Jack Welch is the former Chairman and CEO of GE. Jack Welch changed the corporation around, and increased the company's market value from $12 billion in 1981, to approximately $280 billion in 2001.
What advice would you give to aspiring professionals?
Whenever you get more education, you add another notch to your belt. So, get as much as possible. As far as work, do what you enjoy. You’ll be much more successful if you like what you are doing. It is not good to take a job solely for reasons like parents, prestige, or friends. Go where your passion and joy are.
How did you figure that out for yourself?
I’m better in describing how I got here in hindsight than in foresight. I wanted a job and some money and I wanted to work where a PHD and some sales experience blend. So I got into a new product area where I could use my technical talent and ability to sell newspapers as a combination. That worked quite well. I knew what I wanted but I didn’t know if it was the right company. Later, I realized I had the right opportunity for me to start a new business.
How do people know if they have what it takes to become a CEO?
They won’t. They will have a series of experiences that will build their self-confidence, and as they build their self-confidence their whole presence or persona will either grow or not grow. For example, you write stories now, when you wrote your first story, it was a lot harder than when you write one now. That’s what happens to a CEO. They go through a series of experiences and they either build enormous self-confidence or not.
How can a newly graduated MBA student excel and move up the company?
Like anybody without an MBA, they never do what they are asked, they always do more. If somebody asks them a question about this magazine, they give a competitive view on all the magazines. If your boss asks you a question, he or she often knows the answer; they usually just want you to confirm it. When he or she asks you a question, give them “A” plus everything else. If you receive a PR question, you give a comparison of the size of PR outputs in other firms; some cases they went through; who ran a good one and who didn’t; how long the PR person should be the head of PR, etc. To excel, you have got to give more than just simply saying, “Our PR department has five people with this much overhead, etc…” Blow them away with thorough, actionable information!
Every time you make your boss look good, you get chips in the bag. You need to let your boss know he or she can count on you to be there when needed and you will manage your public life in such a way that you will always be there. On the other hand, he will give you flexibility if you’re always delivering. But no company policy is ever going to give you flextime. The only thing that is going to give you flextime is chips in the bag with management.
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