#116 Jeff Immelt: Leadership In A Crisis

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Shane Parrish

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2021

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Former General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt looks back on his two decades with the company and the strategies he used to lead during three separate crises. In this episode, Immelt discusses what happened during those events and why, what it was like to take over for GM icon Jack Welch, getting the information you need to make decisions, activist investors, fighting complexity, the mismatched timelines between CEOs and shareholders, unions, and so much more.

Immelt is currently a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates and a lecturer in management at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He served as the Chairman and CEO of GE from 2001-17, and is the author of the 2021 memoir Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You know good leaders absorb fear and a crisis so they they absorb all the things are going on
0:06.1	But they don't point fingers and they don't point blame they just kind of soak it all in
0:12.0	They're able to keep a flexible point of view and what I call two truths which is great things can happen
0:18.9	Terrible things can happen and you need to kind of keep your mind open to both those things at the same time
0:40.3	Welcome to the knowledge project a podcast about better thinking, problem solving and decision making
0:46.7	I'm your host Shane Parrish
0:49.7	If you're listening to this you're not currently a supporting member if you'd like special member only episodes
0:55.0	Access before anyone else transcripts searchable transcripts and other member only content
1:00.7	You can join it fs.plog
1:02.8	Check out the show notes for link
1:04.8	Today I'm speaking with Jeff Imel the former CEO of General Electric
1:09.3	Jeff is a CEO during three major crises
1:12.5	9-11 and Ron and the financial crash
1:15.5	His legacy at GE is at best controversial in this wide-ranging conversation we dive into what happened and why
1:23.3	What it's like to follow in the footsteps of someone who many considered to be a great leader and the reality behind that
1:29.3	Getting the information you need to make decisions
1:32.1	Activist investors fighting complexity
1:35.4	The mismatched timelines between CEOs and shareholders unions and so much more
1:40.7	It's time to listen and learn
1:48.9	The knowledge project is sponsored by Medalab for a decade
1:52.7	Medalab is help some of the world's top companies and entrepreneurs build products that millions of people use every day
1:58.7	You probably didn't realize that at the time, but odds are you've used an app that they've helped design or build
	...

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