Review on Jack Welch's Winning

Jack Welch was General Electric chairman and CEO from 1981 to 2001 and is one of the best business icons. He has been travelling around the world and interacting with people, sharing his wisdom on management.

The book is very interesting unlike other books composed of winning strategies. The candor in his writing, which he refers as a very important perspective in the organization’s and an individual’s growth. When you are reading the book you will have the feel of interaction with Jack Welch himself.  There are numerous advices which are sensible and convincing and you feel like you’re already taking the author’s side in the views of running a management.

This book comes with a handy experience of forty five years and with sheer class capabilities of how one should run a company and manage it. No one else could have explained with the simplest terms and the scenarios like jack Welch, the author and the Ex- CEO of GE.

The book has got a comment printed on it done by Mr. Warren E. Buffet quoting ‘No other management book will ever be needed’, at first sight you may feel it’s exaggerating but once you finish reading the book. You will agree with those wordings.

The reason for the success of this book is the experience of the author. He has explained every management strategy through his experience, which makes it so reliable and adaptable.

The demise of Arthur Anderson and Enron reminds of many things around us. It’s almost like how Irfan Pathan lost his place in the Indian national cricket team. He was a gifted swinging bowler, who has many records in his name till the date. His downfall started when he started to focus on his batting, trying to be an all-rounder.  People often forget the domain in which they are better and try to establish themselves trying in a new context.

The book answers a lot of management questions which you’re having.  He is very straight in his way of narrating. It may make some lazy bunch of people curse him for his differentiation theory. The “Your Company” and “Your Competition” sections gave some good insight for people at the top of a company, whether they are owners or just top-level management. The “Your Career” section gave some bottom-line advice about one’s own choices made in life.

The author is aware of management terminologies and boredom if he narrates only using business organizations. He uses base ball game very fluently and describes very smoothly about the team work and what management must do to ensure the team spirit. The comparison goes hand in hand with baseball team and corporate sector.

The book successfully explains about the crisis management. The manager roles are explained very effectively. The positive approach emphasized by the author is very appreciating during worst case scenarios.

When it comes to the strategy the author backs upon making clear cut choices on competition. If the strategies are providing good results and expansion of the business, there is no need to change it. That’s indeed a very simple, but riskless and efficient logic for the companies.

He lends us his view on the budgeting and its effect on the company functions. In the “Your competition” section, he speaks about the companies trying to expand their bodies to run new ventures, which could be very disastrous. The resources available will not be good enough, unless we get the experts to play their role on the respective venture.

The six sigma concept was not so complete like he described the other topics. Relating six sigma concepts with a dentist was not convincing, may be because he had explained other topics using baseball game and pizza for teamwork and competition more effectively.

For a fresher this book means a lot, there is clarity in explanations regarding selecting the job, about the pay and finding the like-minded co-workers or to be in a better place where you are suitable. If you enjoy what you do, you will succeed eventually. It’s like the broker turned to CEO as of in the real time example by the author.

He describes working for Fortune 500 companies is like winning Olympic medal. He does not forget to mention that there are smaller companies in which they offer experiences and exposures which are very classy.

The selection of job is something more than important. If you do not have heart on what you are doing you will not be excited. You end up as pale employee. Every time luck won’t be favoring you. The student who attends interview for being employee at Wal-Mart is a car freak, just because of the pressure and intension of his father he was at Wall-Mart. The world could not have known Pranav Mistry or Sachin Tendulkar if they had swapped their intensions because of someone else’s dream. The author is very scintillating about the right job selection and he delivers his view in the best way possible.

It’s a must read book for jobseekers looking for their first job, managers, and everyone has something to fetch for themselves in “WINNING”.