jack welch was the chair and chief executive of general electric ge from 1981 to 2001 welch dramatically increased the market value of ge from 14 billion to 410 billion he had a reputation as one of the top ceos of all time fortune dubbed him manager of the century in 1999 when welch retired ge awarded him a severance of about 417 million the largest ever at the time welch died on march 1 2020 at the age of 84 from renal failure 
investopedia hugo linearly life and educationjohn francis welch jr was born in peabody massachusetts on nov 19 1935 to john and grace welch he graduated from the university of massachusetts amherst with a bachelor s degree he earned his doctorate in engineering from the university of illinois urbana champaign welch began working for ge as a junior engineer in 1960 he rose through the ranks to run the company as chair and chief executive officer ceo between 1981 and 2001 welch threatened to leave the company in his early years of employment on a number of occasions due to bureaucratic inefficiency he worked to eliminate bureaucracy and increase growth as the company s leader notable accomplishmentsjack welch streamlined ge s sprawling businesses during the 1980s he fired unproductive managers and eliminated whole divisions then acquired other companies and drove them to adopt better management models and increase profits for ge he closed factories laid off workers and presented a vision of growing fast in a slow growth economy which was the title of a speech he gave in 1981 soon after he became chair this included cutting fat from what began as a nine level layer of management he also worked to establish an air of informality the aim was to make ge seem as though it were a small company rather than the amalgamated corporation it became during welch s tenure as leader welch s core management belief was that high performing managers could turn around almost any business so ge experimented with everything from television to synthetic diamonds ironically this led to an expansionary phase making ge once again a conglomerate by nature even if it was a more aggressively managed one jack welch who was dubbed manager of the century in 1999 by fortune retired from ge in september 2001 his severance package was estimated to be 417 million this period of massive restructuring earned him the nickname neutron jack because he took out the people while leaving the buildings standing just like a neutron bomb in retirement welch was active as a writer and public speaker in 2005 he penned and published his memoir winning the book focuses on management and business it was co authored by welch s wife suzy it sold more than 10 million copies worldwide according to a 2020 report from the new york times the husband wife duo also co wrote another book called the real life mba published in 2015 the book focuses on business leadership management and career development jack welch joined a business forum created by former president donald trump to provide strategic advice on economic issues welch s leadership remains his greatest legacy he promoted the idea that ge and other companies should lead a particular industry or leave it completely he led the adoption of motorola s six sigma program for increasing productivity in manufacturing applying it to ge as a whole he developed a rank and yank style of dealing with underperforming employees and managers by making clear cuts from staff based on their rankings against other employees and divisions but welch s legacy is somewhat complicated by ge s fate since his departure welch left the company just as the dotcom bubble burst damaging some of ge s expanding business lines his successor jeffrey immelt was forced to exit many businesses that were considered a distraction from ge s major profit centers immelt also presided over a drop in ge shares as the 2007 08 financial crisis hit ge s financial operations the model jack welch left behind was good at squeezing profits from top businesses however it left ge ill equipped to survive outside shocks and grow new businesses and innovations that would carry the company into the future in short ge s success was very much a product of great timing that was difficult to sustain over the long term welch was perhaps the first ceo whose performance was seen mainly through the lens of share performance while investors generally appreciate this view of corporations it led managers to focus on short term performance this short term performance focus can have a long term detrimental impact on the sustainability of a company when taken to an extreme jack welch was married three times in 1959 he married carolyn b osburn the two who had four children divorced in 1987 he married jane beasley in 1989 and divorced her in 2003 he married his third wife suzy wetlaufer in 2004 welch died in 2020 of renal failure 