Winning

The book is organized into four main sections: Underneath it all, which looks at the fundamentals of a successful business; Your Company, which covers the everyday machinery of running a great organization; Your Competition, which deals with competing effectively in the wider world; and Your Career, which gives top tips for a great career.

The first of these sections is Underneath it All, which Welch describes as the substructure of principles behind his approach to business. There are four of these: Mission and Values, Candor, Differentiation, and Voice and Dignity.

In the section on Mission and Values, Welch brings tremendous clarity to an area often clouded by confusion and waffle. He points out that many companies' mission statements seem to answer the question How do we describe our business in such a way that no senior executive gets upset? This leaves these companies muddled, confused, uninspired, and directionless.

He suggests that people at the top of the organization get a grip, and create a mission statement that clearly explains how the company intends to win in its business.

He brings equal clarity to company values, which are – again – often mired in confusion and shallow thinking. Firstly, he aligns company values with the company's mission, which many businesspeople fail to do. And he then elegantly illustrates how these values can be sharpened into real, concrete drivers of change.

A minor criticism is that while he illustrates this well, he doesn't give a step-by-step explanation of how to refine these values. However, with a little thought, most people should be able to work this out for themselves.

In looking at Candor – his second business principle – Welch makes a compelling case for why it is so important. He describes candor not just as telling the truth, but as being completely open and frank when you disagree with something. He points out that candid organizations and people operate more quickly and effectively than those without candor. And he powerfully emphasizes the importance of building and rewarding candor within a company.

He essentially ascribes lack of candor to laziness, although he doesn't use that word. After all, it's often easier not to be candid, and to avoid offending people.

This is the one area in the book where he loses touch with the reality of many people's working lives. It's too easy for a top boss to criticize lack of candor, forgetting the reality that many people experience every day: bad organizations; less-than-perfect bosses; organizational stupidity; and frequent changes of plan. Candor of the type he commends may be admirable and performance-enhancing in a good company. But it could be unwise – or even career suicide – in the wrong one. Handle this chapter with care. Absorb its message, but be wise in its application.

In the chapter on differentiation, Welch talks about how he distinguishes between the top 20% of performers, the middle 70%, and the bottom 10%. He emphasizes properly rewarding the top 20%; working with the middle 70%; and getting rid of the bottom 10%.

This will offend some people. And some organizations, particularly governmental ones, find it difficult to operate this way.

However, he explains the importance of this approach by pointing out how it helps people manage their lives. High performers need the rewards and kudos that come with high performance. Middling performers need the goal setting, training, and feedback that will help them improve. And the bottom ten percent need to know that they're in the wrong job, and that their talents may be better used elsewhere.

And, of course, from the organization's perspective, this has the effect of building highly motivated, high-performing teams.

If you want to build a high performance organization, you need to practice this type of "tough love".

And we liked the final chapter in this section, on Voice and Dignity. In it, Welch outlines an inspiring "Work-Out" process for bringing the intelligence and experience of everyone in a company to bear. This is a truly exciting way of generating good proposals for improvement, although it is one that will leave many managers feeling exhausted!

The second major section of the book is called Your Company. In six chapters, it looks at leadership, hiring, firing, people management, crisis management, and change.
In the chapter on leadership, Welch makes many insightful and useful comments about leadership. These are sure to help new leaders make a good start, as well as giving experienced leaders a refresher on key points.

One comment stood out in particular: Welch points out that as a follower, your job is to have all the right answers. But as a leader, your job is to ask all the right questions – ones that improve ideas and make them the best they can be.

In the chapter on hiring, Welch lays out his criteria for selecting his people. He sees his businesses fundamentally as people businesses. He argues that to have the best businesses you need to have the best teams, and to have the best teams you need to have the best people.

He describes the way in which people are initially screened for integrity, intelligence, and maturity. He describes maturity as the ability to handle stress and enjoy success with joy and humility. This is a great point, and important too.

He also describes his four Es and one P framework for assessing people. The Es are positive Energy, the ability to Energize others, Edge, and Execution. The P is Passion.

These characteristics might worry some people, because they seem to favor an extroverted approach to work – in contrast with the ideas of leadership discussed by Jim Collins in his book "Good to Great". Collins's research shows that the most successful companies are often led by level 5 leaders. These are people who are not extroverted hero leaders, but are quieter and more reflective in their approach.

Perhaps the four Es and one P framework works very well for the type of company that GE has become. And to be fair, Welch does not claim it to be universal. However, other organizations may prefer to recruit using a different approach that is more appropriate for them.

Following on from recruitment, Welch looks at people management. As with hiring, he's powerful in stressing the importance of building people if you want to build a winning organization. He outlines a series of practices and principles which make clear sense. And in looking at firing, he outlines an approach that is firm but humane.

He wraps up this part of the book by looking at change and crisis management. This last chapter is one of the strongest parts of this strong book. Readers will get a real buzz from learning how Welch handled crises while he was at GE. He gives strong rules of thumb, such as: assume the crisis is worse than it initially appears; assume that your handling will appear in the worst possible light; and assume that your organization will emerge from the crisis stronger and better.

He also describes some simple but powerful things that organizations can do to try to avoid crises.

The third section of the book is called Your Competition, and it examines the world outside the organization. Here, Welch looks at five topics: Strategy, Budgeting, Organic Growth, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Six Sigma.

The chapter on Strategy is another powerful and exciting part of the book. Business strategy can be an enormously complex field, and one in which it's too easy to reach ‘Paralysis-by-Analysis'.

Jack Welch is one of the world's great business strategists. He cuts away much of the complexity of strategy by reducing it down to five PowerPoint slides. These answer the questions:

• What does the playing field look like?
• What has the competition been up to?
• What have you been up to?
• What's around the corner? And
• What's your winning move?

Sure, you need to do a lot of work to answer these questions, and Welch gives superb advice on answering them well. Nevertheless, this framework gives tremendous clarity to the strategy process.

Next, Welch tackles budgeting, a topic that can be desperately dull. However, in showing how the traditional ways of budgeting can cripple a business, he speaks a lot of sense.

The sections on organic growth and mergers and acquisitions give good advice for those involved in these. And since Welch has had so much experience in these areas, they're a must-read for Chief Executives.

With respect to new ventures, he emphasizes the importance of backing them with plenty of money, good people, and support. On the subject of M and A, he warns of the "deal heat" that can lead to poor decision-making. He also highlights seven catastrophic pitfalls that can severely undermine success.

And the chapter on the performance-enhancing methodology Six Sigma gives a useful, high-level view of its role in driving process and product improvement.

There's a lot more worth reading in these chapters, particularly if these are areas you're concerned with. But frankly, this third section of the book is only really relevant if you're at a high level within your organization.

By contrast, the final section – called Your Career – is directly and powerfully relevant for everyone. In it, Welch offers strong advice on four topics: finding the right job; getting promoted; handling career issues; and finding the work-life balance that suits you.

In the chapter on finding the right job, Welch makes the point that a great career comes as much from opportunism as from planning. He also emphasizes the fact that many of today's great jobs didn't exist ten years ago.

He says that you sometimes have to explore before you find the right job. But he argues that you'll know the right job when you find it – it'll have people you like; opportunities to learn and grow; and it'll give you experience and credentials that will set you up well for the future.

He also argues that however much worth there is in the job, you need to make sure that you're well paid. And he gives great tips on what to do if you feel stuck in a job, or if you're unexpectedly out of work.

To be fair to Welch, he does say that it's important to have meaningful content to your work. However the way he says this implies that he sees this as something of a "nice to have."

For some, this may be the case. Others will have the real ability to choose their careers and employers. These people may see meaning as something of over-riding importance.

In the chapter on Getting Promoted – engagingly subtitled Sorry, No Shortcuts – Welch offers some of the best advice ever written on this key subject.

He starts by mentioning something that's easy to forget: that luck plays a part in promotions, and all sorts of factors outside your control can help or hinder you.

Nevertheless, the way you behave is usually more important than luck. He stresses that the best way of getting ahead is to deliver sensational performance in your job, and to go beyond all expectations.

And he warns that you must never do anything that forces your boss to have to defend you. While this sounds simple, he rounds this out in an illuminating way. Plus, he offers a host of supporting tips and advice that make absolute and compelling sense.

Finally Welch deals with two key career areas: Dealing with a bad boss, and Work-Life Balance.

With respect to bad bosses, Welch gives the straightforward, good advice that we've come to expect from the book: Don't be a victim, and if there's a problem with your conduct or performance, fix it. Welch points out that if a boss is genuinely bad, he may already be on his way out. In these cases, the best tactic is often to work hard, and outlast the boss.

With respect to work-life balance, Welch is typically straight-talking. He points out that whether we like it or not, there's a trade-off here. It's for every individual to decide where he or she puts his or her emphasis.

People who go to extreme lengths to give their bosses what they want will do better than those who don't, and there's no point pretending otherwise.

However, he points out that there's often an informal chit system, whereby if you work hard and perform well, your boss is likely to be quite accommodating. If you don't put the work in, your boss has every right to be hard with you.

And he gives three recommendations for keeping work under control:

• Compartmentalizing, which means focusing on what you're doing at the time, and not letting other activities intrude.
• Saying "no" to activities that don't fit with your chosen work-life balance.
• Making sure that you leave some time for yourself.

And apart from a final chapter that wraps up loose ends, that's it!

Let's return to the questions raised at the beginning of this review: Is this book in touch with life outside the executive suite? Does it make too many leaps of intuition? And who should read the book?

Answering the first question, there's only one reservation. While candor is an admirable goal to have, it's not appropriate in all situations. Maybe Jack Welch has been fortunate to work only in very good organizations. Certainly, more caution is needed in political situations and badly run organizations, or when you're working for an unpleasant boss.

Other than that, the advice is firmly grounded, clearly stated, and absolutely intuitively right.
As for whether there are too many leaps of intuition, the answer is a resounding no. The book is clearly structured and a superb example of simplicity of expression.

Our final question asked: Who will find this book useful?

This is more complex: Different sections of the book will suit different people. The first section, Underneath it All, is useful for everyone. The second section, Your Company, gives sound, practical advice for people who have responsibility for managing others. The third section, Your Competition, is mainly applicable to senior executives. And the final section, Your Career, has strong advice for everyone.

In summing up, let's consider the book's title: "Winning." That's what this book is about – building a winning organization and a winning career – and it explains how to do this very well.

The book is "Winning" by Jack and Suzy Welch, published by Collins in the U.S. and Harper Collins in Canada and the U.K.