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August 7, 2005
REVIEWS: What does it take to win?
A Dutch entrepreneur once said, “Every day in life, there is a new question. That is what keeps us going.”
“There are questions about juggling the colliding demands of kids, career and all that other stuff you want to do, like play golf, renovate your house or raise money in a walkathon. There have been questions about landing the promotion of your dreams — without making any enemies. There have been questions about macroeconomic trends, emerging industries and currency fluctuations. There have been literally thousands of questions. But most of them come down to this. What does it take to win?”
Jack Welch, the ex-chairman/CEO of General Electric, tackles these questions in his book Winning, assisted by his wife, Suzy Welch. During his 40-year career at General Electric, Jack Welch led the company to success in multiple markets against brutal competition. His honest, be-the-best style of management became the standard in business, with relentless focus on people, teamwork and profits. Since his retirement in 2001, Jack has been travelling around the globe and speaking to more than 250,000 people, answering their questions on dozens of wide-ranging topics.
So why is winning the most important question? Jack believes wining in business is good because “when companies win, people thrive and grow. There are more jobs and more opportunities everywhere for everyone. People feel upbeat about their future; they have the resources to send their kids to college, get better healthcare, buy vacation homes, and secure a comfortable retirement. Winning provides people with the opportunity to give back to society in ways beyond just paying more taxes — people can donate time and money to charities, support social causes and so on. Winning lifts everyone it touches — it just makes the world a better place.”
Jack Welch believes that you have to win the right way — clean and by the rules. Companies and people who don’t compete fairly don’t deserve to win. And just like everything else, there is a method to winning
So how do you win? Jack Welch believes that you have to win the right way — clean and by the rules. Companies and people who don’t compete fairly don’t deserve to win. And just like everything else, there is a method to winning.
Winning is organized in four parts. The first called “Underneath it all” is conceptual. It contains management philosophy, where Jack lays a substructure of principles to his approach to business. The four principles are about the importance of a strong mission and concrete values; the absolute necessity of candor in every aspect of management; the power of differentiation, a system based on meritocracy and the value of each individual receiving voice and dignity.
The next section, “Your company”, is about the innards of organizations. It’s about mechanics — people, processes, and culture. The chapters in this section look at leadership, hiring, people management, letting people go, managing change, and crisis management.
The following section, “Your competition” is about the world outside the organization. It discusses how to create strategic advantages, devise meaningful budgets, grow organically, grow through mergers and acquisitions and explains the myth of the Six Sigma quality programme.
“Your career” is about managing the arc and the quality of professional life. It starts with answering basic questions like finding the right job at any point in you career, what does it take to get promoted or the issues related to working for a bad boss.
The last section addresses the very human desire to have it all — all at the same time. “Tying up loose ends” answers nine questions that do not fall into any of the above categories. They concern with issues like managing the “China threat”, diversity, the impact of new regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, how business should respond to societal crises like AIDS and so on.
Winning offers answers to most of these questions — but not all, because business and the world is ever-changing. The book offers a road map not just to senior level manager and CEOs but also for people on the front lines: business owners, middle managers, entrepreneurs, line workers, college grads looking for their first jobs, people switching careers and so on. It does not give an easy formula to win. There are none. It, however, gives guidelines to follow, rules to consider, assumptions to adopt and mistakes to avoid. It clearly states that the team with the best players wins, so you, as a leader should find and retain the best players; should not overbrain things to the point of inaction; share learning relentlessly; have a positive attitude and spread it around; never let yourself be a victim; and most important, have fun. Business is a game and winning that game is a total blast.
Winning
By Jack Welch with Suzy Welch
HarperBusiness. Available with Liberty Books (Pvt) Ltd, 3 Rafiq Plaza, M.R. Kayani Road, Saddar, Karachi. Tel: 021-5683026
Email: libooks@cyber.net.pk Website: www.libertybooks.com
ISBN 0-06-079742-8
372pp. Rs850
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