5 minute read
Jeff Immelt, 21st Century Leadership
21st Century Leadership at GE
Pick a path that is your passion. Dedicate yourself to that path. Be a learner. Be good on teams. Have perseverance. According to Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and chief executive officer of GE and chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness for President Obama, these are important lessons along the path to success.
Immelt spoke about his life and career to an enthusiastic crowd of VSB students, faculty, and staff as part of the VSB Executive Speaker Series. Nearly 1,000 attendees, all eager to hear career advice from the ninth chairman of GE, filled both the Villanova Room and the Connelly Center Cinema, where the presentation was simulcast. Dean’s Advisory Council member Thomas M. Quindlen VSB ’84, president and chief executive officer of GE Capital Corporate Finance, introduced his friend and colleague to the standing-room-only group. While his speech addressed the current economic climate, Immelt also identified the unique challenges that today’s graduates face, divulged the top priorities of his company, and included advice on how VSB students can distinguish themselves in their careers. He also jokingly revealed why he would never make a good refrigerator repairman.
Prior to beginning his career at GE, Immelt worked at Proctor & Gamble and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. When he joined GE in 1982, Immelt moved through different departments and experienced the many sides of the company he would eventually lead. He spent time in corporate, in plastics as a sales
Jeffrey R. Immelt speaks about his career as chairman and CEO of GE.
manager, in the appliances business, where he managed service people, and in the healthcare business, which he ran before becoming CEO. However, even the man who has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s has weaknesses, which Immelt admitted as he shared anecdotes about the mishaps he experienced when he attempted to fix refrigerator compressors during his time in the appliances division of GE.
As he revealed his own path to success, Immelt reflected on the lessons he learned along the way and offered insight into how VSB students might build their own careers and achieve their own successes. His advice was simple: do what you want to do, because most people who are successful enjoy what they do. Be broad, but learn how to be good at one thing in particular. Always be willing to learn. Immelt says he looks to hire people who are good raw material, but who also possess a thirst for learning. Success is about persistence, hard work, and a decent sense of humor, he added.
When asked about becoming CEO of GE, Immelt attributed his appointment in part to the fact that his peers liked and supported him. For Immelt, success was due to his hard work, his ability to build friendships and trust, and his knowledge of how to work on teams.
Immelt also responded to questions from audience members and covered topics from how to better engage employees to what keeps him up at night, and from how sports and other team activities contribute to one’s career and success to what he considers to be his biggest mistake. While no topic was off limits, the candid session allowed for great dialogue and idea exchange between one of the world’s most successful leaders and more than 1,000 future business leaders. —by Mariana Martinez
To learn more about Immelt’s leadership and career at GE, visit http://tenyears.geblogs.com.
Six Thoughts on Leadership
As part of his presentation, Jeffrey R. Immelt described the six things that he, as CEO of GE, works on every day. Each item, he hoped, could be adapted to VSB students as they prepare for their own careers and as they determine and refine their own leadership styles.
1 - R&D (research and development), technology, and innovation
No matter what career you choose, understanding technology and having the ability to innovate and come up with great products will be critical.
2 - Software and services
The ability to have a good understanding of analytics and the ability to measure and monitor technology also are important, no matter what you do. He urged students to be comfortable with software and analytical activities.
3 - Globalization
Immelt explained that companies are growing by extending outside of the United States, and that an organization has to be a good local company in order to be a good global partner over time.
4 - Redefine and expand
To stay successful GE constantly redefines and expands its core competencies, introducing $20 billion in new businesses every decade. He encouraged the audience members to experiment, think about new business ideas, be entrepreneurial, and take risks.
5 - Make GE Capital Corporate Finance a leading financial services company
GE Capital lends to small- and medium-sized companies, as an investment in their growth. The company, Immelt explained, is designed to be a customerdriven lending organization that focuses on creating economic value.
6 - Make a great profit by solving problems for customers and for society
Immelt stressed the importance of using innovation and technology to create solutions, and he used GE’s efforts in clean energy initiatives and affordable healthcare as examples.
VSB’s Executive Speaker Series 2010–2011
Since its inception in 2009, the Villanova School of Business Executive Speaker Series has welcomed several prominent guests. The vision and purpose of the Executive Speaker Series is to provide a venue for industry leaders to discuss current business issues related to ethics, innovation, analytics, and a global mindset. The series is open to all University students, faculty, and staff. VSB extends its appreciation to our 2010–2011 speakers for sharing their time and talent with the Villanova community.
• Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and chief executive officer of GE, and chairman of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness: “21st Century
Leadership at GE”
• Mark Ford VSB PA ’13, president and group publisher of Time Inc. News
Group: “Your Career: Rules of the
Road: His ‘Roadmap’”
• John Kilcullen VSB PA ’14, creator of the “For Dummies™” brand:
• Patrick F. Meyer VSB ’74, president of
Sourcebits: “Business 3.0: Mobile and
Social Fusion”
• Bill Rasmussen, founder of ESPN:
“The Creative Genius Behind ESPN”
• Jane Sarkin, features editor for Vanity
Fair magazine: “The Business &
Show Business of Vanity Fair ”
• Francine LeFrak, award-winning producer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist; founder of SAME SKY:
Joseph F. Azrack ’69 Distinguished
Speaker Series)
