Strategy Review

Jeff Immelt ADMITS he made a mistake and is changing GE to refocus more on the UNITED STATES.

2009-04-03T07:10:00.000-07:00

Jeff Immelt made a strong statement in his 2009 "shareholder letter" which clearly demonstrates that he is in the GE leadership tradition. In my book: THE SECRET TO GE'S SUCCESS and my GEWATCHER blog, I have continually asserted that one of the key reasons that GE is still a strong and vibrant 127 year old company, is that its leaders were willing to admit mistakes and adapt. Jeff continues to adapt, admit mistakes and move on...he calls it "resetting".

This is another example of adapting.

This is what Jeff wrote in his shareholder letter:I have also learned something about my country. I run a global company, but I am a citizen of the U.S. I believe that a popular, thirty-year notion that the U.S. can evolve from being a technology and manufacturing leader to a service leader is just wrong. In the end, this philosophy transformed the financial services industry from one that supported commerce to a complex trading market that operated outside the economy. Real engineering was traded for financial engineering. In the end, our businesses, our government, and many local leaders lost sight of what makes a nation great: a passion for innovation.To this end, we need an educational system that inspires hard work, discipline, and creative thinking. The ability to innovate must be valued again. We must discover new technologies and develop a productive manufacturing base. Our trade deficit is a sign of real weakness and we must reduce our debt to the world. GE will always invest to win globally, but this should include a preeminent position in a strong U.S."

There is no question that some of most talented smartest people became enamored with the "get rich/quickly" opportunities in financial services and haven't used their talents to create new products and services. Hopefully the "Wall Street meltdown" will change this and more students will go to engineering and scientific universities and not business schools. I agree with Jeff that we need to reward real innovation and creativity and not just "creative book keeping".

Bill Rothschild, author of THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS and other global best selling books and articles..visit http://www.strategyleader.com/ to learn more.

INSTANT ANALYSIS..EVERYONE IS AN EXPERT..BUT NONE DO THEIR HOMEWORK!

2009-03-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

I am not and never want to be an EXPERT...

Today we have created the "instant expert" phenomena. You can watch cable programs for 24 hours and depending on your personal bias ( we all have our preconceived opinions) you can hear what you want to hear or switch channels to get "it right".

I clearly understand why nothing is beginning done to solve our MAJOR problems, because the President...his staff, Congress and the Senate are PERFORMING on cable to show how much they are concerned and are amazed at the problems they either MADE, CONTRIBUTED TO or just AVOIDED THINKING about.

There are many historical sayings we use...WHEN ROME WAS BURNING, LET THEM EAT CAKE and so on, we use, but don't recognize that they pertain to us.

I believe that the UNITED STATES will overcome this MESS, that they helped create, but it will not be easy and we must all pay the price for our OVEREXPUTANCE as Greenspan called it, but did nothing about it.

We need REAL leaders, not candidates running for office, or show men..we need SURGEON LEADERS, and a willingness to recognize this MESS will take time to solve...BUT also Leaders who want and will help MAKE UNITED STATES even stronger..

Bill Rothschild, author of RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON,UNDERTAKER...the four faces of strategic leadership...www.strategyleader.com

Economist's Magazines GE assessment is fair and balanced..but their conclusion is wrong!

2009-03-22T05:54:00.000-07:00

My favorite magazine is the ECONOMIST, which calls itself a newspaper. It is my favorite because, unlike other magazines who think that brevity is the key to success, the Economist provides in-depth, comprehensive and in most cases, fair and balanced news, columns and special reports.
Its GE analysis in March 21, 2009 edition, entitled: Losing its magic touch demonstrates what I am asserting. The Economist, unlike other publications, gave a good analysis of GE and its problems.

Lets review some of the key points the article made about GE:
"How did GE get itself into a mess that has seen $269 billion wiped off its stock market value since the beginning of 2008? The main reason is that the strategy which helped GE gain its reputation for consistently producing bumper profits, year in and year out, has backfired. At its core was GE Capital. Founded in 1932 as General Electric Contracts Corporation to provide financing that supported the group’s industrial businesses, the operation gradually expanded into other areas of lending unrelated to GE. Under Jack Welch, GE’s chief executive from 1981 to 2001, GE Capital grew rapidly."

This is true GE Capital was established as GE Credit Corporation during the great depression to finance dealers inventories and consumer purchases (note this is different than the Economist "facts", but mine are correct).

"If GE Capital were a bank, it would rank as one of the biggest in America (see chart 1). Its growth has made the division more and more important to its parent’s overall revenues and performance (see chart 2). In 2007 GE Capital’s profit made up 55% of the company’s total."

This is true and even though Jeff Immelt promised to reduce the dependence on GE Capital it didn't happen and the company became addicted to the ability to use GECC earnings to fill the gap and make the numbers.

"Given the unit’s difficulties, it would be understandable if Mr Immelt wanted to jettison GE Capital as soon as it has been nursed back to health—which may take a while. But he insists he is committed to the business, which he says has strong franchises in areas such as aviation and energy finance, thanks to its close association with GE’s industrial activities."

This is also insightful GE's success in aircraft engines was partially a result of GE's financing of the engines and providing operating leases to airlines. This was a successful strategy and should continue, but it doesn't require all of the consumer and commodity type of financing GECC does. These could be separated out and spun off. Possibly using a " tracking stock approach".

"Mr Immelt, recognising that the world has changed, has placed more emphasis on organic growth since taking office. He has built up the company’s marketing expertise, whereas in Mr Welch’s GE engineers and spreadsheet jockeys were the masters. And he has focused on innovation. Since 2001 GE has invested $330m to expand its research facilities around the world. It spent $4.3 billion on R&D in 2008, up from $2.3 billion in 2002."

This is a significant point. Welch focused on short term and not the long term and the company's ability to innovate declined during his tenure. Immelt needed to change the strategy and focus on innovation. In my book: The Secret to GE's SUCCESS" In my book, I entitled this "back to the future" since Immelt has tried to restore what GE once was, namely: innovative. However Jeff combined it with GO BIG (also discussed in the book") and this has become a major problem.

"So does this mean that GE should be broken up? Assuming the company can revive GE Capital, there might be a case for hanging on to that business even if its margins are squeezed. By refocusing on its original mission, a stripped-down finance unit could help drive sales at GE’s industrial operations by providing finance for large infrastructure projects and other activities."

This is key to GE's future success, namely to become more focused, more selective, use the financial arm as a MEANS to grow the other businesses and not an END in itself.

"Some critics claim that GE’s boss has dented his credibility by making several optimistic predictions that have been quickly proved wrong. For instance, barely a couple of weeks before the company revealed that it had missed its earnings in the first quarter of 2008, Mr Immelt declared that he expected GE to hit its target. In September he denied that the company needed a fresh capital injection. But soon afterwards it announced that it had raised $15 billion from Mr Buffett and others."

I totally agree that GE has created unrealistic expectations and has not been able to meet them. In my book, I challenged the company's assertion that it could grow at a 8% organic compounded growth rate, especially if the assumption that it could also grow earnings at the same rate, which had been the case under Welch.

"Nevertheless the suspicion lingers that GE’s boss has a habit of promising too much. The best way for him to rebuild confidence in his leadership will be to demonstrate that GE can bounce back quickly from its woes. It will require a prodigious feat of managerial wizardry to pull that off."

I agree that there has been a tendency to over promise and not deliver...however, it Immelt follows his predecessors he will lead through adversity, admit mistakes and adapt thus making the company even stronger.

A review of GE's past (in my book) shows that GE leaders, of which there have only been 10) all faced adversities.:

-Edison picked the wrong technologies but adapted.
-Swope and Young saw GE revenues drop 75% during the Great Depression,
-Borch got the company growing again after the Great Electrical Conspiracy
-Jones managed to overcome hyper inflation and
-Immelt grew the company successfully and profitably after 9/11.

GE's success has been because of its LEADERSHIP, ADAPTABILITY, TALENT, INFLUENCING PUBLIC ISSUES and CREATING STRONG MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS and NETWORKS...I call this LATIN in my book.

In closing, I believe that the ECONOMIST has done a great job in summarizing what GE is and the key challenges it faces, however I DON'T THINK IT WILL REQUIRE A WIZARD, BUT A RETURN TO SOUND STRATEGIC THINKING AND DECISION MAKING that made the company stronger even in adversity.

Bill Rothschild, author of THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS and GE WATCHER blog (www.strategyleader.com)

LET'S RECLAIM COLLIGATE SPORTS...IT IS NOW OUT OF CONTROL

2009-03-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

In 1956, a few Universities and colleges in the Northeast region decided to disclaim athletics, even though many of them had "big time" athletic programs at the time. Of course big time was not is today. They decided to form a unique league, which they innovative called the IVY LEAGUE. They wanted to project the image that athletics was an extra-curricular activity and not major drive in education.

So, the IVY league was created and because of many socio/political/ academic factors it became something special. Of course, other equally superior Universities and Colleges, were subjugated to the LITTLE league status, even if they were academically equal and possibly superior.
Since this time we have witnessed a greater division... now we have the BCS in football, which are the professional college leagues and are now embarking to replicate this in NCAA basketball...

Now we hear HIGH, MEDIUM AND LOW conferences and because of the enormous amount of money in FOOTBALL and BASKETBALL the BIG are trying to drive out the MEDIUM and SMALL programs.

This is consistent with the current division in our total society...we have the SUPER RICH, marginal middle and the poor.

It has been said that WEALTH CORRUPTS and TOTAL WEALTH ---TOTALLY CORRUPTS, this has been exhibited in all walks of the UNITED STATES and it must be stopped.

We must regain control over all aspects our society and since SPORTS is the easy way to start..let it start my having COLLEGIATE sports become a part of the educational process and not the driving force. If so called, marginally academic organizations, " I won't honor them with the title college or university" want to have PROFESSIONAL programs let them create a SEMI PROFESSIONAL Conference and not be equated with the REAL colleges and Universities.

REAL Colleges and Universities must take back control of their MISSION which is to educate and not become SEMI OR EVEN PROFESSIONAL organizations.

It is interesting that BASEBALL still can separate ARMATURES, COLLEGIATE AND PROFESSIONAL because they never required their professionals to pretend to be students, they had their own development leagues and didn't just rely on using the college programs to be their FARM SYSTEM.

Bill Rothschild, CEO of ROTHSCHILD STRATEGIES UNLIMITED, LLC.

JACK & SUZY WELCH...NEED TO CHANGE

2009-03-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

The latest JACK AND SUZY WELCH BUSINESS WEEK column described the need to ADAPT when change is needed...Is this new news? It is clear that all SUCCESSFUL leaders, recognize that their game plan is not working and ADAPT...

I have spent the last 40 years of my life teaching what I call: ORGANIZED COMMON SENSE...this is what real leaders do, even if they have never been to MBA program, Executive workshop and so on... LEADERS have the ability to understand what is needed and then implement it...but when it is not working...THE ADAPT and respond to change...This is true in all fields...whether it is sports, politics or business. LOSERS DON'T ADAPT...

In today's world there are LOSERS who continue to follow the Script, even if it is wrong..and WINNERS who recognize the need to ADAPT and DO IT..

Unfortunately, we appear to be lacking in the number of ADAPTORS and have too many SCRIPT FOLLOWERS..

Bill Rothschild, author of the most objective view of a REMARKABLE and ADAPTIVE company, GE...whose current leader, Jeff Immelt is adapting, even when it hurts...THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS...and several blogs found on http://www.strategyleader.com/

By the way...the secret to GE's 126 year success is LATIN..."A" stands for ADAPTING.

Warren Buffet is MORTAL..not a SAGE

2009-02-28T16:13:00.000-08:00

I love Warren Buffet for several reasons.

First of all he is from my generation, who really earned what he achieved.
Second, because he was honest and not arrogant.
Third, because he was willing to live a life of honest, hard working people and not the bright lights of BROADWAY, BEVERLY HILLS and other celebrity habit ates.

But it is also refreshing that WARREN has suffered from the MELTDOWN..impacting all of us.

However, WARREN must also recognize he is MORTAL and must have succession plan... I believe that Berkshire Hathaway is really WARREN and not a real company.. but only time will tell...

Bill Rothschild, author of the only objective, comprehensive and instructive evaluation of the most remarkable company.. THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS.

TOO MUCH, TOO SOON, COMPLEX CHANGES ALWAYS FAIL

2009-02-27T16:25:00.000-08:00

This is a message to PRESIDENT OBAMA and his TEAM
It is clear that President Obama and his team want to show their followers that they will do what they said...namely CREATE CHANGE and so they doing what they said.

Doing what you say is commendable and even very rare. Most tell their constituents what they want to, to get elected and do what they want to do.

President Obama is not following this traditional path. He has proposed to what he promised in "unionization, equal rights, abortion rights, getting troops out of fighting in Iraq and many others", at the same time STIMULATING and SPENDING beyond any historical predict"

However, he is violating every principal of sound leadership.. YOU CAN'T DO EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME.

If OBAMA and his TEAM continue to fulfill contradictory promises and try to solve all of the problems facing the UNITED STATES and THE WORLD..

History and common sense says he will FAIL... I hope he is able transgress HISTORY and COMMON SENSE and win...but I don't believe he will do, what everyone else has failed to do.

Bill Rothschild...author THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS and GEWatcher.com

LEADERS MUST CREATE AND MEET EXPECTATIONS!!

2009-02-27T15:56:00.000-08:00

In my entire career as a senior executive at GE and my 25 years plus years as strategic consultant, I always told my clients that it is critical to NEVER PROMISE what you can't deliver.

Unfortunately, this message has been lost on the current generation of "leader?", in business, in the government and in even in religion.Surely, the BUSH administration didn't do what they promised and it helped create the MESS we are now in.But my most disappointing, even amazed, situation is in General Electric.

A review of GE's past showed that the company failed to meet the PROMISED EXPECTATION, but learned from its mistakes and since the latter years of BORCH, and the JONES and WELCH eras... GE could be counted on to do "what it said".IMMELT has now violated this THREE TIMES in the past year.Last January... he asserted, without hestitation... that GE would make its promised numbers.. but a month later GE failed to meet the promises.

Just a few months ago IMMELT promised that GE would continue to provide the dividends for 2009 and that it would maintain its AAA rating.Today.. it reduced its dividend 68%... and it is clear that its AAA rating will be reduced.

I am not sure what the CURRENT GENERATION of SO CALLED LEADERS... didn't learn that it vital to DO WHAT YOU SAY and ALWAYS MEET THE EXPECTATIONS THEY CREATED.WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED?I am disappointed and amazed and hope that at some point in time that the CURRENT LEADERS??? will recognize that REAL LEADERS CREATE AND MEET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS...

Bill Rothschild, author of the only comprehensive, objective review of GE's 127 years and the author GEWatcher and StrategyReview blogs...both on www.strategyleader.com

Reinventing GE...a reason for its 126 successful years...It may be time to do it again!

2009-02-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

In a recent speech Jeff Immelt, current GE CEO, explained that the key to surviving and even prospering in a Crisis situation is ADAPTING.. This is consistent with GE's remarkable ability to reinvent itself over its 127 years.

Each of the GE's leaders was challenged in different ways, but learned from their challenges and moved the company in a new and exciting direction.

In my latest book “The Secret of GE’s Success” I describe how GE has resisted what I call: cookie cutter succession planning.GE has had only ten CEOs in its 126 years, with a range of six to twenty year reigns. Remarkably each have been different and have leaders who were very different and were able and willing to ADAPT to change.

Charles Coffin succeeded Thomas Edison when Edison GE merged with Thomson Houston. Coffin was a very gentlemanly executive who was able to integrate these two different companies and their cultures, while developing highly positive relations with customers. He was faced with leading the company out of the Panic of 1893, a major depression. He negotiated with JP Morgan to take over the company’s equity position in the emerging electric utilities and installed the GE conservative financial systems.

Swope and Young had to lead the company both during the highly prosperous periods of the roaring twenties and the great depression. These unique individuals also played a major role in influencing social and economic policies and encouraging the unionization of the company at a period of major labor unrest and violence. Further they instituted a consultative management approach to the company that was highly unique at the time.

Cordiner institutionalized management and took strong stands against Big Government and Big Labor, as well as contributing to political conversion of Ronald Reagan. Unfortunately his achievements were darkened by the great electrical conspiracy and his inability to select his personal choice as successor.

Borch was faced with the challenge of moving the company ahead after the price fixing scandal and instituted one of the most risky and challenging new venture program ever. He moved the company in services, including financial services as well as several high tech ventures. To his credit, Borch recognized he had miscalculated the ability of the company to undertake and lead all of these ventures simultaneously and instituted the portfolio leadership systems that have enabled the company to continue deal with diversity and change.

Jones was a financial leader that used the portfolio management approaches to grow both revenues and earnings in a predictable way that calmed the concerns of Wall Street and positioned the company to move its stock upward.

Welch was a completely different type of leader than Jones. For over twenty years he was able to grow the company, prune its portfolio and make it a financial services giant, while continuing to grow some of the traditional businesses. He became a celebrity CEO and GE and Welch were viewed as one and the same.Again when Welch left he selected an individual with different styles and visions.

Jeff Immelt was faced with the challenges of succeeding a legend, keeping the company’s stock high, maintaining the triple A rating and initiating changes in a maturing portfolio of businesses. Further he was faced, four days into his tenure, with the aftermath of September 11, and the fact that the company not only lost employees in the World Trade buildings, but one of its leased aircraft and a stock that feel rapidly and has not regained the levels it had prior to 9/11.In short, GE has had the unique ability to select CEOs who could lead for long periods, were not inhibited by the past and could adapt to change.

I am pleased that Immelt is following his predecessors and wish him success in doing as well as they did.
Bill Rothschild, author of four vital Strategic leadership books.

Strategy is for the HEALTHY and not those in the INTENSIVE CARE WARD.

2009-02-14T06:12:00.000-08:00

During my career, both as GE's Corporate Strategist and in my more than 26 years as a consultant, I have emphasized the need to do strategic thinking and decision making, when the organization is healthy and has options, and not when it is very sick, in the intensive care ward or dying.

The recent, shocking collapse of the automobile and financial services industries, prove that it is impossible to develop viable options when the patients are in emergency surgery. It amazes me that the so called "leaders" of giant, prestigious companies, like GM, Ford, Citicorp, Merrill...could have been so surprised by the decline and fall of their markets. They fell into the GO BIG/ GO GLOBAL trap and tried to be all things to all people and do "creative packaging and book keeping" to grow market share. Unfortunately this has proven to be a global phenomena and not just an American problem.

I became involved in learning and practicing the art of strategic thinking in the early 1970s when GE's CEO Fred Borch recognized, that he had tried to do too much too soon and it negatively impacted GE's profitability and threatened its future. Mr. Borch admitted he made a mistake and became the advocate of the principles of strategic portfolio leadership and management. GE was willing to challenge everything and everyone and focus on areas where GE could win.

This enabled the company to prosper. Unfortunately, even GE, has become a victim of the GO BIG and GO GLOBAL mystique...but at least the company still has a strong portfolio and has options. It still makes money and hasn't lost billions and forced to ask for government handouts. Hopefully it will turnaround its stock and credibility decline, learn from the past and re institute the sound strategic thinking and decision making skills that it had in the past.

In summary, I hope that we all learn from this current malaise and re institute the disciplines of sound strategic thinking and decision making. If you want to learn more read Putting It All Together- a guide to strategic thinking decision making..available on http://www.strategyleader.com/.

Bill Rothschild, Rothschild Strategies Unlimited LLC

GE's CONVERSION OF RONALD REAGAN...

2009-02-13T16:49:00.000-08:00

Only one company can make the claim that one of their employees became president of the United States, and even more assert that they changed this individual political philosophy. The company is General Electric.

In my latest book: The Secret to GE’s Success, I describe how and why Ronald Reagan converted from being a liberal, union loving Democrat to a highly conservative Republican.Ronald Reagan was hired by GE to host the very popular GE Theater, as well as to become the company spokesman. Reagan toured all of the GE plants and addressed GE employees at all levels.

He worked for Lemuel Boulware, who was the architect of an anti-big government / anti- big labor strategy and policy that became known as Boulwarism.The underpinning of this employee and community relations philosophy and strategy was that Big Government and Big Labor, independently and in an alliance, were dedicated to take away management’s rights and make the company a socialist state. Even though GE had been pro-labor and pro-government in the pre-war years, under Gerard Swope and Owen Young, the GE leadership, under Wilson and then Cordiner took the opposite view.Under Boulwarism, GE management studied the needs of the employees and communities and balanced them with needs of the company to be competitive and profitable and decided on “fair but balanced” offer prior to the union negotiations. They presented the offer before the union talks and were willing to take a strike, rather than do was not right for all of the major stakeholders.

Further they told the communities that if they could not operate effectively and profitably in the current locations they were ready and willing to move their production to more company, non union, locations. Obviously, these practices were not popular with the unions, the government and the traditional GE communities, but GE did what it said and divided and conquered the unions.Reagan, though he wrote his own speeches, became a missionary for Boulwarism and he ultimately concluded that the message was right and so he changed his own socio/political philosophies.

This conversion led to his running and winning the office of Governor of California and then the US Presidency.
Bill Rothschild...author of "the Strategic LEADERSHIP Library"

SURVIVING THE GREAT DEPRESSION--GE STYLE!

2009-02-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons that GE was so successful was the LEADERSHIP of Gerard Swope and Owen Young during the depression... this is an excerpt from my latest book: THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS..

."In 1929, the stock market collapsed and the world suffered the greatest economic depression in modern times. As noted, GE's revenues dropped more than 75% during the period. In comparison to many of its peers, who instituted sweeping layoffs---and in many cases put skilled and loyal employees out on the street--Swope and Yound were both more compassionate and more pragmatic. They recognized that if they wanted to keep talented people, they would have to take steps to minimize the Depression's impact on them.Three programs were introduced:

Unemployment benefits. GE provided loans and relief to those workers the company could not continue to employ.

Guaranteed work program. GE's electric lamp business allowed workers to share the pain. Instead of just laying off 20% of the workforce, it instituted a program to allow employees to reduce their work hours from five to four days. Because each worker took a 20% reduction in pay, the program permitted GE to keep everyone employed.

Profit sharing in the 1930's. Another important innovation of the Swope/Young era was the introduction, in 1930, of a profit-sharing plan. This was unique in several ways. First it was offered at a time when many companies were having trouble simply surviving. Second, it was offered to all employees, regardless of their position in the company. Again, this plan was consistent with the socialistic philosophies held by Swope and supported by Young."

Read the entire story of the genius of Swope and Young---models of REAL LEADERS from which today's CEOs could learn...especially GE management..
Bill Rothschild, author of COMPLETE STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP LIBRARY
ROTHSCHILD STRATEGIES UNLIMITED LLC

A Real Strategic Stimulus Plan- Invest in Manufacturing Industries

2009-02-03T11:24:00.000-08:00

Everyone agrees that we need to CREATE more jobs...but not everyone agrees on the type of jobs and how to do it. Let me share some of my ideas of what I would do>
First of all I would create MANUFACTURING jobs and get away from the mistaken idea that we should let the world "make our products" and we will be the Service capital of the world. Over the past three decades we have invested our resources into financial, health care, educational and recreational services. We thought that the Wall Street was immune from competition. The same is true of health care, education and recreation. We have now found this was a poor assumptions since even the SERVICE jobs have been outsourced to India and other developing nations.
So we have let our good paying manufacturing jobs be exported to the LOW LABOR parts of the world, with CHINA now being the biggest and most powerful. The result is that entire communities and States, like upper New York, Central Connecticut, Massachusetts..as well as the RUST belt..died or just been harvested to slow death.

This is what I think we need to do:

Select industries where we can not only compete but dominate. This may be integrated circuits, communications equipment and other consumer/ industrial markets.
Give our youth the option to LEARN trades, be apprentices, skilled craftsmen or women and not just go to colleges.
Invest STIMULANT money in refurbishing existing factories, build new factories, even be willing to own the facilities and RENT or LEASE them to companies who would use them.
This should include providing health care services, call centers, service centers and so on.

In short, use part of the stimulant money to recreate industries where we can win and not just build roads and other public facilities.

The United States can compete. There is no need to just BUY AMERICAN, but there is a need to REINVEST in our ability to compete. However, we must also be realistic, OTHER COUNTRIES are already doing this and so we must give our companies a chance to win. I would favor SMALL COMPANIES, but also allow the BIG companies to get aid if they want them and will build in the US and not just export our jobs and know how.

Bill Rothschild, author of of a complete Strategic Leadership Library.

The first and most comprehensive Strategic thinking and decision making process.

The only comprehensive assessment of GE's 127 years..including successes and failures.

Linking LEADERS and STRATEGIES

the HUMAN SIDE OF COMPETITION

THE BEST OUT OF BOX EXAMPLE EVER...

2009-01-27T16:21:00.000-08:00

The likely to be impeached GOVERNOR of ILLINOIS is the GREATEST EXAMPLE OF BEING OUT OF THE BOX EVER...he is taking on EVERYONE and as he moves from one MEDIA program to another... he is WINNING..

I am not a great believer in the DREAMING, OUT OF BOX approach...but if those who believe in this approach... just watch BLOGO...

Bill ROTHSCHILD, the proponent of REALISTIC STRATEGIC AND IMPLEMENTATION LEADERSHIP... the author of the company that has succeeded and prospered by being in touch with REALITY...the SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS...

CRISIS LEADERSHIP PART 4-- WHAT MUST BE DONE TO SAVE THE COUNTRY!!!

2009-01-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

THIS PART THREE OF A SERIES ON CRISIS LEADERSHIP AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE.

SO WHAT?
These are the two words have applied in all of my professional career. Is there a solution?
I think there is a solution but it will be painful and must be executed now.
The first solution is to change the type of leaders we have now. I think that we have a government of too many “caretakers”, who are more concerned with the status-quo and their own personal needs and wants. Note: the word…too many… I am not saying that we don’t have some of the right type of leaders, but if we do they are a small minority and not the majority.
Right Leaders for the Right TIME and SITUATION.

In my 1993 book ,Risktaker. Caretaker, Surgeon, Undertaker- the four faces of strategic leadership, I classify leaders into four types and describe their characteristics.

This is a summary of each of the leadership characteristics and its relationship to the life cycle of the organization

· Risk takers are most appropriate for start up situations. These individuals are missionaries, intuitive, dynamic and excellent communicators. They have a mission and are willing to bet their lives on making them happen. They are revolutionary.
· Caretakers are more cautious, managerial and tied to evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes.
· Surgeons are required when an organization is in trouble and needs restructuring. These leaders are willing to challenge the status quo and folklore and hold NOTHING SACRED…everything and everyone is challenged and subject to being divested or liquidated.
· Undertakers are those able to take an organization and either wind it down or divest or merge it with another more viable organization.

The names are not critical, but what is critical is that there are NO LEADERS FOR ALL TIMES and that if you put the wrong leader in the wrong situation they will fail.
WANTED—Surgeon Leaders.
The United States now need leaders in the Executive and Legislative branches that are willing to take actions that will set priorities and allocate the resources consistent with the priorities, they are SELECTIVE and not “all things to all people”.
This means that they are willing TO CUT programs, Be POLITICALLY INCORRECT and recognize that they will antagonize some of the their constituents and even other nations.

· “NOTHING and NO ONE is SACRED”- The country leaders, including the President, his administration and Congress must be will to step back and evaluate all of the country needs and requirements and not make anything or anyone sacred.
· Set Priorities and Allocate Resources- Using a clear set of viable criteria the leaders must do an OBJECTIVE evaluation and set priorities and then be willing to communicate what needs to be done and what can’t be done… this means being POLITICALLY INCORRECT is needed.
· DO what they SAY…this is the essence of strategic leadership. Strategy is what you do and not what you say. Unfortunately, this will take a major change in the “political mindset”..where it is common to say one thing and do something else.
· LINE ITEM VETO- The president must be able to cut out the pork and not permit the valuable and needed programs to be surrounded by politically motivated, non-productive waste full pork.
· BALANCED BUDGET. Willingness to live in our means and not just continue to add to the debt… this means that there must be a CONSTITUTIONAL BALANCED BUDGET and no exceptions. If programs are increased in one area, others must be decreased or more revenues must be generated.
· TERM LIMITS FOR EVERYONE- Time limits on all members of government. Roosevelt made it clear that there must be time limits on the Presidency and so we have a two term president. But the Senate have become the House of Lords and a long tenure group of “too comfortable” and too Powerful individuals. If it make sense for two terms for the PRESIDENT, why doesn’t it make sense for the Senate? The House members terms should be extended to four years and they two must only be able to serve for two terms.
· STOP FINANCING OUR ENEMIES. Stop all FOREIGN aid and examine where it should go. Don’t give money to our enemies or to those who are wealthier than we are. We can’t buy friendship and these funds should be used to solve real problems and be time limited. No annuities that go on and on and are actually used to undermine their purpose.
· NO MORE POLICEMAN AND MISSIONARY- Moving from the policeman and “democratic” missionaries to willing to allow other countries to manage their own countries and select the best form of government for them and not what may work of us. This also means a reality test on whether democracy is really working here. It is only partially working.
IMPOSSIBLE DREAM??
Reading this list of requirements may make you think that I am totally naive and it is impossible to get these type of changes. After all, the current systems and policies protect the incumbents in government and allow them to get enough “pork” to keep them in office. There are too many and strong lobbyists who have created one of the only growth industries in the United States. There is a great fear of not giving away money to all nations even to our enemy since the country is already unpopular.

So, on the surface it is impossible and the current policies and practices will continue UNTIL THERE IS A REAL CRISIS. The crisis is likely to take the form of major recession, combined with massive unemployment and even some form of the “bread lines of the Great Depression”.

In conclusion… the United States must recognize its world role is changing and it must focus on being a little more self centered and not try to be the policeman and democracy missionary of the world. If it doesn’t, it will just become another “historical” empire who self destructed because it lived in a “fairyland” and not in a real, changing and highly competitive world.

Bill Rothschild, author of THE SECRET TO GE’s SUCCESS and RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON, UNDERTAKER- the four faces of strategic leadership.

Crisis LEADERSHIP - Part 2--Too many risktakers..not enough surgeons.

2009-01-16T05:39:00.000-08:00

TOO MANY RISKTAKER/CARETAKES AND NOT ENOUGH SURGEONS.
Risktaking and Caretaking Presidents

Since the end of the Second World War, the United States presidents have been either risktaker or caretakers… none, have been surgeons, and though the country has been harvested and there have not been any undertakers…yet.

Risktaker Caretaker Surgeon Undertaker
Roosevelt
Truman Eisenhower
Kennedy--------------------------------
Nixon Carter
Reagan George H.W. Bush
Clinton
George W. Bush

Let’s take a look at the situations that each of these president’s faced and their style of leadership.

· Roosevelt--- inherited a country in crisis… the depression required taking major risks to jump start the economy. His first act was to close all of the banks… move the country to a more socialistic than capitalistic situation. He took enormous risks in helping England survive and some even believe the was willing to let the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor to get the country into the war.

· Truman… the risktaker of all time…he bet on dropping the bomb…even though he had very little insight in how it would work out…

· Eisenhower was the caretaker of all time… he just let the world happen… no waves..

· Kennedy… not in time long enough to really classify… he was a risktaker when he tried to invade Cuba, but lacked the courage to see if it would work… he took a major risk with Russia and they backed down…so he was more of a risktaker than a caretaker.

· Nixon…was a risktaker, but his personality negated what he was able to do.

· Carter…was a true caretaker and a micromanager…

· Reagan was a risktaker.. and was able to create an economic evolution and the creation of a CULT.

· Father George BUSH was a caretaker… really didn’t do much. His invasion and quick retreat of Iraq demonstrated this.

· Clinton the typical caretaker… was willing to change to fit the popular reaction.

· Bush W.. was a risktaker…but didn’t really understand the risk he was taking and surrounded himself with individuals that supported a “hawkish, foreign policy.

Bill Rothschild, author of five global bestsellers...available on www.strategyleader.com and Amazon.

STRATEGIC Crisis Leadership- Part One

2009-01-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

This is the first part of a four part series on CRISIS LEADERSHIP.
Whether we like it or not, the United States in a crisis… and it is just not a financial crisis.
This is good and bad news.
Obviously, the bad news is obvious… the financial markets are in turmoil. Companies and individuals are overly leveraged, companies can’t get credit, individuals are max-ed out on their credit cards and many are losing their homes.
But there is good news….the United States is a CRISIS society and only takes constructive, difficult actions when it is in crisis.

Let me explain
1. Why the crisis is more than what is happening on Wall Street and in housing.
2. How we have responded constructively to past crises and hopeful can respond to this one.
3. What type of strategic leaders we need and some of the actions required.

More than Wall Street and Housing
With the advent of television and cable there have been more coverage of the financial market and so the rise or fall of stock prices has been be the surrogate for the US economy. When the markets are going up, as they have been over the past five years, everyone thinks the economy is good and you should continue to spend. When markets decline, as they have been in the past few months, the "gloom and doomers" appear and everyone begins to worry.
But in recent months, the housing bubble has deflated, sub-prime mortgages have caused most the key financial firms to write off billions, take enormous losses, get funded by “foreign governments, billionaires”merge, change their legal status and even go out of business. Commercial and private foreclosures and deflates have increased and people are often walking away and are unable to pay.
So now there is panic and all of the politicians want to save us by “quick fixes”.
But it is just not these problems that are putting us in a crisis situation.
Our infrastructure has been “harvested” or milked and are not able to sustain their simple needs of people to commute to work, fly and even heat and light their homes. There is grid lock in major cities on its highways, airports are reporting more “near misses”, when it rains the electricity goes out, the railroads are almost non-existent and not a major factor in providing transportation or shipping. We could enumerate more problems in health care, education, water and flood control.
In short, we have a “third world infrastructure”.
But it is worse, we have become a debtor nation. Our balance of trade, weak dollar has enabled China, Dubai, Saudi Arabia to make major acquisitions of United States company and technologies. We have exported our manufacturing jobs and have become a service economy. Individuals are max-ed out their credit and can hardly afford to live. We have also decreased our security and ability to respond if attacked.
Students are graduating from our colleges heavily in debt and unable to find jobs that can allow them to pay their loans. The quality and rigidity of the educational system has declined. Some students can’t write, others have no idea of what is happening in the world. Colleges often have no classes on Friday and the students take a minimum work load.
More examples could be furnished but it is fair to say that there is a crisis is all phases of the United States economy and it is not just one problem, but the combination of these problems that put us in crisis.

Bill Rothschild author of two global best sellers:

THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS

RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON, UNDERTAKER- the four faces of strategic leadership.

From DREAM, OUT OF THE BOX...GO BIG to REALITY

2009-01-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

Over the past decade the "best and brightest???" have told the world that we need to "get out of the box"..think BIG..."have the IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"... and now it is BACK TO COMMON SENSE...and BE SELECTIVE....

I grew up in the GREAT DEPRESSION...THE WAR TO END ALL WARS...THE GOOD TIMES OF POST WORLD WAR II...but have never been a believer that we can SPEND...GO INTO DEBT, USE OTHER People's MONEY and not step back and ask does this make sense.

The headlines are full of DREAMERS who are not rich but poor... Mad off sold a DREAM...and now even the RICH and FAMOUS are suffering... Obama has sold us on A PROMISED LAND.. but even he will find, after January 20 that it all a DREAM...GE's Immelt substituted sound STRATEGIC THINKING with DREAM SESSIONS...

Today... we are all getting a REALITY CHECK... our wealth is not there... and even worse many are not only lost money on paper...but really... Housing values are declining and will reach TRUE value...

But the good news is that we are experiencing the realities that have happened before and like our predecessors...we too will OVER COME...

KEEP THE FAITH... GET BACK TO REALITY and RECOGNIZE THAT EVERYTHING GOES UP, COMES DOWN AND RISES AGAIN...

READ THE GE STORY..."THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS" ( SHOULD SAY FAILURES)

Bill Rothschild

LEARNING FROM IDIOTS... Session 1--- The US Senate Leadership

2009-01-06T15:48:00.000-08:00

Over my 40 plus year career.. I have learned you can learn from successes and failures...but it is even more interesting to learn from current, idiotic mistakes of "so-called LEADERS".

Today, Tuesday, January 6, 2009 was one of those days which can help us learn from "very poor judgment and so-called Leaders".. It can be called the HARRY REID story...

Harry is the US Senator majority leader????

He and his sister House Leader...Nancy Pelosi, have a popularity rating BELOW... that of outgoing President George Bush...which in its self is hard to do.

Today was a day which most of the time Americans would not know even happened... it was the formal acceptance of both the House and Senate members..

but because of the "lack of leadership and sensitivity of Harry Reid.. it was a key event for the entire PRESS corp and the world... it was the day when a African American successor to the President elect..also an African American... tried to take his "ligament seat' and was refused entry...

This event took center stage..even when the American and Global economies and major wars were staged...

LESSON LEARNED... Harry Reid is an excellent example of a "leader?" who took a stand BEFORE he needed too and put himself in a situation where he needed to either retreat or admit a mistake... he didn't do either and is going to make the situation even worse...LESSON... never take a stand before you need to and always be willing to ADMIT a mistake..before it takes on a life of its own. Richard Nixon..NEVER..learned this and he died a broken man... Reid needs to learn it before too is just a foot note in history...

Bill Rothschild...author of five key strategic books...

A New Series... learning from current events... THE HARRY REID FIASCO.

2009-01-06T15:33:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be interesting to step back from the depressions and levities of the current world and see what we can learn about STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP...

Today, Tuesday, January 6, 2009, is a great place to start...

On the Washington scene, we witnessed on of the almost comic, though potentially tragic events in the US SENATE... the "so called leader" Harry Reid stopped the seating of the "legally appointed" Junior Senator, an African American, and the replacement to another " African American--President elect Obama, from entering the Senate and assuming his legitimate seat, because of a Technicality and the need to admit a mistake. Lessons Learned... never make a commitment that you can't honor... Reid clearly didn't have any reason to take a stand on the Illinois senate issue before the Governor was removed...The same is true of our new President... he too too a stand before it was needed.

LESSON LEARNED.... Leaders should not take a stand that is not necessary and is possibly going to be changed...

Bill Rothschild, author of five books on STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP... from development to leadership and beyond... visit..www.strategyleader.com

Bernie Madoff..THE MARKETING GENIUS

2009-01-05T15:41:00.000-08:00

Everyone must admit that BERNIE MADOFF should receive an award for being the MARKETING GENIUS of the past twenty years. Of course, we all admit he may have been the biggest crook in all of history...but I would like to discuss what Bernie did that could be put to POSITIVE practices.

First Bernie understood segmentation. He targeted primarily the Jewish wealthy and charities. Based on what is published these were his chosen people. I am a strong believe in targeting and focusing on a specific segment. This might be based on gender, affluence or wealth...Bernie targeted both affluence and religion.

Second, he created a "myth" of exclusivity. He didn't accept anyone and even rejected some of his applicants...this made his myth even strong... it was the "exclusive country club" mentality.

Third, he didn't hire a large sales force, but permitted his sales force to belong and then use their Missionary zeal to convert others. Many of his missionaries lost all they had, but believed in Bernie.

Fourth, the created HIGH EXPECTATIONS and MET THEM. His returns were high and consistent.

Overall BERNIE MADOFF was the living image of the RELATIONSHIP, ENTREPRENEURIAL salesman. He did a great job... but unfortunately it was ALL A LIE.

If we ignore Madoff's dishonesty... he exhibited the essence of a RELATIONSHIP Salesman...

Bill Rothschild... author of THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS... a company who was never led by the MADOFF types and has delivered what it promised...for over 127 years (and hopefully will continue to do so for the next 100 years)

Congratulations to General Electric's 50 year Commitment to the Gas Turbine Business..

2008-12-26T10:00:00.001-08:00

The General Electric Energy site reported the following on December 16, 2008

"Government of Iraq Signs Power Generation Agreement with GE Energy Valued at Approximately $3 Billion Iraq Power Initiative Nearly Doubles Electricity Generation Capacity (Baghdad, Iraq - December 16, 2008)The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity and GE Energy announced today at a ceremony in Baghdad that they have signed an agreement for power generation equipment and services valued at nearly $3 billion to provide much-needed electricity to support Iraq's future economic development. The announcement is a significant milestone as the country seeks to rapidly develop its energy infrastructure and increase its electricity production.Under the agreement, GE Energy is providing heavy-duty frame 9E multi-fuel gas turbines capable of supplying 7,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity. The Government of Iraq plans to install the units at key sites around the country to provide needed support for the electricity grid. GE's 9E gas turbine technology has proven reliability and performance in more than 400 applications worldwide."

This order demonstrates GE's long term commitment to its core, innovative products and services.

A Historical Perspective.
The Gas Turbine business had its roots in the Second World War and made a major venture under the leadership of Ralph Cordiner in the late 1950's. This technologywas used in electrical generation, locomotive and ship propulsion systems. In addition the technology was developed in Evendale's Jet Engine business. Both the Schenectady and Evendale competed aggressively to gain market share in some cases competed against themselves.
In my book: The Secret To GE's Success (page 96) I used this internal competition to describe why decentralization had some limitations. "One of the major limitations of decentralization was that in some situations the departments competed against each other. For instance, the jet engine and gas turbine department developed two different versions of the gas turbine and found themselves competing against each other in some markets. This wasn't resolved until much later during the Borch era; meanwhile, the result was customer confusion and the loss of business to competition".

General Electric has long history of product innovation and a willingness to take a long term view, even experiment with organizational systems that provided both external and internal competition. This is a unique characteristic of GE and has contributed to its continuing growth and vitality.

Bill Rothschild, author of the only comprehensive, objective and insightful evaluation of GE's 127 years of successes and failures, THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS, now in six languages and a global best seller.

Rothschild Strategies Unlimited LLC

Right Leader...for the right time

2008-12-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

In 1993, I published my book: Risktaker, Caretaker, Surgeon, Undertaker- the four faces of strategic leadership, because it was clear to me, based on my corporate and consulting experience that there was "no leader for all seasons". The book describes how leaders and their teams must relate to the organizations position on the life cycle and with the "strategic differentiator and drivers of the business.

The book was moderately successful because this was the period of unique growth and everyone wanted to believe that it was going to continue. The glorified leader was the innovator, risktaker who created new businesses and everyone prospered.

But times have changed dramatically, and now we are in the period of the UNDERTAKER leader when it is fashionable to liquidate organizations, merge them with others or just ask to be saved. This is what is happening in all of the key industries, but most prevalent in financial services. Major organizations, like Lehman.. no longer exist... Merrill is now part of Bank of America, AIG is a ward of the Federal government and ONCE MIGHTY BIG THREE are eating humble pie.

The key is to step back and refocus and recognize that organizations are PORTFOLIOS of growing, maintaining and harvesting organizations and each requires a unique type of leader.
Some need RISKTAKERS...missionaries who will create new organizations... CARETAKERS who will be able to manage and selectively grow, SURGEONs who are able to carve up the organization and focus on the winners and discard the losers and UNDERTAKERS who know when to call to merge or liquidate...

If you want learn more ...purchase my book RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON, UNDERTAKER- the four faces on strategic leadership...on www.strategyleader.com

I can assure it is worth reading and using the concepts...

Bill Rothschild, CEO of Rothschild Strategies Unlimited LLC.. the organization that helps to integrate people and strategy.

The GREAT AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE HARVEST

2008-12-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

It is amazing to watch the three automobile CEO's sit before Congress and ask for the Federal Government to save them. The American Automobile companies are a classic case of a HARVEST strategy, which in simple terms they have sold off market share over several decades, reaped handsome profits and then collapsed.

Each of these three companies were once led by visionaries and strong leaders. Alfred Sloane was the leader in market segmentation and providing unique brands and autos for each segment. He led the idea of market migration...the first buyers purchased a Chevy, then migrated upward to the ultimate a CADDY.

Henry Ford was the low cost, manufacturing genius, introducing the assembly line and offering one color BLACK.

Chrysler focused on product innovation and differentiation and introduced many new ideas and concepts.

Each of the companies prospered until the early 1960s, when they all assumed that there would be FEW automobile companies and they could compete against themselves and ignore the new comers, Japanese automakers. In fact they allowed the Japanese to take control of the small, economy car segment because its margins were lower than the big, gas guzzler segments.

They all moved to a manufacturing strategy and ignored the markets and the trends. They sacrificed quality and innovation for lower costs and then gave away the shop to the UNION, providing unreasonable benefits and increasing salaries. They sold the same cars under different brands and downgraded the quality of the high end, prestige brands, like Cadillac, Lincoln and Chrysler.

All of these companies instituted "cookie cutter" manpower and educational systems, so that all of the candidates looked alike and were "automobile" men. Further all of them divested their non automobile subsidiaries to focus on just automobiles. For instance, General Motors sold its Frigidaire appliance business, its ALLISON division, its locomotive business and so on. All of which were market leaders, but didn't fit the automobile mentality.

The reason that it has taken decades to put these companies on the edge of collapse is that they had very large share and were so big. It takes time to harvest giants, but ultimately they meet the same fate of smaller companies, they go out of business. This is the point they are today.

I have mixed emotions about whether to save them or not, but I do think that all of the current leaders, the company's Board of Directors SHOULD RESIGN now... but the problem is that because of their COOKIE CUTTER development systems, it is unlikely they have replacements that can do the surgery and competitive/ market based strategic thinking and development requried and unfortunately it has been demonstrated that bring in outsiders doesn't work either. Further it is difficult to do creative strategic thinking when you are in the EMERGENCY room and just trying to stay alive. Strategy MUST Be DONE when you are healthy and have options and not when you are trying to survive.

Sloane, Ford and Chrysler must be turning over in their graves.

Bill Rothschild, author of the book that shows why GE is different and hopefully will avoid the same mistakes as the Automobile companies...THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS and PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER - a guide to strategic thinking and decision making.

United States Companies have been giving away their technological advantage...

2008-11-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

Over the past few days there have been several articles about the United States losing technological leadership. I am really confused why it appears that anyone is surprised. Lets look at what has been happening over the past several decades:

United States companies, including some of the giants, have not been investing in their United States research and development labs, but rather opening new ones in China, India and Europe
The number of foreign students in the technical programs has been increasing rapidly and many of them return to their native countries.
Many US companies have stopped their own technological training and rely either on outsourcing, hiring from the outside or relying on the Universities to do the job.
Many countries have permitted the open and frequent violation of United States copyrights and patents.
There have been many cases of industrial espionage. Just today, two Chinese engineers were found guilt of stealing from a US company and exporting the know how, illegally to China.

There is no question that many CEOs of major US companies have moved their facilities, know-how overseas... SO WHY ARE WE NOW SURPRISED THAT THE UNITED STATES IN LOSING IN THIS CRITICAL RACE.

Bill Rothschild, author of the only objective, insightful and comprehensive assessment of GE's successes and failures over its 127 years...THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS and GAINING AND MAINTAINING THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE...which can be purchased on http://www.strategyleader.com/