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Confidence: “Instilling confidence” and “spreading it” around the organization was the most important thing he did, Welch insisted. After making so many dramatic changes in his hardware phase of the 1980s (layoffs, restructuring, divesting), Welch knew that he had a demoralized workforce. Through initiatives like Work-Out, he sought to instill confidence into the psyche of GE employees and managers. Confidence has been a constant theme throughout Welch’s tenure, and many of his initiatives had the added benefit of instilling self-confidence into the organization. Six Sigma, for example, gave GE employees far more confidence in the quality of their products and services. The e-Initiative added speed and confidence to the organization, as workers became more secure in the knowledge that an upstart dot-com would not steal sales or market share from GE. Declared Welch: “A manager’s job is to fundamentally pump self-confidence into people so they have the courage to dare, the courage to dream, the courage to reach and do things they never thought possible.”
自信：韋爾奇堅持認為，他所做的最重要的事情，是在組織中“灌輸自信”并讓它“遍地廣布”。在20世紀80年代硬件變革階段中經(jīng)歷了許多的巨變后（裁員、重組、撤回投資），韋爾奇知道他的員工隊伍士氣低落。他希望通過(guò)“群策群力”這類(lèi)倡導行動(dòng)來(lái)培養通用電氣公司的員工和管理人員的自信。自信是韋爾奇任期中一個(gè)持久的主題，他的許多倡導行動(dòng)也附帶產(chǎn)生了為組織增加自信的益處。例如，“六西格瑪”計劃就讓通用電氣公司的員工們對自己的產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)信心大增。“電子商務(wù)倡議”使組織加快了速度、增加了自信，因為員工們更加堅信，暴發(fā)的網(wǎng)絡(luò )公司不會(huì )從通用電氣公司奪走銷(xiāo)售額或市場(chǎng)份額。韋爾奇宣稱(chēng)說(shuō)：“管理人員的工作根本上就是為員工灌輸自信，使他們有勇氣去敢作敢為，有勇氣去幻想、去達到和完成他們認為絕不可能的事情。”
THE ORIGINS OF WELCH’S CONFIDENCE
Welch says that he started to build self-confidence at an early age and often gives credit to his mother for being so well grounded. His mother certainly instilled a sense of reality into her son, Jack. Months before his retirement, Welch spoke of how she taught him early on to see things as they are:“Never see the world the way you wished it would be. Always see the world as it is.” In other words:“Don’t kid yourself.” It was a common retort from Jack’s mother, and his first lesson in facing reality.
韋爾奇自信的來(lái)源
韋爾奇說(shuō)，他早年就開(kāi)始建立起自信，而且往往把這點(diǎn)歸功于他母親的務(wù)實(shí)。他母親肯定為兒子杰克灌輸了一種現實(shí)感。在他退休之前幾個(gè)月，韋爾奇說(shuō)起早年母親教導他要正視事情的本來(lái)面目：“絕不要一廂情愿地按照自己的愿望來(lái)看待世界。始終要看到它的本來(lái)面目。”換句話(huà)說(shuō)：“別糊弄自己。”這是杰克母親慣常對他的一句回駁，也是教會(huì )他直面現實(shí)的第一課。
Welch also regales interviewers with his boyhood tales of the “Pit.” That was where he played sports and learned lessons that would prepare him for the world of business. One journalist called the Pit a “Darwinian laboratory of sorts,” since that was where “Welch and his buddies learned to win, lose, fight, compromise, and charm.”Welch has often decreed “sports are everything” and attributes his early years to shaping his leadership abilities.
韋爾奇還向他的訪(fǎng)談?wù)咧v述童年時(shí)“坑地”的故事，那是他玩體育活動(dòng)的地方，他從那兒學(xué)到了許多東西，讓他為日后進(jìn)入管理世界做好了準備。有位記者將這個(gè)“坑地”叫做“達爾文物種實(shí)驗室”，因為它是“韋爾奇和伙伴們學(xué)會(huì )獲勝、認輸、奮斗、折衷和感染他人”的地方。韋爾奇時(shí)常宣布“體育即一切”，并且說(shuō)是他早年的生活煉就了他的領(lǐng)導能力。
Another factor Welch pointed to in building confidence was his attending a state school rather than a more rigorous institution like MIT: “I’m a firm believer that all of these experiences build these self-confidences in you: your mother’s knee, playing sports, going to school, getting grades.”After graduating from the University of Massachusetts, he received his master’s and Ph.D. before starting at GE. He was in a small lab with only one other person, and he thought it more like “a family grocery store.” There was no bureaucracy, just excitement, as Welch built the business.
在說(shuō)起他培養自信時(shí)，韋爾奇提到的另一個(gè)因素是他就讀的是所州立大學(xué)，而不是像麻省理工學(xué)院那樣更嚴格的學(xué)術(shù)機構：“我堅信所有這些經(jīng)歷都會(huì )在你心中培養起自信：在母親膝下受教、體育運動(dòng)、上學(xué)、取得成績(jì)。”在從麻薩諸塞州大學(xué)畢業(yè)后，他先取得了碩士和博士學(xué)位后，才到通用電氣公司參加工作。那時(shí)他相當于身處一座小型實(shí)驗室，與他相伴的只有另外一個(gè)人，他覺(jué)得這地方更像“一間家庭雜貨店”。那兒沒(méi)有官僚主義，只有興奮，因為他自己創(chuàng )建了這家公司。
Later, at age 33, he would become an executive responsible for a $1.5 billion components and materials group. Once he moved up the GE ladder, he was exposed to all of the things he would fight later on, including bureaucracy, layers of management, turf battles, etc. By working in such a small operation in his earliest days at GE, Welch knew that it was possible to work for a vast corporation and still have it run like a small store. Throughout his career, Welch felt that “pumping self-confidence into people” is one of the fundamental tasks of every manager.
后來(lái)到33歲時(shí)，他成為一名執行官員，為一家價(jià)值15億美元的零部件和材料單位負責。一當他在通用電氣公司的職級階梯中攀升，他便接觸到了日后他會(huì )奮力打擊的一切事情，包括官僚主義、管理層級、地盤(pán)之爭等等。他在通用電氣公司最初的日子是在一家非常小的業(yè)務(wù)單位中工作，這份經(jīng)歷使他認識到，對待巨型企業(yè)也一樣可以把它當做小店鋪那樣來(lái)執掌。在他的全部職業(yè)生涯中，韋爾奇覺(jué)得，“向人們灌輸自信”是每個(gè)管理人員根本的任務(wù)之一。
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WELCH’S CONFIDENCE BUILDING
In placing such a premium on confidence, Welch helped instill a sense of pride and ownership into the fabric of GE. Before Welch, no one had bothered to ask employees what they were thinking. Few workers felt that confidence was important, and it was a scarce commodity at GE. So much of what Welch did was designed to add confidence to the organization. Even in the early 1980s, by firing strategic planners and handing the reins back to the business leaders, Welch was giving his vote of “confidence” to the people who ran the businesses. Later, with his software phase, Welch sent another important message: not only do we want to hear from you, we want to make General Electric more engaging, and we will need you to make that happen.
韋爾奇培養信心的工作的重大意義
韋爾奇對自信給予了如此高度的重視，從而幫助通用電氣公司上上下下培養起了一種自豪感和主人翁感。在韋爾奇之前，無(wú)人肯勞神去問(wèn)問(wèn)員工的想法。很少有員工覺(jué)得信心有多么重要，而且信心在通用電氣公司也很稀貴。韋爾奇所做的工作中，許多都是為了給組織增加信心。即便在20世紀80年代初，韋爾奇裁掉了戰略規劃員、將控制權交回企業(yè)領(lǐng)導人手中，其實(shí)也是在給執掌企業(yè)的人員投信心票。之后，韋爾奇通過(guò)他的軟件變革階段而傳達出了另一條重要精神：我們不僅想要聽(tīng)取你的意見(jiàn)，而且希望讓通用電氣公司更加積極活躍，我們需要你的參與來(lái)實(shí)現這一目標。
With boundarylessness and the focus on GE values, Welch put more emphasis on the individual, infusing more confidence into the company. Over the years, confidence has been of immense importance to the GE chairman, as he felt that only an organization rich in confidence would perform at extraordinary levels. Welch felt that genuine confidence was quite rare, but that never stopped him from working tirelessly to embed it deeply into the psyche of General Electric.
通過(guò)“無(wú)界限”觀(guān)念以及對通用電氣公司價(jià)值觀(guān)的重視，韋爾奇還更進(jìn)一步強調了個(gè)人的作用，使公司更加增添了自信。這些年來(lái)，信心對于韋爾奇極為重要，因為他認為只有充滿(mǎn)自信的組織才會(huì )有非凡的表現。韋爾奇覺(jué)得真正的自信相當罕見(jiàn)，但這從未阻止他不知疲倦地讓自信深深植根到通用電氣公司的精神中。
Lessons in building confidence
關(guān)于培養信心的經(jīng)驗教訓
1. Build strong businesses: Welch spent his first years as CEO rebuilding GE’s portfolio of businesses. He knew that employees would never have confidence unless they worked for a company that was competitive and winning. The hardware revolution was a crucial step in laying the foundation for the global juggernaut that GE would become in the 1990s. It was during this period that Welch built strong, stand-alone businesses that could compete on a global basis.
1. 建設強大的企業(yè)：韋爾奇把擔任首席執行官后第一年的時(shí)間用來(lái)重構通用電氣公司的業(yè)務(wù)組合。他知道，除非是在具備競爭力、能夠獲勝的企業(yè)工作，否則員工們就絕對不會(huì )自信。在為通用電氣公司到20世紀90年代成為全球巨頭而奠定基礎的工作中，硬件革命是至關(guān)重要的一步。正是在這一階段中，韋爾奇建設起了能夠參與全球競爭的強大、獨立的眾多下屬企業(yè)。
2. Let employees know that you value their ideas: In implementing Work-Out and making GE’s values such prominent parts of the culture, Welch was sending a vital message: things had changed. Although it hadn’t always been the case, GE was now interested in hearing from every employee. Thanks to Work-Out, someone on the shop floor could come up with an idea that would transform a process or help the company win a new contract. That was a powerful and important sea change, and almost all of Welch’s initiatives were designed to harness the collective intellect of the organization.
2、讓員工們知道公司重視他們的主意：在實(shí)施“群策群力”計劃、以及讓通用電氣公司的價(jià)值觀(guān)成為公司文化中突出部分的同時(shí)，韋爾奇傳達出了這樣一條關(guān)鍵的信號：事情已經(jīng)改變了。通用電氣公司如今想要聽(tīng)取每個(gè)員工的意見(jiàn)，盡管過(guò)去不常這樣。得益于“群策群力”計劃，如今車(chē)間工地的人員也可以拿出個(gè)能改變流程或幫助公司贏(yíng)得一份新合同的主意。這是一種強勁、重要的巨大變化，而韋爾奇幾乎所有倡導行動(dòng)都著(zhù)眼于發(fā)揮組織中的集體智慧。
3. Push decision-making down the hierarchy: The effect of many of the Welch ideas was to empower people, putting more authority into the hands of those closest to the work. Before Welch’s hardware phase, GE was awash in layers and approvals and red tape. After simplifying the organization, the people who ran the businesses could control “their own destinies.” By having P&L responsibility over businesses that were growing, Welch instilled self-confidence into the GE management team. Welch always wanted employees who would have enough confidence to make their own decisions.
3、推動(dòng)決策制定的過(guò)程從上到下轉移：韋爾奇所出的創(chuàng )意中，許多都是為了增強員工的力量，讓最熟悉工作的人手中握有更多的權力。在韋爾奇的硬件變革階段之前，層級、審批手續和官樣文章在通用電氣公司中泛濫成災。經(jīng)過(guò)對組織的精簡(jiǎn)，經(jīng)營(yíng)企業(yè)的人員方能控制“自己的命運”。韋爾奇讓通用電氣公司的管理團隊為不斷增長(cháng)的企業(yè)承擔盈虧責任，從而使他們建立了自信。韋爾奇始終希望任用那些有足夠的自信來(lái)自己作出決定的員工。
4. Use learning to build confidence: Welch’s learning culture ensured a steady diet of new ideas and initiatives. By viewing GE’s businesses as hundreds of “business laboratories,” he was creating an atmosphere that nurtured good ideas and pursued Best Practices. That high involvement culture enhanced the company intellect, thereby fostering self-confidence.
4、通過(guò)學(xué)習來(lái)培養信心：韋爾奇的學(xué)習型文化確保公司隨時(shí)都能拿出新的創(chuàng )意和倡導行動(dòng)。他將通用電氣公司的下屬企業(yè)看作是數百家“經(jīng)營(yíng)實(shí)驗室”，從而創(chuàng )建了一種孕育良好創(chuàng )意、追求最佳做法的氛圍。這種高度參與的文化提高了公司的智識水平，從而也就增強了自信。
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