Introduction I decided to compose my book report on Jack Welch’s book, Winning. It relays many of the same themes that our book does. I first came across this book when I was reading an article about Jack Welch and his years at GE, at the bottom they had advertisements for his two books; Jack: Straight from the Gut and Winning. The bright yellow background and Jack’s big smile, on the cover, caught my eye and all of the praise for him and the advance praise for Winning reeled me in. There is praise all over the back portion of the cover, from Tom Brokaw and Bill Gates to Warren Buffett and Rudy Giulliani. My expectations of the book were quite high because of all the kind words on the back, but Jack Welch never let me down, this book should be a required read for any Business grad. Summary The first chapter in this book explains a business’ mission and values. When discussing the mission, Welch states that in order to create an effective mission statement, one must explain how they intend to win in that particular business. The key is profitability, “Delineate their strengths and weaknesses in order to assess when they can profitably play in the competitive landscape,” (Welch, 15). This means to define the business’ strong and weak points to evaluate where they can efficiently and profitably fit within that specific business sector’s scheme. In order to come up with the mission, one can receive input from any source, but one should especially listen to the intelligent ones from all of the different sectors. Although, it is the responsibility of the top management or whoever is held responsible for it, to put it in place, it is their “defining moment,” (Welch, 17). The mission is what a business plans to do to win and values are ... ... middle of paper ... ... players into a winning team. I really enjoyed reading this book; it was very difficult to put down. Welch articulated this book like he was speaking directly to the reader; the information seemed to jump right off the pages. It was quite easy to understand; he used simple terms and gave plenty of examples to illustrate his ideas. I learned a lot from this book; while reading this I could relate it to what we discussed in class. When we discussed leadership in class, I thought back to when Jack Welch said “each day is a challenge. It is a brand-new chance to get better at a job that, when all is said and done, you can never be perfect at. You can only give it everything you’ve got,” (Welch, 64). I would recommend this book to anybody, period. This book can be useful for many different aspects of one’s life; it is possibly the closest thing to a playbook for winning.
Both, vision and mission statements provide purpose to organizations. Therefore, they should set the foundation for the strategic planning process. However, if and organizations strategic direction evolves, leaders should consider revising the organization’s mission and vision
In 1776, David McCullough gives a vivid portrayal of the Continental Army from October 1775 through January 1777, with sharp focus on the leadership of America’s greatest hero, George Washington. McCullough’s thesis is that had not the right man (George Washington) been leading the Continental Army in 1776, the American Revolution would have resulted in a vastly different outcome. He supports his argument with a critical analysis of Washington’s leadership during the period from the Siege of Boston, through the disastrous defense of New York City, the desperate yet, well ordered retreat through New Jersey against overwhelming odds, and concludes with the inspiring victories of Trenton and Princeton. By keeping his army intact and persevering through 1776, Washington demonstrated to the British Army that the Continental Army was not simply a gang of rabble, but a viable fighting force. Additionally, Mr. McCullough supports his premise that the key to the survival of the American Revolution was not in the defense of Boston, New York City, or any other vital terrain, but rather the survival of the Continental Army itself. A masterful piece of history, 1776 is not a dry retelling of the Revolutionary War, but a compelling character study of George Washington, as well as his key lieutenants, and his British adversaries, the most powerful Army in the 18th Century world. When I read this book, I went from a casual understanding of the hero George Washington to a more specific understanding of why Washington was quite literally the exact right man at the exact right place and time to enable the birth of the United States.
Riordan has identified criteria in four areas that define the company’s mission statement. First, the company focus is to have attitudes and abilities that exceed industry standards to provide solutions for customer’s challenges and lead the industry in Research and Development. Second, the mission for customer relationships is to be a solution for the customer, maintain quality, innovation, and customer service at a reasonable price. Third, to ensure the long-term viability of the company, the mission to the employees is to have an innovative and team oriented working environment, in addition to keeping the employees informed and supported. Lastly, the future of the company depends on maintaining profitability to allow growth in the company (Apollo Group, 2004).
An article discussing the importance of a mission statement states that a mission statements’ job is to outline the organization’s unique purpose and establish the basis of its values and traits, as well as describe the attitude that is to be expected of those a part of the organization. Furthermore, this philosophical foundation sets the “tone” for physical actions, meaning that the content of the mission statement can determine the behavior of personnel (Hitt & Ireland, 1992).
Markus Zusak reads as, Death, he watches over everyone during the time of World War Two, taking souls when the time comes for them to be set free. He tells us a little inside scoop of what's going on in the destruction that was happening outside of Liesel's story.
Karana lives near a little cove in San Nicolas. Coral Cove has plenty of fish and cool water. Karana is a brave and has learned how to find food and stay alive on the island all alone. She ending up living alone after a Russian ship approached the island where the Ghalat-at people live. When some of the people from the ship reach the land of the island. Karana’s dad who is also chief of the tribe Chowig went down to meet the visitors along with some of his warriors. Captain Orlov and the Aleut tribe have visited the island to see if they can hunt otter on their land. Chowig and Orlov have a disagreement and finally for half of their profits in the form of jewelry. After hunting season was complete Chowing asked for payment and and they can’t agree on a sum and a fight breaks out and many of the Ghalat-at people are killed including Chief Chowig. Kimki was then chosen as chief.
This book has taught me a lot about Alexander Hamilton. Most of it was a surprise to me. This book includes where he was born, how he moved to the United States, what he had done to contribute to the country, and his wife and kids. This book has plenty of insight on one of our greatest leaders.
Lauer, C. (2008). The 4E Leader: Hack Welch's Winnging Leadership Formula. In The Management Gurus.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher begins when Clay Jensen receives seven audiotapes recorded by Hannah Baker, a girl from his town who recently killed herself. According to Hannah, each person on her tapes is a reason for her suicide. Clay is on the tapes, yet doesn’t see why. He has to listen to figure it out. When Clay finally gets to his tape, it is exposed that he wasn’t actually blamed for her suicide. Clay realizes that even though he didn't do anything bad to Hannah, he let rumors stand in the way of their budding relationship. Clay could have made a positive difference in Hannah’s life and hopefully prevented her suicide. Clay's possible role in Hannah's is hard for Clay to comprehend. He knows Hannah did this to her self, but is angry because he didn't do anything to stop her. Clay who’s normally calm gets so mad; he punches a fence and cuts his hand. Clay after staying up all night listening to the tapes brings himself to school the next day, realizing he cant hide the rest of his life and reaches out to another girl, Skye Miller. He does this hoping to keep her from the same fate of Hannah.
The fiction, Emperor of China: Self-portrait of K’ang-Hsi, is written by Jonathan D. Spence in 1974. Based on various historical records and the letters written by K’ang Hsi Emperor, Spence creates a fictional memoir to describe K’ang Hsi’s later years. This book is divided into six chapters plus two appendixes. The first chapter, “In Motion”, illustrates his talents in hunting skills and his extensive knowledge on how to survive by taking the natural advantages during wars. The second chapter, “Ruling”, expresses K’ang Hsi’s opinions on how to rule the country. The third chapter, “Thinking”, compares the cultures and ideologies between the Western countries and China. The fourth chapter, “Growing Old”, shows his medical knowledge and how to apply in real life and medical clinic in the palace. The last chapter, “Son”, shows his father’s love toward his sons and the process and conflicts on the succession. The additional translated appendixes display K’ang Hsi’s seventeen letters and his final valedictory edict that hidden from the palace. Those original documents clearly the audience a clear idea of K’ang Hsi’s inner self. This book report will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of reading this book and how this book affects the reader.
All greatly successful companies have a set vision and mission that guide them in order to achieve their objectives, but they also serve as the principal by which all employees act. It can go from a very simple statement to the most elaborated thoughtful message, but the point is that it has to deliver orientation to all that look up to it, from the people that work for the company to its costumers to other stakeholders. The impact of t...
As we’ve learned over the course of the semester the definitions and qualities of a good leader. We also discussed the best ways to handle and make an organization a competitor advantage in respective of what it does, and finally the assumption, understanding and implementation of change for the betterment of an organization. Jack Welch 's theories and ideas he discussed in the articles are not exempt from the lessons I learnt from the class. The paper will discuss Jack Welch 's leadership style, his ideas and actions that made him the greatest CEO of all time.
When Jack Welch was named CEO of General Electric, Welch saw a company in trouble even though the business world saw GE as an intrinsically healthy corporation, secure in its position as a world industrial leader. Welch knew that the company was too large to fail yet GE was too unwieldy to adapt for further growth. The changes he instituted restructured and revolutionized GE and made Welch the most respected CEO in business today. After reading the book there were three parts that really stood out for me.
An organization is defined by its values. The article reviewed discusses how an organization’s values attracts and motivates employees, suppliers and investors, (Crawford & Scaletta, 2006). The author suggests that in order to be successful an organization would need to employ a value based strategy. The purpose of this paper is to determine the importance values play when developing a business strategy. The author indicates that in order for a business to be successful they need to exemplify their values and incorporate them into their overall business strategy. The article notes that stakeholders want to work with an organization that share their values and if organization does not take this in consideration than their
The statement of a mission encourages one to progress to succession. A mission statement involves strategic planning in ...