Jack



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Hardcover
496 pages
ISBN 9780446528382 Published Jan. 2001
Warner Books
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Jack
Straight from the Gut
By Jack Welch, John A Byrne, Mike Barnicle 

Related Blog Posts
Forbes' 20 Most Influential Business Books
Posted April 21, 2006 3:52 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Lists - 800 CEO Read Blog

In the Forbes' article that Tom referred to yesterday, the writer Dan Ackman pointed to a list of business books the magazine put together in 2002. Forbes calls these The 20 Most Influential Business Books. As you look down the panel experts, you'll notice our own Jack Covert was among those called to contribute. Since this was put together before the blog was born, I thought we should get it put up here.

They also organized the books and you will find some good commentary under the topics of management, narrative, biography and investing.



Couldn't Agree More
Posted May 3, 2005 2:36 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In General Management - 800 CEO Read Blog

This from the May 9, 2005 issue of Forbes:

On Charlie Rose's TV show ex-General Electric boss Jack Welch said Winning, his new book with new wife Suzy Welch, was better than his previous book, Jack: Straight from the Gut, with now-Fast Company editor John Byrne. Left unsaid: Straight sold 3 million copies. Welch tells FORBES he "misspoke," calling Byrne a "great collaborator." But Welch said he does favor Suzy, laughing, "Now why would I say that?" (David Whelan)

Jack had it right the first time. Winning is the better book. At the same time, I am not sure we would blame John Byrne for what happened the first book.



Naked Truth #2
Posted March 12, 2005 2:40 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Excerpts and Essays - 800 CEO Read Blog

Naked Truth #2 Business is personal.

To write this book I interviewed dozens of women who’d reached CEO positions and two at the C-level (Chief, reporting to the CEO) in major companies. All achieved success in the business world almost unknown to previous generations. Each one cited romance, family, and relationship milestones alongside education, achievement, and finances. Read Jack Welch’s autobiography Straight from the Gut if you harbor the illusion that men see the world similarly. His marriages get a few non-reflective lines each and his philandering (which had to have affected business) none at all. Perhaps his follow-up, written with the woman who broke up his second marriage and dramatically affected his departure from GE, will address the personal/business intersection. It’s possible to learn from mistakes, but only if you cop to them. The women I interviewed eagerly recounted mistakes along with triumphs. I’ve tried to do the same.

There are two types of business books for women. (Reminds me of a friend’s comment: “There are two types of people in the world: those who believe there are two types of people and those who don’t.”) The first type of book advises you to try to be like a man to succeed, which includes keeping your emotions out of the workplace. This book is the second type, which avers that a healthy leader recognizes, and responds to, the emotions involved in decision-making and business relationships. Pretending to see logic in your boss’s petulant behavior when you pay attention to his business rival doesn’t make it go away. Realizing that he is behaving like your high school boyfriend—and treating him accordingly—just might.



Awareness: A Prerequisite to Effective Action
Posted Aug. 2, 2004 4:16 a.m. by 800-ceo-read
In Personal Development - 800 CEO Read Blog

I haven't been drawn to read a purely business book lately. And I've felt a bit in a stress-induced creative slump and was hoping to read a different type of book - one that would challenge me, prime my creative juices, and reinvigorate me. Tall order. I read half through two seemingly promising books with dissatisfaction - neither turned out to ultimately say anything illuminating or applicable.

As soon as I read mention of the book, Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality, by Anthony De Mello (via A VentureBlog), I knew I had my next book to read. And it is a page-turner. And even more than I bargained for. The bonus with a book like Awareness is it won't stop with your business life, as it's ultimately about "unconditional" happiness. Self-understanding I've come to believe with conviction is a prerequisite for effective action and if you prefer to tackle problems and opportunities at their root the foundational skill to possess.

Catching up with my blog reading, I stumbled across this recent post at An Entrepreneur's Life:

The most successful people I know are absolutely ruthless with self-inspection. With what Napoleon Hill called Accurate Thinking. And what GE ex-CEO Jack Welch called The Reality Principle.

The book is anything but conventional and is akin to dumping a bucket of ice cold water over your head - a bit of a shock, and in these sultry summer days, also a bit refreshing.

Author Anthony De Mello was a Jesuit priest who taught in India and died in 1987. Former founding senior executive of FedEx, Francis Maguire, a fan of De Mello, says of the book, "Awareness will be the critical test of American business in the next decade. I call it the 'business of awareness'."

The book is based on transcripts from an in-person workshop, and because of this it more entertaining and direct as in-person audiences' attention spans are invariably shorter than patient readers'.

What kills the sensitivity is what many people would call the conditioned self: when you so identify with "me" that there's too much of "me" in it to see things objectively, with detachment. It's very important that when you spring into action, you be able to see things with detachment.

What, then, would we call that kind of passion that motivates or activates energy into doing something about objective evils? Whatever it is, it is not a reaction; it is action. - Awareness, by Anthony De Mello

Since I've enthusiastically consumed stacks of self-help, pyschology, philosophy, and all manner of spiritual and religious books in the past, I wasn't sure if Awareness was as accessible as I thought it was to others. My view is that Awareness tackles the personal development issue in a highly accessible, straightforward and effective manner and consequently I had another business-oriented friend - whom is decidedly not a self-help or philosophy junkie - read it and vouch for it.

"Why do you want to read others books when there is the book of yourself?" - The Little Book on Living, J.Krishnamurti

De Mello challenges you to read yourself with non-judgment. Awareness' simple, straightforward language belies the profundity of its message. While certainly readable while traipsed on a lounge chair sipping margaritas by the pool, its depth and impact skyrockets when it not only read but practiced and experienced.

If you've done a lot of wide, introspective reading (for instance, this reminds me of a highly accessible version of J. Krishnamurti's work), you'll note the concepts aren't original - although they will be startling fresh and even radical to most readers. I was impressed at how De Mello skillfully presents and distills the concepts with simplicity. It find it difficult to pull snippets that stand alone from the book because the concepts build upon each other in an iterative fashion. So many books these days feel like a magazine article fluffed up to book length but this feels as if all 184 pages are wisely used.

Interestingly enough, the current August issue of Fast Company magazine recommends summer novel reads "that on their face have nothing to do with business." On the list is definitely not light-beach-fare Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse which I read eleven years ago in a Philosophy in Literature course. I was ultimately frustrated with Siddhartha and found it mystifyingly vague (to a newbie anyway) and its main message was no one (including the book) can reveal to you anything worthwhile, especially the meaning and purpose of life.

In a world seeking silver-bullet answers and quick-and-easy top-ten-sure-rules lists, Awareness has exactly the same (and alas, accurate "no one can tell you anything") message sans the vagueness and frustration. It deftly points to one of the most effective ways for revelation and understanding: self-observation.

That's what it is to watch yourself. No one can show you how to do it, because he would be giving you a technique, he would be programming you. But watch yourself. When you talk to someone, are you aware of it or are you simply identifying with it? When you got angry with somebody, were you aware that you were angry or were you simply identifying with your anger? Later, when you had the time, did you study your experience and attempt to understand it? Where did it come from? What brought it on? I don't know of any other way to awareness. You only change what you understand. What you do not understand and are not aware of, you repress. You don't change. But when you understand it, it changes." - Awareness, Anthony De Mello

For all those whom eschew self-help books (myself included), I wouldn't classify Awareness in this category as De Mello is engaging us to observe our own selves and beliefs objectively - without need of external experts or gurus - and certainly not to take his word for it either. It is one of the most practical and wholeheartedly recommended books on personal development I've ever read.

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. - Leonardo da Vinci



World Business Forum
Posted May 21, 2004 7:00 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In History and Biographies - 800 CEO Read Blog

I got a direct mail piece yesterday for the World Business Forum - Chicago 2004. The event runs two days (November 17-18) and has ten outstanding speakers. I have listed the speakers below. The price is $2,500 and $1,700 if you register before June 25th.

In the event, you can't make the Forum (or it is a little steep for your pocketbook), I have listed the latest book by each speaker.

Here they are in the order they are appearing:






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