My Memorable 1978 Meeting with Jack Welch and His Thoughts on Strategic Planning

How many of you know of an organization operating without a strategic plan?

At the other end of the spectrum, have you ever encountered an organization taking pride in having prepared a long-winded strategic plan that was nicely printed and bound but, once it had been initially reviewed by senior management and the board of directors, was put on a shelf and never opened or referred to again?

Jack Welch, the legendary former chairman and CEO of General Electric, believed neither situation was acceptable. While no specific date can be found for this Welch quote, it is widely attributed to him: “Strategy is not a lengthy plan, it is the evolution of a central idea through continually changing circumstances.”

In other words, strategic planning shouldn’t involve complicated bureaucratic procedures or result in voluminous, static, and inflexible plans. On the contrary, strategic planning should utilize state-of-the-art technology and deliver easy-to-understand, succinctly stated, adaptable, and actionable plans.

I’m sure the words expressed in Jack’s previous quote about strategy were well ingrained in his thinking the first time I met him in the early spring of 1978. When I visited Jack at GE’s corporate headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut, he’d recently arrived from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he oversaw GE’s Plastics and Medical Imaging businesses. He now was in a well-publicized three-way competition with Stan Gault and Larry Bossidy to succeed Reg Jones as GE’s next CEO (not too different from what Jeff Immelt, Jim McNerney, and Bob Nardelli would go through as Welch neared the end of his 20-year run at the helm of GE).

After four years as a consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton, I was faced with the choice of signing on for another five years as one of the youngest partners in the firm or joining a large corporation to gain the necessary operating experience inside and outside the United States that hopefully would prepare me to become a CEO one day. I chose the second option.

With the help of Chuck Allison, the head of Booz, Allen’s Chicago office, I conducted a targeted job search. I ultimately narrowed my search to three companies: Abbott Laboratories, General Electric, and Quaker Oats. With offers in hand from Abbott and Quaker, the trip to Fairfield was the last step in my candidacy for a strategic planning role working for Jack. The outcome of that trip was doubly important because I was leaning toward working for either Abbott’s CEO, Ted Ledder, or Jack if he offered me a job.

After meeting with Jack’s Group Vice President of Personnel (before the title of “Personnel” switched to “Human Resources”), I was escorted to the top floor where all GE’s senior executives were housed. I must admit that I was somewhat nervous when Jack’s administrative assistant ushered me into his large office.

Standing behind his desk, he looked up, laughed, and said, “Well, this one doesn’t look as bad as the last one they sent me!” The moment his assistant closed the door behind me, vintage Jack Welch sprang into action when he reached down, picked up a large binder, and threw it toward me, yelling, “Art, can you believe this (expletive deleted) plan? This is an example of what’s (expletive deleted) wrong with this (expletive deleted) company, and I’m going to (expletive deleted) fix it!”

That started a 20-minute monologue as Jack paced back and forth while espousing his leadership philosophy, thoughts on what strategic planning should entail, why having a market-leading position in every business was important, why he favored firing the bottom ten percent of the workforce each year, and what would happen if he were selected to be GE’s next CEO. Watching and listening to him, I couldn’t help but be impressed by his energy and passion.

When we had about 10 minutes left in the allotted time for my interview, he said, “I’ve already checked you out and know all about your time in the Navy and at Wharton and Booz, Allen, so tell me something about yourself I don’t know. And while you’re at it, what are your views on corporate planning and why do you want to work here?”

In our time remaining together, I did just that. This time, he listened intently, interjecting a question now and then. When we finally shook hands before I left his office, he said, “Thanks for flying in from Chicago to see me. I need to check with my head of personnel, but I’ll be back to you within 24 hours.”

On the flight home, I decided that Ted Ledder’s offer to be corporate planning and development manager made the most sense. With my father a doctor and my mother a registered nurse, I was naturally drawn to the healthcare industry. In addition, I traveled constantly as a consultant and had a nine-month-old daughter at home; this certainly wasn’t the major reason for my decision, but I knew I could stay put in Chicago for a while if I accepted the job at Abbott. (As a postscript, I was on a plane to Brussels a year later to begin a four-year expatriate assignment in Europe).

True to his word, Jack called early the next morning to offer me a job in his planning group. He also promised to place me in a line position after 12 to 18 months in Fairfield. After I told Jack I enjoyed our conversation and appreciated his offer but that I was staying in Chicago to work for Abbott, he replied, “Well, Art, I’m sorry to hear that. While I think you’d be better off here, I wish you good luck.” After we talked for a while longer, his parting words were, “Stay in touch. It’s a small world, and you never know what may happen in the future.”

I’ve looked back several times on that momentous decision in 1978 and wondered what my life would have been like if I’d accepted Jack’s offer, but only fleetingly since you can’t alter history. In addition, I feel blessed with how my professional career turned out, and life couldn’t be better today.

I thought of Jack recently when I was introduced to a planning tool I believe he would have liked. Why do I say that? To borrow from the PlanPerfect website, this “all-in-one” and “end-to-end” planning solution makes it easy to define and succinctly communicate any organization’s goals and objectives. In addition, it provides a streamlined approval process and adjusts plans to meet evolving conditions and goals. Sound familiar?

Even though PlanPerfect’s target market is focused on medium and small nonprofit institutions, if Jack were alive today and looked at their website, I could hear him saying, “Why in the (expletive deleted) didn’t we develop something like that? Well, we didn’t, so let’s see if the guys over at the GE Foundation or in some of our businesses want to try it!” But then he’d probably add a cautionary caveat, “If they do, remember the old adage, ‘garbage in, garbage out,’ so make sure they ask the right questions and give the right answers.”

In retrospect, I’m glad I had the opportunity to meet privately with Jack and hear his unvarnished views on leadership. While he may have made a few mistakes during his long and successful tenure at GE, his instincts were spot on when he threw that strategic plan binder at me — and if any CEO or board member who cares about their organization’s future is faced with a similar situation, I’d recommend they follow Jack’s lead!