General Electric's former chief comes to Providence to promote his second book and expound on his management style.

01:40 AM EDT on Thursday, October 6, 2005

BY ANDREA L. STAPE
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Jack Welch thinks he's 6 feet 4 inches tall with hair.

Welch, the management guru known worldwide for his successful transformation of General Electric Co., isn't even 6 feet tall -- and he's bald.

But Welch said yesterday that acting and feeling taller and hairier gave him the self-confidence he needed to succeed in business.

Welch, now 70 and four years retired from running GE, brought his message of self-confidence, business candor and management by empowerment to students, faculty and business people at Providence College and Bryant University yesterday.

"I think building self-confidence is the most important thing you can learn," said Welch, who attributes his attitude to his Irish mother. As an only child, he was the center of her attention growing up in Salem, Mass. "She knew how to kick me in the butt and hug me," said Welch.

Journal photo / Bob Thayer

Jack Welch talks to students yesterday as he leaves Providence College, where he had just spoken about self-confidence, business candor and management by empowerment. Welch also spoke at Bryant University and signed copies of his latest book, Winning.

On tour to promote Winning, the management book he wrote with his current, and third, wife, Suzy, Welch took questions from the audiences at both schools about topics ranging from how to manage employees to the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

In a dark suit, white shirt and red tie, Welch addressed the crowd as if he were having a conversation in his living room -- leaning forward in his chair to give advice and asking questioners for more details about their businesses, or their lives.

Eager to interact, Welch let the advice fly with his trademark cut-to-the-chase style and a twinkle in his eye.

When asked how to lead and motivate workers, Welch quipped, "Plaques have a place, but they are awful. Cash is much better."

And, "Nothing's worse than working for a company that's losing."

WELCH, WHO SPENT 40 years at GE and 20 as the company's top executive, has been called one of the most influential chief executive officers of the last century for taking a stagnating General Electric and increasing its market value to $400 billion. The Wall Street Journal estimated in 2002 that Welch personally was worth as much as $800 million.

Winning is Welch's second book, and it has sold more than 500,000 copies in the United States since its debut earlier this year, he said in a phone interview Tuesday. While his first book, Jack: Straight from the Gut, focused on GE's transformation, the latest book details his management strategy and gives advice on how to succeed -- "win" -- in business.

Consequently, Welch emphasized several messages through his two-hour question-and-answer sessions. Managers should be totally honest and open with employees, he said, and employees should strive to overperform and be willing to take risks.

Although Welch earned the moniker Neutron Jack during his tenure as GE's CEO -- he laid off close to 100,000 people -- he said his goal was never to catch people by surprise. Performance evaluations, regular and rigorous, were the hallmark of his leadership style.

"Let people know exactly where they stand all the time," said Welch.

And he also recommended that managers make sure they are "the dumbest one in the room." The key to being a good manager, he said, is realizing it's about hiring and motivating intelligent people.

"You will get your career from the reflected glory" of your team, said Welch. If a manager is successful at team-building, "it will all accrue to you 10-fold over."

Welch encouraged the undergraduates in the audiences to get a "job your parents might not be proud of," to travel, to take risks, to start their own businesses. He added that this is "not the time to be cautious."

And he told those who are attempting to define a career to make sure they like what they do. "If you're in a place where you don't like what you're doing, you can't perform. Get out. Go take a swing. Don't end up feeling trapped."

More than 1,000 people came to hear Welch speak at Bryant. About 100 made it to the earlier session at Providence College. At both schools it was obvious that Welch has developed a loyal following even among young students, despite a spate of bad publicity in 2002 and 2003 over his affair with the editor of the Harvard Business Review (now his wife), the breakup of his 13-year marriage to Jane Beasley, and the furor over his lavish retirement package from General Electric.

"I admire him a lot," said Kara Hanks, a junior at Providence College, who said Welch was discussed often in her Massachusetts home when she was growing up. "I was very impressed with what he had to say."

Welch said he doesn't have plans on the horizon for another book, but he's not ruling it out. In the meantime, he does speaking engagements and acts as a business consultant to a number of companies.

All the money generated from Winning, as well as his first book, goes to a scholarship fund to send inner-city students to college. So far, about $12 million has been raised, he said. After signing books at Bryant yesterday, he was off to Chicago to sign more at Illinois colleges and to see Boston play in the American League Division Series.

"I live for the Red Sox," he said.

Digital Extra: Listen to Jack Wlech tell students how to land a job at:

projo.com/business/av/20051005_welch.mp3