I find it humorous that in the latest blog by Mr. Rice blog he emphasizes how great GE is. He should put that in context... past tense as "was" a great company. How ironic that the Corporate cronies are still trying to protect what they call an "Immelt legacy". These same executives responsible for the mess we're in yet they talk about "we all own it" . Well here is a news flash Mr. Rice... Immelt and the rest of you own this and its about time people like yourself at the top take "accountability". Remember that word that Corporate has engrained in all of us; guess it only applies below the executive ranks. WE can only hope Mr. Flannery cleans house at Corporate and holds the Business Leaders accountable. Yet even with that they will all walk away with millions... how about we just give them one week pay for each year service... wouldn't that put them on par with the rest of us. Their missteps costing thousands of jobs yet they still get to hang around to lecture the rest of us. Like we didn't know the Alstom acquisition was the biggest blunder in GE history, or cash matters. How about the billions spent on stock buybacks...great investment! Accountability at the executive level ended when Jack Welch left! The other unfortunate reality is we don't have any great Leaders to take their place that ended with Jack too. Jack developed people... now promotions are based on factors that certainly don't include competence.
As the layoffs continue good people are exiting on their own, others that haven't been lucky enough yet are getting axed and those that are still drinking the "kool-aid" will end up being the lower end of the scale.
Mr. Rice newsflash... how about dismantling your own billion dollar plus (GGO) organization... that would certainly save a lot of cash and keep those people adding value in place.
Hopefully Mr. Flannery will clean house; he has a tough task to turn the culture around where people feel there is direction and strategy after 16 years of being on a ship without a rudder that has run aground.
Mr. Rice keep the lectures coming as I guess that's your contribution in putting customers first.