Winning by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch

Winning by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch

This book is about business and how to succed in business. It is very candid. There is a certain hard edge to the book despite its very positive presentation. Jack Welch likes to differentiate the top 20% best players, the 70% in the middle, and the 10% on the bottom on the way out. A lot of this book is about how not to be in the bottom 10% despite being advertised as being how to win.

A lot of the basics of business are covered; mission statements and values, what makes a winner, how to succeed in your career, and how to have a positive energetic attitude that will lead to success. Jack Welch was very successful in his career; at the same time some people described him as being too candid and willing to fire people too quickly.

He warns people against complaining and resisting change. The best way to get out of a hard situation is to either buy in to change or move on somewhere else. He tells you that a sure way not to get a new job is to complain about your current job, underperform, and sent out resumes to everyone in existence. According to him, the best way to find new work is to improve your performance so you stand out.

There are many insightful ideas in this book which I found quite useful. Jack Welch says that many of his ideas came from working at General Electric as well as teaching and consulting after retirement. He describes how he has learned from many different people, not just fellow CEOs.

One of his ideas is that organized people automatically have better work life balance. This is because they are more able to do more at work and at home. Organization and time management are something I am working on.

The book is well organized and easy to follow. Winning was a bestselling business book. It will remain a mainstay of business reading for a long time. If you are interested in the basics of how to succeed in a career or business this book offers a lot of insight.