Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLERIf youre in any kind of leadership rolewhether at a company, a nonprofit, or somewhere elsetheres a lot you can learn here.Bill Gates, Gates NotesHow could General Electricperhaps Americas most iconic corporationsuffer such a swift and sudden fall from grace?This is the definitive history of General Electrics epic decline, as told by the two Wall Street Journal reporters who covered its fall.Since its founding in 1892, GE has been more than just a corporation. For generations, it was job security, a solidly safe investment, and an elite business education for top managers.GE electrified America, powering everything from lightbulbs to turbines, and became fully integrated into the American societal mindset as few companies ever had. And after two decades of leadership under legendary CEO Jack Welch, GE entered the twentyfirst century as Americas most valuable corporation. Yet, fewer than two decades later, the GE of old was gone.Lights Out examines how Welchs handpicked successor, Jeff Immelt, tried to fix flaws in Welchs profit machine, while stumbling headlong into mistakes of his own. In the end, GEs traditional winatallcosts driven culture seemed to lose its direction, which ultimately caused the companys decline on both a personal and organizational scale. Lights Out details how one of Americas alltime great companies has been reduced to a cautionary tale for our times.