“When Jack Welch was CEO of General Electric, he was able to produce record growth year after year by using a few simple principles relentlessly. The system of management he used was called differentiation.”
- Clay Clark, founder of Thrive15.com
While I’m not a huge fan of Clay Clark, who’s somewhat of a conspiracy theorist, I was and remain a loyal follower of Jack Welch. The Diff is too short on a daily basis to chronicle too much of what Welch did, so I won’t try.
Too often, we say our differentiated market position is “our people.” It’s just not. “Our people” can go to work for a competitor, retire, win Powerball, commit a felony; Lord forbid, they could die or become disabled. And, while having the best people is the first tenet of The Heston Group’s REELAX Leadership Model, and while no one had or developed better people than Welch, his successor went on to tank the business (with some help from 9/11 and some market mess).
Unless we give our people better tools, processes, higher expectations (and a clear path to meeting them), we’ll run out of the people advantage before we can find or develop more people. When we do things better (more efficiently, safer, faster, or just…better), we develop people in the system, which makes them stronger. Think not just GE or Berkshire Hathaway, but also Duke basketball, Alabama football, Texas baseball, or Juilliard musicians.
The best people we can afford. An environment where success is the most likely outcome. Expectations that are crystal clear and aspirational. Solid leadership. Accountability and a clear statement and understanding of “Why?” Now, we can be different.
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