[reggieband]

My only memory of Jack Welch was a PBS interview I caught a slice of where he was asked what his number one piece of advice for management was. He said that a CEO's job was to create and promote culture.

I can see a lot of negativity for the man in the comments here but I agree with him on the culture issue. I can understand the negative feeling people get with some of Welch's personal cultural choices. However, it does seem he was successful at articulating a culture and bringing in a team that believed in that culture.

I think it is wise to try to learn from people even when you dislike them, maybe especially when you dislike them. Even if you don't like what he did, you can change your view to respect how he did it.

[hfdh434535]

It's not so much that we don't want to learn from someone we dislike. It's that we don't want to scour the haystack of awful traits to find a needle we can compliment.