Mr. Welch ran General Electric with an iron will and an iron fist. His prolific leadership has been classified as eccentric and ingenious, and as one of his closest advisors, Mr. Lane helped craft his message. He shares stories and business strategies in his speeches and in his new book, Jacked Up: How Jack Welch Talked GE into Becoming the World’s Greatest Company.
Mr. Lane has insight into how Mr. Welch’s manic attention to communications was a cornerstone of great leadership and the key to GE’s meteoric rise. Cross The Art of War with The Devil Wears Prada, and you might have an idea of how Jack Welch ran his powerhouse company. Raucous, revealing, and irreverent, Mr. Lane’s portrait of Mr. Welch, from working alongside him, provides priceless anecdotes and applicable lessons on how to run the best business possible. As Mr. Welch’s speechwriter of 20 years, Mr. Lane, takes audiences backstage and shows how ferociously the CEO prepared for presentations, for his business, and for the future.
Whether he faced angry congressmen, critical shareholders, or hostile union members, Mr. Welch knew how to win hearts and minds — and then kick them up a notch. Mr. Lane picked up on the ability to lead through communication and an intolerance of others who cannot communicate clearly. As in politics, communication requires the talent of strong leadership. Mr. Lane covers Mr. Welch’s controversial firing of the bottom 10 percent of managers to his staggering increase of GE’s capitalization to $400 billion. He delivers an up-close, fly-on-the-wall view of Mr. Welch and GE’s riskiest moves.
Mr. Lane also provides snippets and ideas from some of Welch’s most outstanding speeches (which he helped craft), outspoken opinions, outrageous philosophies, and outside-the-box principles that teach and inspire, shock and provoke, all at once. Like Mr. Welch himself, Mr. Lane’s message is bold, brilliant, and a shot in the arm for the business world, and for audiences looking for an invigorating, caffeinated business boost.
