29 Leadership Secrets From Jack Welch

LEADERSHIP SECRET 11LEARNING CULTURE I: USE BOUNDARYLESSNESS AND EMPOWERMENT TO NURTURE A LEARNING CULTURE

FROM THE FILES OF JACK WELCH

The operative assumption today is that someone, somewhere, has a better idea.

Before Jack Welch came along, many analysts thought GE to be unmanageably huge, complex, and heterogeneous. Some considered the company a rudderless conglomerate—a collection of assets that lacked coherence and a unifying vision.

Welch did not agree.

He believed that GE’s diversity and complexity could be turned into an asset if he could create what he called a “learning culture.” In a learning culture, GE’s employees would search for ...