[cml]

I don't disagree with your sentiment, but I think that Mr. Welch's advice could be read as extremely cynical as well: maybe he's just telling people what they want to hear, which has the added benefit of encouraging (perhaps unwarranted) loyalty in lower-ranking employees. Like a self-serving Socratic "noble lie" for corporate types?

[hagbardgroup]

It was not a lie at the time. It worked out just fine. Why do you think he enjoys such an excellent reputation now? Reputation is just an effect of the sum of your interactions with people.

[pdonis]

> It was not a lie at the time.

I'm not so sure. I think company executives in the boom years following WWII knew perfectly well that a time would come when the boom would be over, and those companies would have to start focusing more on labor costs and downsizing, reducing pay and benefits, etc. They just didn't see any need to tell the employees ahead of time that all that was coming at some point.

In other words, the company executives were never under any illusions that their "work all your career at our company and we'll take care of you" rhetoric was actually sustainable in the long term. Only employees had those illusions.

> It worked out just fine.

It sure worked out fine for Welch, yes. It didn't work out fine for a lot of his employees.

[cml]

Your grandfather's experience is evidence that something was working well. But this is advice that Jack Welch is giving in 2014, and as someone who is clearly still trying to be a public figure I would expect him to be a bit more in tune with the current state of affairs. It just strikes me as a little disingenuous.

Edit: typo.

[analog31]

Because he wrote a self congratulatory book that gratified its audience?