The Leadership Philosophies of Jack Welch

There is a great importance put on business leadership, this is directly due to how a business not only functions but in how fruitful the company can become. A great leader essentially can take a business plan that is weak yet turn it into a success, whereas a poor leader stands a higher chance of ruining the best of business plans. That is why it is essential to develop effective leadership throughout a companies entire management program at all levels. How does one develop or retain strong leadership? Companies must be focused on hiring strategies that encompass very specific parameters, building from within whilst creating a strong foundation for employee development and succession planning. Leadership is essential in any organization. The style and theory embraced determines whether the company will or will not achieve their goals. in all cases theory must be embraced, as a companies theory, style, and strategy is greatly dependent on the industry the company is in (Sadler, 2014). “The behavioral theory is one of the widely used theories of management. It suggests that leaders are made and not born. It gives room for training to install leadership traits in leaders at the expense of denying them a chance. There are various leadership styles embraced by companies (Cyert, & March, 2005).”  This paper takes a look at the management styles of two specific

All leadership styles are unique and executed via a well-thought out process. This paper reviews the leadership and managerial opportunities I have had in my recent work experiences. The experiences mentioned in this paper range from my first work engagement to the current role I am assigned as a Senior Financial Analyst. There are examples which explain the aspects that have impacted my leadership skills. This paper also examines the possibilities of inventing a unique leadership style that will align with Jack Welch's four principles and eight Rules. Furthermore, it provides the

For centuries leaders have been analyzed in order to determine what the traits and characteristics of a successful leader are. Leadership, as defined by Koontz and Weihrich (2008) is “the art or a process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals” (p. 311). Leadership plays an important role in employee’s participation, creativity, recruitment to an organization, their commitment to the organization, and productivity levels. Over the years, there have been a number of theories surrounding leadership such as the “Great Man” theory, which, according to Riaz and Haider (2010), “assumes that leaders are born and have innate qualities, therefore, leaders

Person-oriented leaders are focused on what they do to ensure and satisfy the needs of the

Effective leaders opt to implement a specific type of leadership style as a result of their personalities and job experiences, and apply it to their organizational structure. However, that particular type of leadership style a leader utilizes may not apply to every job situation (Peak et al., 2010). In order to be an effective leader, an individual must acquire the three basic leadership skills and they are as follows: (1) human relations; (2) conceptual skills; and (3) technical skills (Haberfeld, 2013). Additionally, a skillful leader must also be proficient in motivating, communicating, and problem solving (Hess & Orthmann, 2012).

Leaders are most effective when they are able to attain cooperation among all the members and make them feel the purpose of doing their tasks. It is important for them to research on the characteristics of high performance teams so that they also have it as their standards in leading their people. Some of the important activities that a leader should be good at are persuading, communicating, and motivating people (Tracy, n.d.).

The essential skill a group leader needs is to understand, group or team work is like the cycle of life (e.g., human, organize, and improvement). Therefore, the leaders must understand how individuals give up a measure of their independence when they join and participate in a

I chose this book in hope that it could help me understand the difference between managing and leading. In addition, I wanted to gain more knowledge and tools to help myself grow as a leader and help develop all of my subordinates that I may have to time throughout my career. The book jacket for this book is ultimately why I decided to read the book because it truly grabbed my attention. I found it interesting that John C. Maxwell is a #1 New York Times bestselling author (Maxwell, 2013). Moreover, the book jacket continued to catch my attention by stating to be more than a boss people are required to follow, you must master the ability to inspire and invest in people (Maxwell, 2013). I particularly found the “invest in people” line most interesting and caused me to want to read and learn more about the authors perspective on leadership.

000). The Energy of Leadership. In William Dauphinais, Grady Means & Colin Price Price (Eds.), Wisdom of the CEO (pp.167-174). New York: Wiley.

In The Lord of the Flies, Jack’s leadership is allegorical to Stalin’s control of the USSR during the 1940s. In the Soviet Union under Stalin, the government was a totalitarian communist dictatorship, where it was controlled by one person, and the only authority was the absolute power of the state. Political opposition was controlled and suppressed by military police, and those who spoke out too loudly were never seen again. An article from the Library of Congress describes this control as “strict party-state control, not tolerating even the slightest expression of local initiative, let alone political unorthodoxy.” However, there was the equal sharing of labor and wealth that was distributed by the state, and industrialization of the Soviet

Although trait and skill theories have ideas that can be intertwined and can be compared

Mark, your reference that “Leadership involves motivating a group of people and aligning their interests towards a common goal in the aim of achieving it” is the epitome of Hightower and Welch’s leadership style even though their leadership style was very different. Hightower accomplished his goals at Disney by empowering his managers to follow through on his initiatives with complete autonomy, as he describes himself as having “a hammer in one hand and a velvet glove in the other hand” (Jick & Peiperl,2011, p. 418), this approach would naturally weed out the mangers that was noncompliant in advancing his new agenda. As oppose to Welch’s heavy hand revolutionary approach by dismantling the status quo and current infrastructure through

Management guru Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, has been instrumental in forming today’s top business management leaders by imparting effective knowledge in leadership management; he is widely credited with transforming GE into a multibillion-dollar conglomerate.

I have learned many lessons from Jack Welch on leadership. Jack Welch has been with the General Electric Company (GE) since 1960. Having taken over GE with a market capitalization of about $12 billion, Jack Welch turned it into one of the largest and most admired companies in the world by the time he stepped down as its CEO 20 years later, in 2000. Jack Welch used his uncanny instincts and unique leadership strategies to run GE, the most complex organization in the world and increased its market value by more than $400 billion over two decades. He remains a highly regarded figure in business circles due to his innovative leadership style. Jack Welch demonstrated Kouzes and Posner’s five practices of modeling the way, inspiring a shared

The leader must inspire engage employees, prescribe a common vision, choose a direction to take and encourage them to follow him. The whole team needs to continue and share the same goals and objectives. One could say that this style of leadership is the most effective of all, especially in large organizations. Nelson Mandela was one of the greatest leaders in history, great freedom fighter and