29 Leadership Secrets From Jack Welch

LEADERSHIP SECRET 23MAKE QUALITY THE JOB OF EVERY EMPLOYEE

FROM THE FILES OF JACK WELCH

By 2000, we want to be not just better in quality, but a company 10,000 times better than its competitors.

In January 1996, at the annual gathering of GE’s 500 top managers, Jack Welch formally launched the Six Sigma initiative. GE aimed to become a Six Sigma quality company by the year 2000, producing nearly defect-free products, services, and transactions.

Welch considered Six Sigma the most difficult Stretch goal GE had ever undertaken. But if successful, he said, the program would be “the biggest opportunity for growth, increased profitability, and individual ...