Getting business results through others can and should be easier and more satisfying. If leadership is the solution to what ails us, it should follow then that developing other leaders is a primary accountability of every leader regardless of level in the business. The ideal and reality are not always aligned, yet there is a great example where an ethic established in the first part of the 20th century created an enduring foundation at General Electric. Not to detract from the accomplishments of Jack Welch, but therein lies “the rest of the story.” Welch’s success and celebrity CEO status were built on that foundation created by a great and largely unsung leader that preceded him.
Thomas Edison invented the light bulb and from that Charles Coffin (1892 – 1912) invented General Electric. Inherent in that were two social innovations that established the foundation for Welch’s success – research laboratories and systematic management development. According to leadership guru Jim Collins, Calling GE, “The House that Jack Built,” isn’t quite accurate. In a Fortune article about the greatest CEO’s of all times he writes, “In fact Welch was as much a product of GE as vice-versa.”
In this excellent CNN/Money/Fortune article, The 10 Greatest CEO’s of all Time, author Jim Collins (Good to Great) says relative to General Electric, “Coffin built the stage upon which they all played.”
The many things that GE does right can not be directly installed as bits and pieces to other business that lack the foundation. Great leadership accomplishments may be the vision of one but they get done as the result of big efforts and hard work by many top floor to shop floor leaders doing good work every day. I’m the Outsider and that’s what I think.