Quotes from Jack Welch

Great leaders love to see people grow. The day you are afraid of them being better than you is the day you fail as a leader.

Public hangings are teaching moments. Every company has to do it. A teaching moment is worth a thousand CEO speeches. CEOs can talk and blab each day about culture, but the employees all know who the jerks are. They could name the jerks for you. It's just cultural. People just don't want to do it.

If you get the best people on your team, you've got plenty of time to do the things you like to do and can add more value to.

When it's time to let someone go, do it right. No surprises. No humiliation.

Managers can waste a lot of time at the outset of a crisis denying that something went wrong. Skip that step.

Business is a game, and as with all games, the team that puts the best people on the field and gets them playing together wins. It's that simple.

A strategy is something like, an innovative new product; globalization, taking your products around the world; be the low-cost producer. A strategy is something you can touch; you can motivate people with; be number one and number two in every business. You can energize people around the message.

Simple messages travel faster, simpler designs reach the market faster and the elimination of clutter allows faster decision making.

Keep learning; don't be arrogant by assuming that you know it all, that you have a monopoly on the truth; always assume that you can learn something from someone else.

The story about GE that hasn't been told is the value of an informal place. I think it's a big thought. I don't think people have ever figured out that being informal is a big deal.

Does coaching work? Yes. Good coaches provide a truly important service. They tell you the truth when no one else will.

Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.

I was never the smartest guy in the room. From the first person I hired, I was never the smartest guy in the room. And that's a big deal. And if you're going to be a leader - if you're a leader and you're the smartest guy in the world - in the room, you've got real problems.

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.

Number one, cash is king... number two, communicate... number three, buy or bury the competition.

I was afraid of the internet... because I couldn't type.

We've all been guilty at one point or another in our careers of boasting of perfect hindsight. It's a terrible sin. If you don't make sure your questions and concerns are acted upon, it doesn't count.

Your people give their days (and sometimes their nights) to you. They give their hands, brains, and hearts. Sure, the company pays them. It fills their wallets. But as a leader, you need to fill their souls. You can do that by getting in their skin, by giving the work meaning, by clearing obstacles, and by demonstrating the generosity gene. And you can do it, perhaps most powerfully, by creating an environment that's exciting and enjoyable.

Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence.

In my experience, an effective mission statement basically answers one question: How do we intend to win in this business?

There are no finite answers to many questions. What really counted was your thought process.

Life is too short to spend every day doing something you don't love.

RULE 2. Leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it.

Indeed, the biggest winners in the world are those who answer yes to the question, "Am I living the life I choose?