{"product_id":"jack-straight-from-the-gut","title":"Jack - Straight From The Gut","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs CEO of General Electric for the past twenty years, Jack Welch has built\u003cbr\u003eits market cap by over $500 billion and established himself as the most\u003cbr\u003eadmired business leader in the world. His championing of initiatives like\u003cbr\u003eSix Sigma quality, globalization, and e-business have helped define the\u003cbr\u003emodern corporation. At the same time, he's a gutsy boss who has forged a\u003cbr\u003eunique philosophy and an operating system that relies on a \"boundaryless\"\u003cbr\u003esharing of ideas, an intense focus on people, and an informal, give-and-\u003cbr\u003etake style that makes bureaucracy the enemy. In anecdotal detail and with\u003cbr\u003eself-effacing humor, Jack Welch gives us the people (most notably his Irish\u003cbr\u003emother) who shaped his life and the big hits and the big misses that\u003cbr\u003echaracterized his career. Starting at GE in 1960 as an engineer earning\u003cbr\u003e$10,500, Jack learned the need for \"getting out of the pile\" when his first\u003cbr\u003eraise was the same as everyone else's. He stayed out of the corporate\u003cbr\u003ebureaucracy while running a $2 billion collection of GE businesses--in a\u003cbr\u003esweater and blue jeans--out of a Hilton in Pittsfield, Mass. After avoiding\u003cbr\u003eGE's Fairfield, Connecticut, headquarters for years, Jack was eventually\u003cbr\u003esummoned by then Chairman Reg Jones, who was planning his succession. There\u003cbr\u003eensued one of the most painful parts of his career--Jack's dark-horse\u003cbr\u003estruggle, filled with political tension, to make it to the CEO's chair. A\u003cbr\u003ehug from Reg confirmed Jack was the new boss--and started the GE\u003cbr\u003etransformation. Welch walks us through the \"Neutron Jack\" years, when GE's\u003cbr\u003eemployment fell by more than 100,000 as part of a strategy to \"fix, sell,\u003cbr\u003eor close\" each business . . . and how he used the purchase of RCA to\u003cbr\u003eprovide a foundation for the company's future earnings. There were\u003cbr\u003emistakes, too--and Jack confronts them openly. In \"Too Full of Myself,\" he\u003cbr\u003edescribes one of the biggest blunders: the purchase of Kidder Peabody,\u003cbr\u003ewhich ran counter to GE's culture. The riveting story of his last year--the\u003cbr\u003eelaborate process of selecting a successor and the attempt to buy Honeywell\u003cbr\u003e--is also told in compelling detail. This book is laced with refreshing\u003cbr\u003einterludes, such as \"A Short Reflection on Golf,\" that capture Jack's\u003cbr\u003ecompetitiveness and the importance of friendship in his life. Jack:\u003cbr\u003eStraight from the Gut is both a business classic and a deeply personal\u003cbr\u003ejourney filled with passion and a sheer lust for life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAuthors: Jack Welch, John A. Byrne\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Business Plus\u003cbr\u003ePublication Date: 2001\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Thryft x Books for Charity","offers":[{"title":"Like New","offer_id":32591086682193,"sku":"HD9697.A3","price":4.24,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/0598\/4849\/products\/content_8425e82b-0b39-4e60-b3e9-b54491e04d8d.jpg?v=1717804147","url":"https:\/\/thryft.sbs\/products\/jack-straight-from-the-gut","provider":"Thryft","version":"1.0","type":"link"}