Advice from Jack Welch
-Steven Bonacorsi
I attended a Lean Six Sigma conference over ten years ago where we had a chance to listen to former General Electric CEO Jack Welch speak and take questions.
During the question session, one person asked Jack something like, "I'm running a grass-roots Lean Six Sigma effort, trying to get some projects done to show our leadership team the results, and hopefully get them to support a greater investment in continuous improvement over time. Can you please give me some advice on how to best deal with that?"
Jack said, "Find a new job. Next question."
She paused to see if he would say anything more, but then grabbed the microphone again before another person could start a new question, "Seriously, Jack. I'm a mid-level leader in a larger company and I can't get the senior leadership team on board yet. But I don't have the luxury of quitting."
He replied, "Seriously, you need to find a new job. Leaders who don't want to lead change will eventually kill your company. You might as well get out now."
He went on to the next question.
-Steven Bonacorsi
I attended a Lean Six Sigma conference over ten years ago where we had a chance to listen to former General Electric CEO Jack Welch speak and take questions.
During the question session, one person asked Jack something like, "I'm running a grass-roots Lean Six Sigma effort, trying to get some projects done to show our leadership team the results, and hopefully get them to support a greater investment in continuous improvement over time. Can you please give me some advice on how to best deal with that?"
Jack said, "Find a new job. Next question."
She paused to see if he would say anything more, but then grabbed the microphone again before another person could start a new question, "Seriously, Jack. I'm a mid-level leader in a larger company and I can't get the senior leadership team on board yet. But I don't have the luxury of quitting."
He replied, "Seriously, you need to find a new job. Leaders who don't want to lead change will eventually kill your company. You might as well get out now."
He went on to the next question.
