Jack Welch on getting ahead

I just cannot resist myself from quoting Jack Welch over and over again. Mind you, I have read dozens of books on business and leadership; some of them are good; but none of them came as downright and straight forward as Welch's. (If you are interested I recommend you reading "Straight from the gut" first and then the "Winning". As Warren Buffet said, No other management book will ever be needed)

Now, as I am approaching closer to my very first career promotion, I remember the words of Welch in his book "Winning" on getting ahead. On contrast with other career books, which provides lame, abstract philosophies on getting ahead, Welch gives you practical points like a capsule that can be swallowed.

Below, I have summarized few points on his take. Obviously, by summarizing, some of its sharpness is compromised. But nevertheless, it will give you the essence.

Some Dos and Don'ts

1. Do deliver sensational performance, far beyond expectations, and at every opportunity expand your job beyond its official boundaries

"an even more effective way to get promoted is to expand your job's horizons to include bold and unexpected activities. Come up with a new concept or process that doesn't improve just your results, but your unit's results and the companies overall performance. Change your job in a way that makes the people around you work better and your boss look smarter. Don't just do the predictable"

  

2. Don't make your boss use political capital in order to champion you

The following are some of the behaviours which leads to it.

 a) Transgression of your company's values and behaviours

 b) Lack of candor

  "Not only boldface lying, but even withholding information accounts to lack of candor" 

 "Don't make your boss ask the perfect question to get information from you"

 c) Wearing your career goals on your sleeve

3. Manage your relationships with your subordinates with the same carefulness that you manage the one with your boss

Two career-damaging traps:

 a) When you spend too much time managing up:

"As a result, you become too remote from your subordinates, and you end up losing their support and affection"

 b) When you get too close to your employees, overstepping boundaries, and end up acting more like a buddy than a boss

 "the best thing employees can say about you is that you were fair, you cared, and that you showed them tough love"

 

4. Get on the radar screen by being an early champion of your company's major projects or initiatives

5. Search out and relish the input of lots of mentors, realizing that mentors don’t always look like one.

 "there is no one right mentor. There are many right mentors"

6. Have a positive attitude and spread it around

 "Have a sense of humor, be fun to hang out with. Don't be a bore or a sourpuss. Don't act  important, or worse, pompous. Smack yourself in the head if you start taking yourself too seriously"

7. Don't let setbacks break your stride

"Once or twice or more times than that, you will not get promoted. Don't let it break your stride"

"work like hell to let those feelings go"

"by all means, do not let your career setback into the office cause celebre. What a way to alienate everyone"

"If you want to complain about your career, do it at home, at a bar across town, or wherever you go to worship. The people at work, while they know a lot about your case, should not be drawn into your emotional experience"

"More important even if you think of leaving your company, try to accept your setback with as much grace as you can muster, and even see it as a challenge to prove yourself anew. Such an approach will serve you well whether you stay or go"

 In essence, "Exceed expectations, broaden your job's horizons, and never give your boss a reason to have to spend political capital for you. Manage your subordinates carefully, sign up for the radar-screen assignments, collect mentors, and spread your positive attitude. When setbacks come, and they will, ride them out with your heads up"

Of course it sounds ridiculous when read in such a condensed form. However when you read the book, which assists you with real life anecdotes and examples, amazingly everything will make sense and how. When I think of some of the amazing leaders I have worked with and relate them with some of the above factors, I could realize how true each of those is.

 and therefore I do intend to follow this. What about you?

Winning Welch way

We relish heroes! We always look upon them! We wanted to be them when we grow up! We emulate them! We copy the way they talk, the way they walk and sometimes we even laugh the way they laugh! Our heroes are the people whom we want to be!

Then we grow up! We get a job or become a leader. We feel wonderful! What a great time to get into action all that we wanted to be! Just like our heroes!

Jack Welch is my hero. Not because he is the sort of hero I wanted to be. It’s because he is the sort of hero I never wanted to be. He is the sort of guy who I not only wanted to be but also the sort I wish I never had to put up with.

Not anymore!

My heroes have always been the super hero types; The ones who charm their way out of adversity and command respect with ‘super human’ charisma; they spread the picture of perfection, sophistication and elegance personified. I wanted to be one of them. The ones who hold the finest of French wines, wearing a ubiquitous smile in their face and mesmerize the fellow fragile humans out of their comfort zones. The ones whom you can see in those luxury car ads. I always wanted to be one of them. The ones driving the deals and the board room, who are looked upon as a natural leader. The ones for whom nothing can go wrong and display a picture of perfection. Yeah. I always wanted to be one of them.

Not anymore!

What I found out eventually that, though I always strived to be one of them and act like one of them, it lit upon me that I never really liked to work under them. Don’t take me wrong. They are not any less inspirational. In fact they are more inspirational as leaders than any other kind are. They exist in media, books and the movies. But when it comes to reality, when it comes to the real people with ‘blood and skin’ they never really inspire or to put it in a correct perspective they never really exist.

The inspirational leaders are not those sophisticated utopian types but those who blatantly reflect humanity. The inspirational leaders are those who make mistakes like rest of us, who live and breathe and eat like rest of us and who make us believe that if they can then we surely can. The inspirational leaders are not those who gain our admiration for performing super normal tasks and producing super normal results. The inspirational leaders are those who like rest of us fight like hell to build a career or enterprise within the system and produce the belief in us to join their journey of fighting like hell to the way up. I found this whole damn thing a big irony. Here I am who always admired super heroes and always wanted to be one of them. But now I am in the field firing from all cylinders taking the cue from leaders whom I never wanted to be. It is then I realised an important lesson on the leadership. Being a leader is not being a super hero. In fact it’s not about you any more. It’s about the people around you. The people around you do not want leaders as some sort of angels whom can be met only in a church. The people around you want their leaders as a person who endure the same environment as theirs, understand them and inspires them to run a journey towards a bigger picture. They want more blood and flesh. They need people, not picture perfection.

I have met such people in real life. I have worked my best under them but never really had my view of a perfect leader towards them until later I realised what clicks for a leader. No one bestowed such change of mindset on me better than Jack Welch. Now I know that you are as damn sure as I am that I have never worked under him. I never have. But I have worked for other Jack Welches elsewhere. Again, not that I have worked for picture perfect leaders. But that their uniqueness comes from their imperfection, their humanity.

There is reason why Welch has made such considerable impact on me. Not because he has lead the world’s largest enterprise successfully for many years. But because of all the dozens of books I have read so far which has created an image of virtual down pouring of thoughts from heaven into me, Jack Welch’s book created an image of someone standing next to me, touching on my shoulders and showing the way as it is. Though sometimes it's hard to swallow. He never gives you step by step protocol to success, nor do it like me to win propaganda. He simply says – damn, there’s awful lot of things to do. Go grab it and do it the way you do it and be real.

His first book, ‘Straight from the gut’ felt like a 100 meters dash. Made me wonder if this guy ever had time to breath. Such an amount of exuberant action packed life. The striking aspect is that he had an opinion on virtually anything under the sky. Nobody in this world have any clue on what is going to happen to this world. Nobody has a clue. So everyone follows the lead of the person who has strong convictions, who knows exactly what to do. It never really matters if that conviction is right or not. All it matters if you have a strong conviction or not.

His second book, ‘Winning’ though a management guide book never gives a step by step formula for managerial success. But it gives amazing insight of looking at things the way it is. Something which gets you out of your comfort zones and urges you to put things under perspective. The template I wish I follow.

In midst of all this, it’s not like Welch is the perfect man to follow. He had survived two divorces in his life, few heart attacks; he has been described in the media as an arrogant corporate despot. He made his share of mistakes in his stint as the CEO of the GE. But despite of all this, the reason which makes him my hero and the prime message he wants to convey to all of us, which perhaps explains his few short comings and the enormous success in his life is, in a nutshell is this.

Be real!

Yes he is sort of guy who I never wanted to be. And yes, the true leader will never make you act like him. The true leader will make you act like you. And that is why he is my hero.