Tuesday, June 26, 2007
"Winning" - Jack Welch
What can you say about a book with the infamous Jack Welch (JW)'s face on it? Anything other than positive superlatives spin would immediately put you in the minority corner, probably with someone holding a hammer on your head, and say to you: "what?"After all, this is JW, the legendary retired CEO of General Electric, a man credited with the turn-around/successes of GE, and the one associated with Six-Sigma concept.
What? Exactly. The best thing about the book, that is attractive enough for mere mortals to actually pick up and read it, is the face of JW. I guess if one would put Paris Hilton's face on it, would have the similar if not have more impact. By the way, at the time of writing this blog, Paris Hilton has just gotten out of jail, a book with her face (or any other part of her anatomy) and the word "WINNING" beside it, may be an instant best sellers! Wouldn't it be ironic.
Back to the "Winning". Of course, this book is not actually written by JW himself only. Suzy Welch was the co-author. The book is supposed to be a collections of management wisdoms and also ideas from questions asked by numerous participants in JW's seminars from all over world. I must say, it is readable (may be having Suzy Welch as the co-author helped here), not too intense, not very theoretical, never throw you any obscured data from some dubious research done by certain self-confessed Phd pretenders or professors , and most of all, never mentioned Michael Potter. It is a light bedtime read, when one get too tired of general genres. In fact, I read the book as my bedtime read.
The problem with bedtime reading is that, you don't expect to remember anything after you've read the material. In this case, I do remember two things:
1) Strategy can never be perfect. Execution is the key
2) Learning organisations tend to have better successes in their business.
Would I recommend this book to anyone. Of course I would! One must at least read the contents, first couple of pages, and may be last page, enough to claim that one has read this book. It make good small talks during business functions. Throwing JW's name around, and stating that you've read his book, would instantly attract admiring if not appreciative perception from your audiences. It goes to show that you're in the loop.
Now, where is that book with Paris Hilton face on it?
What? Exactly. The best thing about the book, that is attractive enough for mere mortals to actually pick up and read it, is the face of JW. I guess if one would put Paris Hilton's face on it, would have the similar if not have more impact. By the way, at the time of writing this blog, Paris Hilton has just gotten out of jail, a book with her face (or any other part of her anatomy) and the word "WINNING" beside it, may be an instant best sellers! Wouldn't it be ironic.
Back to the "Winning". Of course, this book is not actually written by JW himself only. Suzy Welch was the co-author. The book is supposed to be a collections of management wisdoms and also ideas from questions asked by numerous participants in JW's seminars from all over world. I must say, it is readable (may be having Suzy Welch as the co-author helped here), not too intense, not very theoretical, never throw you any obscured data from some dubious research done by certain self-confessed Phd pretenders or professors , and most of all, never mentioned Michael Potter. It is a light bedtime read, when one get too tired of general genres. In fact, I read the book as my bedtime read.
The problem with bedtime reading is that, you don't expect to remember anything after you've read the material. In this case, I do remember two things:
1) Strategy can never be perfect. Execution is the key
2) Learning organisations tend to have better successes in their business.
Would I recommend this book to anyone. Of course I would! One must at least read the contents, first couple of pages, and may be last page, enough to claim that one has read this book. It make good small talks during business functions. Throwing JW's name around, and stating that you've read his book, would instantly attract admiring if not appreciative perception from your audiences. It goes to show that you're in the loop.
Now, where is that book with Paris Hilton face on it?
# posted by Dr Roland Chia @ 5:13 PM 
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