Now to Mike...
I could go on with that, but GE is not sounding so angelic after all.
I could also go on and on, however, you miss the point. These transgressions were not the result of corporate policies, these were all created by individuals. Perhaps for $$, perhaps to burnish their resume. Close to 100% of the intgrity issues were turned up by GE and reported to the SEC, FTC or whoever. Then GE aided in the prosecution of said individuals.
Bad behavior is not tolerated. But, with so many employees you will get smen bad characters. Statistically speaking, out of every 100 people, you will get two with sociopathic tendencies. Rules do not apply to them. Hiring screens cannot always catch them.
GE has a huge corporate audit staff. This group reports in to the CEO. They turn over every stone. You never knew when or where the teams would show up. You might come in at 0800 and find that a team has been in your office since midnight. If you had a locked closet or cabinet you had to open it and then go away. And these guys/gals are good. Every T better be crossed and every penny accounted for. This type of internal watchdog keeps honest people, and even most of the dishonest people, on the straight and narrow.
Lunch with "Neutron Jack"? That's pretty impressive. This is the guy who cut 100,000 jobs when he took over? Obviously not yours or maybe you would have a different point of view of the man.
Yep, that Jack. He really hated that nickname by the way. In fact, I have one of his books on my shelf that he personalized and signed before giving it to me.
Yes, I did survive because I got the message. Jack promised change to improve the company. Those that resisted did not last long. He promoted a huge culture shift.
Was it painful? Yes. I had a plant closed down out from under me in 1986. It made good financial sense to be honest. Did I whine? No, I found a better job in the company. Here in Richmond in fact.
Welch is/was a visionary. He saw a 100 year old company living in the past. He knew that GE needed to change or face extinction and he took the painful steps necessary. Was he successful? You bet. GE is about 10 times as large as ir was when he took over and immensley profitable. Those 100,000 jobs were replaced with better ones. And really, 100,000 jobs did not disappear, they just turned up under a different company. When we sold the small table appliance business to Black and Decker, they merely took over the factory. Upper management was hit (I bet you like that) but the assembly people stayed put.
Also, look at GEs major competitors in 1980 and ask where they are today? Westinghouse is gone except for the use of its name under license agreements. You will see W christmas tree lights nd cheap TVs but there is no Westinhouse Electric. Next would have been ITE Imperial. Who? They eventually became ITE Brown Bovari and eventuall disappeared into ABB. Then there was Allis Chalmers. They eventually became Siemans-Allis and then disappeared into Siemens. How about Sylvania? They were eaten by Phillips along with what was lesf tof the W lamp business.
We offered our sevices to the auto companies but they were 'as good as GE' and did not see the need to change. See where that got them?
Only GE survived. Change was necessary and Welch knew it and made it happen.
This is also the guy who thought the pennies per hour Asians working in the sweatshops of Asia for GE should be fired so that his salary could be increased because he was upset he didn't equal up to his CEO peers?
You will need to elaborate on this point. GE just is not in sweatshop type businesses anywhere. GE products require highly trained staffs and serious capital equipment expenditures. As for what GE pays workers in offshore plants please show me documentation and sources. GE has long been vilified by localities because it comes in and disrupts the local pay scales by paying more than is the custom. Might be pennies, but it is more than they used to get and they are thrilled. But again, GE is a high tech company and even in India salaries are high with respect to what the locals used to get.
This is BS. Site your source please. There was a fuss made over welch's perks after he retired. In 1996 he had aheart attack and bypass surgery. I saw him at a BOD dinner in april 1997 and he looked terrible. It was a shock as I had not seen him face to face in years. He was considering retiring at 62 because of his health and the BOD offered him a huge $$ incentive to stay. he actually turned down the cash and instead asked for perpetual use of a GE owned condo in New York, a limo and a company plane. And, the best part, season tickets to Red Sox games! when the corporate stuff hit the fan after the bubble burst much was made of this largesse and he terminated the plan. It was the BOD that set this up, not Welch.
Remember now, this is the man chosen CEO of the 20th century by his peers, not a crook like the Enron bunch. In terms of shareholder value growth, he was underpaid.
BTW, did you lunches with the CEO and vps include conversation of all the corruption you fail to mention like in India or Indonesia?
Site your sources please... Problems are always discussed. When you had a room filled with the top business leaders of the Global Economy there was little idle chit chat. However, Welch was an excellent golfer -zero handicap - and did brag that he beat Greg Norman at golf. That was in the early 90s though.
General Dynamics Corp. and United Technologies Inc.
Yes, great companies.
there are still those who are a little less than desirable (I wouldn't call them Great Americans). I say this because I used to read a friend of mine's newspaper from Paris Island that had all the legal matters in the back.
Anybody in the military is a great American. They put themselves in harms way for about minimum wage. As for Parris Island, that is an interesting place and they have their issues. Consider though, that the facility has thousands of 17, 18 and 19 year old kids coming and going weekly. Some are at risk types from the lower end of society. With 30,000 recruits trained every year the 2% stat on sociopathic types means there will be quite a few incorrigable on the island at any one time. The worst get weeded out quickly. I have met some. But after boot camp most are the most honorable and respectful people you would ever want to meet. If society at large was as committed and honerable as the 30,000 new Marines that come out each year the US would be a much better place.
The worst time for a new Marine is usually the ten days they get between boot camp and infantry school. After 13 weeks of hardship some just loose control when they hit the street. On returning they all get a drug test and there is no mercy. Test positive and your 13 weeks were a waste. It is off to the brig and then out of the Corps.
how much do you really know about it?
See my post to Gene for some info. I volunteered to be a trainer of GE methods as a side job so was pretty much into everything at all levels at one point or another. Sometimes I was called to facilitate a session dealing with problems and issues in a business. Everything was out on the table. Everything. That is the only way change could be implemented. This was one of the stumbling blocks when asked to facilitate sessions outside of GE. Openness was/is part of the GE culture. At most companies people were afraid to air the dirty laundry. No, I did not know everything, but I do know an awful lot given my inside access.
Are you in on the back room deals made in Washington?
Once again, please site your sources. I'd love to see your documentation. For years naysayers whie that GE must be crooked because they are so profitable. Not true. Can you say 'outstanding corporate management'? That is the secret.
GE was and is a Justice Dept breakup target precisely because it is so successful. Look at AT&T. They were destroyed by the justice Dept and are a mere shadow of the pre split company. and now, the baby bells are remerging into just the beheamoth AT&T was vilified for being.
Look at Microsoft as anothe rgood example. If anything, GE is under more scrutiny than any other company over time. Right now though, the oil companies and big pharma has the spotlight.
As a reminder Mike, please site your sources.
Rich