"Jack: Straight from the Gut" is written by one of the most well known American business leaders of recent times. Jack Welch played a leading role in one of America's largest companies (General Electric - GE) for twenty years, growing it from around $26 billion when he started through to $130 billion when he left in 2001.

Straight from the Gut is written in a casual, flowing style that is part autobiographical and part leadership advice. Welch goes from discussing his family origins, through to his beginnings at GE when he started as an engineer in the 1960s, and to the implementation of his various leadership philosophies like Six Sigma. Along the way Jack Welch discusses numerous business stories from his time at the top of GE, mentioning both his successes (like his e-business strategy) and his failures (like his purchase of the Kidder Peabody company).

Jack Welch's Straight from the Gut is a book that both business leaders and those interested in the General Electric story will get something from. Welch keeps the reader entertained with interesting business stories, while also sharing many of his business philosophies that have worked for him over the years.

Jack: Straight from the Gut Book Quotes

• "If I have any leadership style, a way of getting the best out of people, I owe it to her (his mother). Tough and aggressive, warm and generous, she was a great judge of character. She always had opinions of the people she met. She could 'smell a phony a mile away.'"
• "Confidence gives you courage and extends your reach. It lets you take greater risks and achieve far more than you ever thought possible. Building self-confidence in others is a huge part of leadership. It comes from providing opportunities and challenges for people to do things they never imagined they could do.. rewarding them after each success in every way possible."
• "Many of my basic management beliefs.. things like competing hard to win, facing reality, motivating people by alternately hugging and kicking them, setting stretch goals, and relentlessly following up on people to make sure things get done.. can be traced to her as well." (Jack Welch talking about the influence his mother had on his life).

Jack: Straight from the Gut Book Contents

• Author's Note
  
• Prologue
• Section I: Early Years
  1. Building Self-Confidence
  2. Getting Out of the Pile
  3. Blowing the Roof Off
  4. Flying Below the Radar
  5. Getting Closer to the Big Leagues
  6. Swimming in a Bigger Pond
• Section II: Building a Philosophy
  7. Dealing with Reality and "Superficial Congeniality"
  8. The Vision Thing
  9. The Neutron Years
  10. The RCA Deal
  11. The People Factory
  12. Remaking Crotonville to Remake GE
  13. Boundaryless: Taking Ideas to the Bottom Line
  14. Deep Dives
• Section III: Ups and Downs
  15. Too Full of Myself
  16. GE Capital: The Growth Engine
  17. Mixing NBC with Light Bulbs
  18. When to Fight, When to Fold
• Section IV: Game Changers
  19. Globalization
  20. Growing Services
  21. Six Sigma and Beyond
  22. E-Business
• Section V: Looking Back, Looking Forward
  23. "Go Home, Mr. Welch"
  24. What This CEO Thing is All About
  25. A Short Reflection on Golf
  26. "New Guy"

Purchase Book from : Barnes&Noble - Amazon USA - Amazon UK - Audible.com Audio Book


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Customer Reviews of "Jack: Straight from the Gut" by Jack Welch - Submit your review online

• Great book! - Book Review submitted by "Lana Luther" of France -
  This book tells us how everything happened: being creative, hopes, risk, to be a competitor and how to manage a massive empire. I think that it is worth in general to read books by great management experts, world famous self help and motivational authors and business authorities. You may learn just a small bit from them but what you definitely get is an inspiration and encouragement.
• Just Another Business Biography - Book Review submitted by "Michael" of Australia -
  Many may not have liked his business style (especially those that were fired by him), but Jack Welch is definitely one of the best business leaders in the United States. His leadership comes across as being no-nonsense but fair. The bigger a business is, the more likely that you will have to make challenging business decisions, which means that one cannot always be Mr. nice guy and please everyone. At some point, the company's profits have to become a priority, which can mean that a culling has to take place.
  Jack Welch seems to have enjoyed his time at GE, and it comes across in Straight from the Gut. I didn't actually read the book, but listened to him reading it on the audio version of it. It was quite enjoyable listening to it, so I'm sure the book would be good too.

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