閱讀傑剋·韋爾奇 Jack Welch在历史大观的作品!!! 閱讀傑剋·韋爾奇 Jack Welch在百家争鸣的作品!!! | |||||
杰克·韦尔奇傑剋·韋爾奇（Jack Welch）是通用電氣（GE）董事長兼CEO。在短短20年間，這位商界傳奇人物使GE的市場資本增長30多倍，達到了4500億美元，排名從世界第10提升到第1。他所推行的“6個西格瑪”標準、全球化和電子商務，幾乎重新定義了現代企業……本書是韋爾奇退休前的最後一個大動作，他將自己的成長歲月、成功經歷及管理經驗和盤托出，為渴望成功的商業人士樹立了一個經典範例，堪稱一部“CEO的聖經”。該書更以700萬美元“天價”稿酬，創下美國自傳版權收入之最！
傑剋·韋爾奇自傳
內容簡介：
如果說領導是門藝術，那麽傑剋·韋爾奇必定是位藝術大師。很少有人能像他一樣如此充分地演繹領導藝術，而能像他一樣使領導藝術不斷結出豐碩果實的人則是少而又少。20年來，大公司和它們的領導人在無情的全球經濟中就像多米諾骨牌一要紛紛倒塌，他卻領導着GE創下一個接一個的收和利潤的紀錄。因此韋爾奇成了全世界企業傢和經理的榜樣，並享有“全球第一CEO”的美譽，享受着與美國總統一樣的尊榮和禮遇。
韋爾奇在這本自傳中推心置腹、侃侃而談，首次透露了他的青年歲月、成長歷程及管理秘秘訣，如這位奇才開創了一種獨特的管理模式，幫助龐大多元的商業帝國擺脫痼疾——“金字塔”官僚體製，走上靈活主動的道路……
沃特·迪士尼公司董事長兼CEO邁剋爾·埃斯特說：“傑剋不僅僅是一個商業巨子，還是一個有心靈、有靈魂、有頭腦的巨人。”索尼公司董事長Nobuyuki則這樣評價：“傑剋·韋爾奇終於透露了他的管理秘訣” ！
作者自述：
這樣開始一篇自傳看起來似乎有點奇怪。我承認，我討厭不得不使用第一人稱，因為我一生中所做過的幾乎每一件事情都與他人一起合作完成的。然而，你要寫一本這樣的書，卻必須使用“我”來進行描述，儘管實際上它是應該由“我們”來承擔的。
在寫作時，我想盡可能提及所有在我人生旅途中伴我左右的人名字。但我的編輯卻不斷地打擊我，試圖將這些名字剔除出去。我們最終達成了妥協。這就是為什麽書後的感謝辭比較長的緣故。所以請讀者們註意，你們在書中的每一頁看到“我”這個字的時候，請將它理解為我所有的同事和朋友，以及那些我可能遺漏的人們……
背景：
韋爾奇自傳創美國自傳體版權收入歷史之最
劉波記者趙明北京報道被1999年財富雜志譽為“世紀經理”的傑剋·韋爾奇不僅領導通用電氣公司成為世界上最大的多元化公司，他本人的自傳也在最近創造了美國出版業的奇跡：以高達700萬美元的天價賣給了時代華納貿易出版公司，創美國自傳體版權收入歷史之最。
韋爾奇的這本自傳預計明年春季出版，書名尚未確定。競標得主時代華納貿易出版公司主席勞倫斯·剋斯班說：“我們熱切期待着出版傑剋·韋爾奇的自傳。我們相信它一定能夠成為商業管理的經典著作，時代華納貿易出版公司將全力以赴使盡量多的讀者從這本巨著中獲益。”
韋爾奇本人對這一最後的競標價格也稍感意外，他已宣佈將這本自傳的所有出版收入捐給慈善機構。
今年64歲的韋爾奇於20年前加入通用電氣公司。在他就任首席執行官期間，領導通用電氣公司從一個以製造業為主的企業轉嚮以服務業和電子商務為導嚮的大型企業。韋爾奇已决定於明年初退休，這本自傳的出版將是他一生管理經驗的見證。
摘自《中國經濟時報》
目錄：
第一部分 早年歲月
第一章 建立自信
第二章 脫穎而出
第三章 掀掉屋頂
第四章 在雷達下飛行
第五章 逼近大聯盟
第六章 海闊憑魚躍
第二部分 建立哲學觀
第七章 面對現實與“陽奉陰違”'
第八章 遠見
第九章 “中子彈”歲月
第十章 RCA交易
第十一章 人的企業
第十二章 再造剋羅頓維爾，再造GE
第十三章 無邊界：將理念進行到底
第十四章 深潛
第三部分
第十五章 商海沉浮
第十六章 GE資産：增長機器
第十七章 NBC和電燈泡的結合
第十八章 能屈能伸
第四部分
第十九章 全球化
第二十章 持續增長的服務業
第二十一章 六西格瑪的裏裏外外
第二十二章 電子商務
第五部分 回顧與展望
第二十三章 “回傢吧，韋爾奇先生”
第二十四章 CEO是幹什麽的
第二十五章 來自高爾夫的啓迪
第二十六章 “新人”
鳴謝
附錄A 經濟蕭條中的快速發展
附錄B 2001年C類會議日程安排
附錄C 韋爾奇緻傑夫.伊梅爾特信
附錄D 業務經理會議日程安排
平凡卻偉大的母親
1935年11月19日，傑剋·韋爾奇出生在美國馬薩諸塞州薩蘭姆市一個普通的家庭，父親性格沉穩，言語不多，他為波士頓與緬因鐵路公司工作，早出晚歸，所以培養孩子的任務就落在了母親的肩上。傑剋是傢裏惟一的孩子，身材矮小，還帶點口吃，為此小時候很自卑。
對傑剋影響最大的是母親，雖然她很晚纔有了這個孩子，但卻從不溺愛，她知道兒子的自卑心理，並不打擊他，她的關心更主要是逐步提高傑剋的能力和意志力，傑剋非常尊敬乃至崇拜母親：“她是一位非常有權威性的母親，總是讓我覺得自己什麽都能幹，是母親訓練了我，要我學習獨立。每次當我的行為稍有越軌，她就一鞭子把我抽回來，但通常都是正面而且建設性的，還能促使我振作起來。她嚮來不說什麽多餘的話，總是那麽堅决，我對她心服口服。”
傑剋到了成年還略帶口吃，但母親說，這算不了什麽缺陷，衹有面對現實，堅持與別人溝通，讓別人瞭解你，才能主宰自己的命運，別人才會跟你做朋友。她把缺點變成一種激勵，教會傑剋正確看待自己的缺陷，在此之後，傑剋再也不以口吃為恥，這是這個偉大而平常的母親給予傑剋的最大財富。
事實上，如果你自己不在意，那麽那個缺陷也就不太重要了。略帶口吃的毛病並沒有阻礙傑剋的發展，實際上在後來，註意到這個弱點的人大都對傑剋很敬佩，因為他竟能剋服這個障礙，在商界出類拔萃。
傑剋從小就喜歡運動，尤其喜歡打麯棍球，經常到其他城市去參加比賽。母親一直以一種寬鬆而包容的方式來教育他，她總是把傑剋送上火車，讓他獨自去參加球賽。在中學的時候，傑剋當上了麯棍球隊的隊長，這次經歷讓傑剋受益匪淺，他開始初步對領導之術有了一點概念。
中學畢業後，正如其他學生一樣，傑剋想進入哈佛、耶魯、斯坦福這些著名學校，但事與願違，他衹進了馬薩諸塞州大學。開始時，他感到非常沮喪，尤其是很多往日的好友都得償所願，讓他很是不甘，但母親的“面對現實”理論讓他打起精神，到了學校。
剛進學校沒幾天，他的沮喪就變成了慶幸，又一次體會到了母親的先見之明。後來，韋爾奇說：“如果當時我選擇了麻省理工學院，那我就會被昔日的夥伴們擠壓，很難有出頭之日，正是這所較小的州立大學，讓我獲得了許多自信。”而所有的管理都是圍繞“自信 ”展開的，人生的成功也不例外。
大學畢業後，傑剋接着攻讀研究生課程，1960年他在伊利諾伊大學獲得了化工博士學位，之後在許多可供選擇的公司中，他把通用電氣公司作為自己的第一份工作，直到現在。
成長的過程
1960年10月17日，傑剋開始了在通用電氣公司的職業生涯。他的第一項任務是找到一個製造PPO（一種用於化工的新材料）的示範場地，然後把工廠建立起來。在皮茨菲爾德的一座破敗的樓房裏，他與另外一名化學專傢為了建立這座工廠，花費了許多心血和精力。
一年之後，這個工廠終於建立起來，傑剋得到了很高的年度評語。但是，讓他失望的是，通用電氣公司衹按照標準給他加了1000美元。因為無論表現得好與壞，每個人都獲得了同樣的加薪。在這一刻，傑剋感到這個公司的官僚主義是如此嚴重，體製是如此僵化，和他以前想象的完全不同。於是，他準備辭職，去伊利諾斯州國際礦物化學公司工作。
當時，作為部門負責人的魯本·古托夫聽到韋爾奇即將離職的消息非常震驚，他决心不惜一切代價留住這位與衆不同的年輕人。於是，他在告別宴會的前一天，邀請韋爾奇夫婦共進晚餐。在就餐之際，古托夫對韋爾奇展開4個小時的說服攻勢。他保證，他將使韋爾奇不受官僚作風的糾纏，並將利用大公司的資源為韋爾奇創立一個小公司的工作環境。古托夫說：“相信我，衹要我在公司一天，你就能利用大公司最好的部分進行工作，最差的一部分將離你遠遠的。”
第二天，韋爾奇終於做出了肯定的答復。多年以後，魯本·古托夫回憶說，我今生最成功的推銷就是留住了韋爾奇，因為留住了韋爾奇，纔留住了通用今天的輝煌。當然這衹是表面現象，實際上，魯本·古托夫更大的功勞是留住了一種用人機製。在之後的幾十年中，韋爾奇使大公司的實力和小公司的靈活性相結合的能力得到了驗證。古托夫為韋爾奇創造了這種環境，韋爾奇又為更多的人創造了這種環境。
隨後傑剋成了PPO工藝開發項目領導人，雖然這種材料看上去不怎麽起眼，並且它很難塑造成型，所以市場不為人看好。但傑剋堅持了下去，終於製成了一種在高溫下具有很高的強度，並且容易塑造的材料。這種塑料製品的商業名稱叫“諾瑞爾”。
1965年，通用公司根據傑剋的建議，决定投資1000萬美元，建立一座諾瑞爾加工廠，但是“諾瑞爾”的市場如何，誰都無法預料，於是，在沒人出頭的情況下，傑剋毛遂自薦，成為這個廠的負責人。
傑剋非常清楚，這將是一場艱苦的戰鬥，但他對諾瑞爾充滿了自信，當時所有的傢用器具都是用金屬製造的，用塑料代替金屬能使産品變得既廉價又輕便，這將産生一次革命。為了保險起見，傑剋推銷的第一站就是通用的內部産業，但他們都對這個大膽的提法將信將疑。
於是傑剋在他的工廠裏用諾瑞爾製造出了電動罐頭起子。他把起子嚮人們展示，讓人們相信，塑料的用途遠比人們想象的要多，甚至可以製造汽車車身和計算機外殼等。1968年，因為推銷諾瑞爾的成功，傑剋成為聚碳酸胺脂和諾瑞爾兩種塑料製品部門的領導人，成為通用電氣公司最年輕的一位總經理。
為了讓自己的塑料事業走嚮成功，為了改變人們對塑料的認識，傑剋用盡了各種辦法，他首先讓那些嬰兒奶瓶、汽車、小器具用品的製造商們瞭解，利用塑料來製造這些東西，不但便宜、輕巧，而且更加耐用。然後他別出心裁，用一則巧妙的廣告來推銷自己的産品：一對野牛衝進了一傢瓷器用品店，結果店裏所有的東西都摔得粉身碎骨，衹有塑料製品完好無損。這個廣告獲得了空前的成功，聚碳酸胺脂的使用終於引發了製造業的材料革命，美國消費者對這種比金屬和玻璃優點更多的材料十分青睞，它成了世界上最為重要的塑料。傑剋負責的塑料企業首次升格為一個部級企業。
這次成功為傑剋的事業奠定了根基。他說：“我這一生中最興奮，同時也是最值得紀念的時光，就是那段與工作小組的同事們共同努力的歲月。”
最成功的經理人
1971年底，傑剋成為通用化學與冶金事業部總經理。當時的通用總裁是雷金納德·瓊斯，這個擅長於科學管理的實業傢做事總是一絲不苟。瓊斯堅持，挑選繼任總裁必須經過對每個候選人長期仔細的考察過程，然後再理性地選出最具資格的人選。8年後，傑剋終於通過了瓊斯的漫長而嚴格的考核，成為通用公司副董事長。2年後，1981年4月，傑剋成為通用電氣公司歷史上最年輕的董事長和首席執行官。那年他45歲，而這傢已經有117年歷史的公司機構臃腫，等級森嚴，對市場反應遲鈍，在全球競爭中正走下坡路。
傑剋深知官僚主義和冗員的惡果，從他第一年進入通用時，他就已經嘗到這種體製的惡果，現在終於可以實施自己的計劃了。首先，傑剋改革的就是內部管理體製，減少管理層次和冗員，將原來8個層次減到4個層次甚至3個層次，並撤換了部分高層管理人員。此後的幾年間，砍掉了25％的企業，削減了10多萬份工作，將350個經營單位裁減合併成13個主要的業務部門，賣掉了價值近100億美元的資産，並新添置了180億美元的資産。
當時正是IBM等大公司大肆宣揚雇員終身製的時候，從GE內部到媒體都對傑剋的做法産生了反感或質疑，這是一個“優秀”的企業應該做的嗎？他是不是瘋掉了？因為太過於強硬的鐵腕裁員，傑剋被人氣憤地冠以“中子彈傑剋”的綽號。
這就是傑剋的經營理念——數一數二市場原則，在全球競爭激烈的市場中，衹有在市場上領先對手的企業，才能立於不敗之地。任何事業部門存在的條件是在市場上“數一數二”，否則就要被砍掉——整頓、關閉或出售。
競爭，對傑剋而言，已不衹是獲取成功的必由之路，它更是一種每天持續不斷的工作狀態。競爭越激烈，他的生活就越是充實。他認為：“我們每天都在全球競爭戰場的刀光劍影中工作。而且在每一回合的打鬥之間，甚至沒有片刻時間休息。”
沒有競爭，就不會有發展。不僅僅國傢經濟是這樣，一個行業、一個企業乃至一個人都是如此。傑剋非常明白這一點，纔會有那樣大刀闊斧的改革。市場變化多端，沒有一個企業能夠成為安全的就業天堂，除非它能在市場競爭中獲勝。讓傑剋自豪的是：“在GE，我不能保證每個人都能終身就業，但能保證讓他們獲得終身的就業能力。”
在管理上，傑剋更是獨創了許多方法，最為著名的莫過於“聚會”、“突然視察”、“手寫便條” 了。傑剋懂得“突然”行動的價值。他每周都突然視察工廠和辦公室，匆匆安排與比他低好幾級的經理共進午餐，無數次嚮公司員工突然發出手寫的整潔醒目的便條。所有這一切都讓人們感受到他的領導並對公衆的行為施加影響。尤其是這些小小的便條，更給人以無比的親切和自然。形成了一種無名的鞭策和鼓勵。
當然還有人才，這是傑剋最重視的地方了。他說：“領導者的工作，就是每天把全世界各地最優秀的人才延攬過來。他們必須熱愛自己的員工，擁抱自己的員工，激勵自己的員工。”作為一個過來人，韋爾奇給公司領導者傳授的用人秘訣是他自創的“活力麯綫”：一個組織中，必有20％的人是最好的，70％的人是中間狀態的，10％的人是最差的。這是一個動態的麯綫，即每個部分所包含的具體人一定是不斷變化的。但一個合格的領導者，必須隨時掌握那20％和10％裏邊的人的姓名和職位，以便做出準確的奬懲措施。最好的應該馬上得到激勵或升遷，最差的就必須馬上走人。
目前，通用公司每位員工都有一張“通用電氣價值觀”卡。卡中對領導幹部的警戒有9點：痛恨官僚主義、開明、講究速度、自信、高瞻遠矚、精力充沛、果敢地設定目標、視變化為機遇以及適應全球化。這些價值觀都是通用公司進行培養的主題，也是决定公司職員晉升的最重要的評價標準。
傑剋初掌通用之時，通用電氣的銷售額為250億美元，盈利15億美元，市場價值在全美上市公司中僅排名第十，而到1999年，通用電氣實現了1110億美元的銷售收入（世界第五）和107億美元的盈利（全球第一），市值已位居世界第二。
1981年的通用旗下僅有照明、發動機和電力3個事業部在市場上保持領先地位。而如今已有12 個事業部在其各自的市場上數一數二，如果單獨排名，通用電氣有9個事業部能入選《財富》500強。就在韋爾奇執掌通用電氣的19年中，公司發生了巨大的變化，並因此連續3年在美國《財富》雜志“全美最受推崇公司”評選中名列榜首。
所有的人都說，創業難，守業更難，但傑剋·韋爾奇改變了這個說法，他創造了這個奇跡，將通用這個“百年老店”經營得重放光彩。而他的貢獻也遠不止於通用一傢公司。他所倡導和實行的管理的革命，重新弘揚了為股東創造價值這一企業經營的根本原則，扭轉了二戰以來國際大企業普遍福利化的傾嚮，使企業獲得了真正的動力；他創造了一個最有益於人才成長的文化，造就的不僅是一代企業傢，更造就了一種積極嚮上的精神，今天的通用已經成為赫赫有名的“經理人搖籃”、“商界的西點軍校”，全球《財富》500強中有超過1／3的CEO都是從通用走出；他的管理經驗被越來越多的人采納，幾乎成為現代企業的一種典範模式。
人們對他頂禮膜拜，對他無比崇敬，但這個優秀的老人卻在2001年事業的巔峰選擇退隱，但是，他的精神還在公司繼續發揮作用，他所努力創造出的企業文化還在通用等其他企業中産生更深遠、更悠久的作用。正如沃特·迪斯尼公司董事長兼CEO邁剋爾·埃斯特所說：“傑剋不僅僅是一個商業巨子，還是一個有心靈、有靈魂、有頭腦的巨人。”
Early life and career
Jack Welch was born in Salem, Massachusetts to John, a Boston & Maine Railroad conductor, and Grace, a homemaker.
Welch attended Salem High School and later the University of Massachusetts Amherst, graduating in 1957 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering. While at UMass he was a member of the Alpha chapter of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.
Welch went on to receive his M.S. and Ph.D at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1960.
Welch joined General Electric in 1960. He worked as a junior chemical engineer in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at a salary of $10,500 annually. While at GE, he blew off the roof of the factory, and was almost fired for doing so. Welch was displeased with the $1,000 raise he was offered after his first year, as well as the strict bureaucracy within GE. He planned to leave the company to work with International Minerals & Chemicals in Skokie, Illinois.
Reuben Gutoff, a young executive two levels higher than Welch, decided that the man was too valuable a resource for the company to lose. He took Welch and his first wife Carolyn out to dinner at the Yellow Aster in Pittsfield, and spent four hours trying to convince Welch to stay. Gutoff vowed to work to change the bureaucracy to create a small-company environment.
"Trust me," Gutoff remembers pleading. "As long as I am here, you are going to get a shot to operate with the best of the big company and the worst part of it pushed aside." "Well, you are on trial," retorted Welch. "I'm glad to be on trial," Gutoff said. "To try to keep you here is important." At daybreak, Welch gave him his answer. "It was one of my better marketing jobs in life," recalls Gutoff. "But then he said to me--and this is vintage Jack--'I'm still going to have the party because I like parties, and besides, I think they have some little presents for me.'" Some 12 years later, Welch would audaciously write in his annual performance review that his long-term goal was to become CEO.
Welch was named a vice president of GE in 1972. He moved up the ranks to become senior vice president in 1977 and vice chairman in 1979. Welch became GE's youngest chairman and CEO in 1981, succeeding Reginald H. Jones. By 1982, Welch had disassembled much of the earlier management put together by Jones.
Tenure as CEO of GE
Through the 1980s, Welch worked to streamline GE. In 1981 he made a speech in New York City called "Growing fast in a slow-growth economy". This is often acknowledged as the "dawn" of the obsession with shareholder value. Later, in an interview with the Financial Times on the Global financial crisis of 2008–2009, Welch said, “On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world. Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy... your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products.” Many top CEOs have distanced themselves from Welch stating that Welch would not have made such a comment while still the CEO of GE. Employees, customers and products are enablers, while shareholder value creation gives a publicly traded company a license to operate.
He also pushed the managers of the businesses he kept to become more productive. Welch worked to eradicate perceived inefficiency by trimming inventories and dismantling the bureaucracy that had almost led him to leave GE in the past. He shut down factories, reduced payrolls and cut lackluster old-line units. Welch's public philosophy was that a company should be either #1 or #2 in a particular industry, or else leave it completely. Welch's strategy was later adopted by other CEOs across corporate America.
Each year, Welch would fire the bottom 10% of his managers. He earned a reputation for brutal candor in his meetings with executives. He would push his managers to perform, but he would reward those in the top 20% with bonuses and stock options. He also expanded the broadness of the stock options program at GE from just top executives to nearly one third of all employees. Welch is also known for destroying the nine-layer management hierarchy and bringing a sense of informality to the company.
During the early 1980s he was dubbed "Neutron Jack" (in reference to the neutron bomb) for eliminating employees while leaving buildings intact. In Jack: Straight From The Gut, Welch states that GE had 411,000 employees at the end of 1980, and 299,000 at the end of 1985. Of the 112,000 who left the payroll, 37,000 were in sold businesses, and 81,000 were reduced in continuing businesses. In return, GE had increased its market capital tremendously.
In 1986, GE acquired NBC, which was located in Rockefeller Center; Welch subsequently took up an office in the GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. During the 1990s, Welch shifted GE business from manufacturing to financial services through numerous acquisitions.
Welch adopted Motorola's Six Sigma quality program in late 1995. In 1980, the year before Welch became CEO, GE recorded revenues of roughly $26.8 billion. In 2000, the year before he left, the revenues increased to nearly $130 billion. When Jack Welch left GE, the company had gone from a market value of $14 billion to one of more than $410 billion at the end of 2004, making it the most valuable and largest company in the world.
At the time of his retirement, Welch received a salary of $4 million a year, followed by his controversial retirement plan of $8 million a year. In 1999 he was named "Manager of the Century" by Fortune magazine.
There was a lengthy and well-publicized succession planning saga prior to his retirement between James McNerney, Robert Nardelli, and Jeffrey Immelt, with Immelt eventually selected to succeed him as Chairman and CEO. Nardelli became the CEO of Home Depot until his resignation in early 2007, and until recently, was the CEO of Chrysler, while McNerney became CEO of 3M until he left that post to serve in the same capacity at Boeing.
Criticism
Some industry analysts claim that Welch is given too much credit for GE's success. They contend that individual managers are largely responsible for the company's success. For example GE Capital, under Gary C. Wendt, contributed nearly 40% of the company's total earnings while NBC and Robert C. Wright worked to turn the network around, leading to five years of double-digit earnings growth. It is also held that Welch did not rescue GE from great losses as the company had 16% annual earnings growth during the tenure of his predecessor, Reginald H. Jones. Critics also say that "the pressure Welch imposes leads some employees to cut corners, possibly contributing to some of the defense-contracting scandals that have plagued GE, or to the humiliating Kidder, Peabody & Co. bond-trading scheme of the early 1990s that generated bogus profits".
Welch has also received criticism over the years for an apparent lack of compassion for the middle class and working class. Welch has publicly stated that he is not concerned with the discrepancy between the salaries of top-paid CEOs and those of average workers. When asked about the issue of excessive CEO pay, Welch has stated that such allegations are "outrageous" and has vehemently opposed proposed SEC regulations affecting executive compensation. Countering the public uproar over excessive executive pay (including backdating stock options, golden parachutes for nonperformance, and extravagant retirement packages), Welch stated that CEO compensation should continue to be dictated by the free market, without interference from government or other outside agencies. In addition, Welch is a vocal opponent of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Personal life
Welch has had a slight stutter since childhood. He had four children with his first wife, Carolyn. They divorced amicably in April 1987 after 28 years of marriage. His second wife, Jane Beasley, was a former mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer. She married Jack in April 1989, and they divorced in 2003. While Welch had crafted a prenuptial agreement, Beasley insisted on a ten-year time limit to its applicability, and thus she was able to leave the marriage with an amount believed to be in the range of $180 million.
The third wife of Jack Welch is Suzy Wetlaufer, who co-authored his 2005 book Winning as Suzy Welch. Wetlaufer served briefly as the editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review before being forced to resign in early 2002 after admitting to having been involved in an affair with Welch while preparing an interview with him for the magazine.
Welch underwent triple bypass surgery in May 1995. He returned to work full time in September of the same year and also adopted an exercise schedule that included golf. Welch is a member of Augusta National Golf Club. However, in Winning, Welch acknowledges that back problems forced him to give up playing golf, and that, surprisingly, he doesn't miss it. He acknowledges using his time formerly spent on the golf course to consult with companies and indulge other personal interests such as modern art, international travel, teaching and attending Red Sox games. Since then, he has picked up his golf game, playing at courses such as Nantucket Golf Club, Sankaty Head Golf Club, and the Country Club of Fairfield, CT, among others.
On January 25, 2006, Welch gave his name to Sacred Heart University's College of Business, which will be known as the "John F. Welch College of Business".
Since September 2006, Welch has been teaching a class at the MIT Sloan School of Management to a hand-picked group of 30 MBA students with a demonstrated career interest in leadership. He is also a global warming skeptic. Yet he has said that every business must embrace green products and green ways of doing business, "whether you believe in global warming or not...because the world wants these products."
Thanks to a donation from Jack Welch, the Jack Welch Management Institute at the Chancellor University in Ohio was founded in July 2009. The institute offers a MBA program based on Welch's management philosophy. Classes are offered both online and at the school’s Cleveland campus.
On March 11, 2010, Welch appeared as himself in the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of the hit NBC sitcom 30 Rock. In the episode, he governed the sale of NBC Universal to a fictional Philadelphia-based cable company, Kabletown, a parody of the actual acquisition of NBC Universal from General Electric by Comcast in November 2009.