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by sandspar 815 days ago
Good point, when I think of business leaders like Jack Welch, "avoidance of hard, meaningful work" is my next thought.

Different people are specialized for different things. Do you think Jack Welch would have helped the world more if he had worked as a backend developer at GE, rather than as its CEO?

Being a leader is just a role on the team, same as any other. Somebody has to play quarterback. And the guys who play quarterback are a better fit for that role than anyone else on the team.

3 comments

>Do you think Jack Welch would have helped the world more if he had worked as a backend developer at GE, rather than as its CEO?

What he did with GE's reported earnings could be considered fraud, and those cooked books are what made him famous among executives.

If you haven't read "Lights Out", I encourage you to check it out.

As it relates to the parent comment, the issue isn't Jack Welch specifically, but people trying to attain his success. The same thing could be said about Steve Jobs - his results are undeniable, but there's a group who see his success and think that it comes from what many would consider flaws rather than strengths, and emulate those. The people subjected to this type of leadership get all the negatives but without creating world changing products or enjoying unparalleled business success, and are reasonably resentful.

Jack Welch is kind of a poor example to reach for, isn’t it? In my view, his financialization of GE was very harmful, so yes, I think he would have helped the world more if he did literally anything else.