How should a leader behave? What should his or her priorities be? Jack Welch, legendary leader of General Electric and Fortune magazine’s “Manager of the Century,” recently answered these questions in the The Wall Street Journal (Feb. 11-12). Here are his answers:
- When you become the leader of an organization, it’s no longer about your personal success. It’s about the success of others. The organization will succeed if everyone else is succeeding.
- The goal is to win. The means is the team. The method is personnel management – hiring, coaching, and firing when necessary.
- Tell the underperforming employee what he or she must do to improve. Then, either they keep improving or they don’t. A real manager must be comfortable having these conversations. It’s not easy, but it’s right.
- Managing effectively is not very complicated. You don’t have to have a high I.Q. Just get great people to stretch and reach for their dreams, and you’ll get incredible performance.
This article originally appeared in The Business Owner Journal, the periodical of choice for owners of small and midsize private businesses. All rights reserved, D.L. Perkins LLC. © 2012.
This publication is intended to provide general information on the subject matters covered. It is sold and distributed with the understanding that neither the publisher nor any distributor or advertiser is engaged in providing legal, tax, insurance, investment or other professional advice. The advice of a qualified professional should be sought before any reader applies a concept presented herein to his or her particular situation or business.
D.L. Perkins, LLC is solely responsible for this content.
