Well worth the time to listen.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/28/ken-langone-ge-destruction-happened-after-jack-welch-left-as-ceo.html
I do not agree Jack ran a great company. Jack ran the business he had at hand which was a investment bank (GE capital) labelled as an industrial company called GE. Anyway, Ken is spot on about JI. He is also spot on that GE needs to raise money at some point.
let's not forget that Jeff pushed out leaders as well. Among the best, John Krenicki who the board should have put as CEO prior to his departure
Ken is the guy that brought Nardelli to Home Depot. We all know how that turned out. Bob got a nice see yeah later package. What is clear from the CNBC interview was Ken is no fan of Jeff. If had this much hate in him and was this connected. How much influence did he still have on existing board members and executives. There have been many articles making reference to GE executives not going for Jeff’s tatics in revitalizing and running the company. If I were in GE capital I would not have been in favor of selling it all off after building the monster jack built there. Classic case of GE living a glass house. One rock and many walls crack or shatter.
Jack cared about Jack and no one else.
JW was invited to CNBC, where he used to be a regular guest to explain as to why he picked JI and to express his views. As expected, he declined and is hiding.
This guy has some axe to grind against JI.
But the arrogance from Jeff is corroborated by his HBR article How I remade GE.
https://hbr.org/2017/09/inside-ges-transformation#how-i-remade-ge
Jack was arrogant too but took time to learn businesses himself instead of delegating to yes men. Culture went from competency based to managing up.
Will be turnaround of the century if JF can pull it off. Odds are not in his favor.
I 70% agree with him BUT Jack ran off the leaders, picked Jeff and left behind a management team of hen pecked beta boys. It shouldn't have taken Jack long to see that Jeff was two years late with every major decision.
This former board member brags about how well Jack ran the company. Really? Did all those smarts leave Jack the day he left? That's a poor argument.