Issue Highlight - The Hunt For Next November

April in the state of Missouri is turkey-hunting season...For some reason the experience, despite its discomforts, is spiritually renewing and leaves you a little more optimistic about life.

In This Issue...
Angels With Rotary Wings
Reality Mirrors Movie
Mentoring
Aikido
Stop The Merry-Go-Round
Features...
Peter Block Column
Views for a Change
Pageturners
Briefcases
Diary of a Shutdown

Pagetuners
Book Reviews with an Atitude

-----“The GE Way Fieldbook: Jack Welch’s Battle Plan for Corporate Revolution”

------by Robert Slater----------* * * ** Five Stars

Robert Slater’s latest volume is a truly worthy addition to the growing list of publications in that innovative, new genre of management writings—the fieldbook (The Fifth Discipline, The Dance of Change, Openbook Management, etc.). It is the kind of comprehensive, user-friendly resource needed by today’s busy, pragmatic professionals.

-- In “The GE Way Fieldbook,” Slater provides a clear, "do-able" roadmap for those wishing to implement GE management practices in their own organizations. His presentation is candid, inspiring and constantly challenges the reader to assess themselves using the tools and techniques of what is arguably THE best managed organization in the world.

Power Theof Paradox

“The less a manager manages, the better off a company is.”
-- Jack Welch, CEO, General Electric

10-4, Backdoor! Put Your Pedal to the Metal and Let it Roar.

Reading “The GE Way Fieldbook” is a true pleasure. It engages you in a dialogue with yourself, your problems, your hopes and your vision. It forces you to be honest. The things you discover by completing the numerous self-assessments scattered throughout the book will fuel your efforts to create, sustain, or reinvigorate change/improvement initiatives within your organization—regardless of whether it is a public, private, for profit or nonprofit.

Two, Two, Two Books in One!
This volume really comprises two separate (the reader will have to decide if equal) books. Book One focuses on the tools and techniques GE has used to continuously reinvent itself and remain, year after year, “The Most Admired Company in America.” Book Two contains the full text of several Jack Welch interviews, speeches and written communications.

Book One: The GE Way: A Fieldbook for Corporate Revolution

* The Leadership Module
* The Empowerment Module
* The Organization Module
* The Customer Module

Book Two: The GE Way: The CEO in the Field

* The CEO as Professor
* The CEO as Communicator
* The CEO as Strategist

Jack Knows!

“A solid business leader is not someone who sits at a desk and pontificates day and night about how to run the business; rather; it is someone who gets down in the trenches, listens to employees and customers, communicates effectively with them, and stays in touch with all sorts of key constituencies. In short, a leader is simply someone who builds—and is a part of a team.”

There WILL be a test!

After reading “The GE Way Fieldbook” (and you will want to read it!), you too will be able to speak fluent GE-ese. But, as Robert Slater so eloquently describes, it is much, much harder to walk the GE talk!

“The GE Way Fieldbook: Jack Welch’s Battle Plan for Corporate Revolution,” 2000, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-135481-6, 288 pages.

Reviewed by Jerry Linnins, Reflections Technology, Petaluma, Calif.

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