beating targets you set in a windowless room?
While most people take to reinvented budgeting with enthusiasm, there are always a few diehards who try to undermine it.
Companies have a habit of sending expendable bodies to run new ventures. It’s nuts. For a new business to succeed, it has to have the best people in charge, not the most available.
New ventures should report at least two levels higher than sales would justify. If possible, they should report directly to the CEO.
You will find you are not getting enough money from the mother ship, nor are you getting the best people. Fight like hell—even throw a few elbows.
You are always going to want more autonomy than you get. Your best shot is to earn it.
Deal heat is completely human, and even the most experienced people fall under its sway.
A merger can feel like a death. Everything you’ve worked for, every relationship you’ve forged—they’re suddenly null and void.
Technically, we owned the company, but for all intents and purposes, it was running the show.
It is uncertainty that causes organizations to descend into fear and inertia. The objective should be full integration within ninety days of the deal’s close.
Fight the conqueror syndrome. Think of a merger as a huge talent grab.
If you miss a merger on price, life goes on. There is no last best deal.
Resisting a deal, no matter how scared, confused, or angry you are is usually suicidal to your career, not to mention your emotional well-being.
Done right, Six Sigma is energizing and incredibly rewarding. It can even be fun.
A huge part of making your customers sticky is meeting or exceeding their expectations, which is exactly what Six Sigma helps you do.
“We’re off to a good start. We’ve hired several statisticians, and we’re looking for more.” I thought to myself: This poor guy has really drunk the Kool-Aid!
You need to find “your people,” the earlier in your career the better. No job is ideal without the presence of shared sensibilities.
Any new job should feel like a stretch, not a layup.
Working for some companies is like winning an Olympic medal. For the rest of your career, you are associated with great performance.
Every job you take is a gamble that could increase your options or shut them down.
Working to fulfill someone else’s needs or dreams almost always catches up with you.
If a job doesn’t excite you on some level—just because of the stuff of it—don’t settle.
Authenticity may be the best selling point you’ve got.
The goal, if you’ve been let go, is to stay out of what I refer to as “the vortex of defeat,” in which you let yourself spiral into inertia and despair.
Every manager in the world knows what “I resigned” or “I left for personal reasons” really means.
All careers, no matter how scripted they appear, are shaped by some element of pure chance.
The most reliable way to sabotage yourself is to be a thorn in your organization’s rear end.
Eventually, he had to leave the company. In the end, there wasn’t a person left with any desire to spend political capital on him.
Career lust shows itself in tearing down the people around you, insulting or disparaging them in order to make your own candle burn brighter.
The boss-subordinate relationship is easy to neglect. Your boss is in your face, and your peers are on your mind, while your subordinates do what you say.
There is no one right mentor. There are many right mentors.
Business is like any game, with players, a language, rules, controversies, and a rhythm. The media covers it all.
You can win without being upbeat—if every other star is aligned—but why would you want to try?
The world has jerks.