Co-written on the eve of his 2001 retirement by the BusinessWeek journalist who wrote a glowing cover story on him in 1999, Jack Welch's autobiography 'Straight From The Gut' is a familiar product. Like many such books it combines bland prose and much back-slapping to self, friends and colleagues.
Despite Welch's PHD, there is little analysis of the issues that plague GE, the legendary producer of light bulbs, jet turbines, medical equipment, power and broadcast services. That is not surprising Welch was lucky enough to run the company during the biggest bull market in US history. He perfected the art of providing double digit earnings growth quarter by...