
Jeffrey Immelt: How I Remade GE - dilemma
https://hbr.org/2017/09/inside-ges-transformation#how-i-remade-ge
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tristanj
Last week WSJ reported Jeffrey Immelt is the frontrunner for Uber's next CEO.
Out of the blue this article pops up. With sections about "Transformation",
his connections to Silicon Valley, how he's hip and watches Netflix;

with quotes like

>"We were a classic conglomerate. Now people are calling us a 125-year-old
start-up."

>"The two things that influenced me the most were Marc Andreessen’s 2011 Wall
Street Journal article, “Why Software Is Eating the World,” and The Lean
Startup—Eric Ries’s book, which I literally read in a day."

The PR spin machines are already churning.

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Jun8
Sounds a lot like a classic "submarine PR piece", with all the right
references and even one spicy one (Mike Tyson quote).

"At the other extreme are publications like the New York Times and the Wall
Street Journal. Their reporters do go out and find their own stories, at least
some of the time. They'll listen to PR firms, but briefly and skeptically."

I thought HBR was also relatively immune from printing such vanity pieces,
evidently not.

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powvans
The article may as well be titled "Why I should be CEO of Uber."

Is a ghostwritten 6000+ word tome about Immelt's tenure at GE effective PR?
Perhaps this is effective for advancing his goal of becoming the CEO of Uber,
but it feels very dated.

I'm curious what would be an effective strategy for him today. Personally I
think my title for his article would be more authentic. Just come out and say
what you want. Declare that you are the best qualified person and aggressively
state your case. No one will fault you for wanting this job.

The first thing people smell when they see this article is the PR effort that
created it. The indirect approach creates suspicion and skepticism because of
the cynicism tied to traditional PR.

Anyone else feel like being an armchair advisor to Immelt? What would you do?

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nihonde
This reflects very poorly on Uber’s future prospects. This candidate seems
like a professional fail-upward person. There are plenty of these people in
big businesses, but most are just barely better than leaving the job I filled.

For example, he says the CEO’s job is to tie together all of a company’s
initiatives, and then he offers this:

“All the major initiatives we implemented during my tenure as CEO were aimed
at making GE one of the 21st century’s most valuable technology-driven
industrial companies—one that can grow; one that can generate greater
productivity for ourselves and our customers.”

~~~
nihonde
“leaving the job I filled” -> “leaving the job unfilled”

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skrebbel
The thing that amazes me most about all of this is that apparently, going from
CEO of GE to CEO of Uber is considered an _upgrade_.

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zbruhnke
this post would be much better if treated like the Satire it is ...

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lbsnake7
For people that don't know what 'digital industrial' is: Basically you put
sensors on all your products and then gather all that data to predict/prevent
failures or problems.

But why does GE constantly use the term to showcase how they are drastically
changing their company (the term was used 12 times in this article alone)?
Their main products are still engines and trains right? The only difference is
now they have trains with sensors on them. This seems like just the next move
forward, using the computer/internet for more productivity. Why would you have
to name it something and then write articles about how your entire company is
changing?

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adamnemecek
God, I despise this culture.

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pcurve
This might sound petty, but the number of "I" in the writing was a bit
overbearing.

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herodotus
GE share prices have mostly been in decline since Immelt took over from Welch.
Just saying.

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dswalter
This firmly points to his imminent appointment as the next CEO of Uber.

