JACK WELCH SUCCESSOR DESTROYED GE HE INHERITED:
Within Welch’s GE, there was an accepted belief that GE Capital, the company’s highly successful financial arm, should never exceed 40 percent of GE’s profits or revenues. This was thought to be a delicate balance, the ideal level to enhance the industrial businesses and to retain the company’s once pristine Triple-A credit rating. Undaunted, Immelt grew it to 55 percent of the company’s portfolio, just at the onset of the Great Recession, ignoring this long-held belief. It didn’t work all that well.
[Jeff] Immelt was more of an outside CEO, eager to play public statesman in Washington, advising President Barack Obama, giving speeches and collecting awards, and not enough like Jack Welch, who was a roll-up-your-sleeves CEO who reveled in operational details, asked the hard questions, cultivated deep engagement with his leadership team, and never suffered fools gladly.