Jack Welch Quotes

"Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion."

"If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete."

"It's [the internet] like the flu - it just spreads like crazy."

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

"I've learned that mistakes can often be as good a teacher as success."

"Don't manage - lead change before you have to."

"If GE's strategy of investment in China is wrong, it represents a loss of a billion dollars, perhaps a couple of billion dollars. If it is right, it is the future of this company for the next century."

"The team with the best players wins."

"The essence of competitiveness is liberated when we make people believe that what they think and do is important - and then get out of their way while they do it."

"Giving people self-confidence is by far the most important thing that I can do. Because then they will act."

"Strong managers who make tough decisions to cut jobs provide the only true job security in today's world. Weak managers are the problem. Weak managers destroy jobs."

"[Although shareholders want boards to pick the best candidate, imported talent inevitably costs more. During the book tour for his recent best seller,] Winning, ... is one of the many driving forces behind the exponential rise in CEO pay."

"An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage."

"An overburdened, over-stretched executive is the best executive, because he or she doesn't have the time to meddle, to deal in trivia, to bother people"

"If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it you almost don't have to manage them."

"Be candid with everyone."

"The 1980s will seem like a walk in the park when compared to new global challenges, where annual productivity increases of 6% may not be enough. A combination of software, brains, and running harder will be needed to bring that percentage up to 8% or 9%."

"Willingness to change is a strength, even if it means plunging part of the company into total confusion for a while."

"Change before you have to."

"The record results for the third quarter once again demonstrate the ability of GE's diverse mix of leading global businesses to deliver top-line growth, increased margins and strong cash generation."