Overview

A fascinating and candid memoir about successful leadership from the former CEO of General Electric, named one of the World's Best CEOs three times by Barron's, and the hard-won lessons he learned from his experience leading GE immediately after 9/11, through the devastating 2008-09 financial crisis, and into an increasingly globalized world. In September 2001, Jeff Immelt replaced the most famous CEO in history, Jack Welch, at the helm of General Electric. Less than a week into his tenure, the 9/11 terrorist attacks shook the nation, and the company, to its core. GE was connected to nearly every part of the tragedy--GE-financed planes powered by GE-manufactured engines had just destroyed real estate that was insured by GE-issued policies. Facing an unprecedented situation, Immelt knew his response would set the tone for businesses everywhere that looked to GE--one of America's biggest and most-heralded corporations--for direction. No pressure. Over the next sixteen years, Immelt would lead GE through many more dire moments, from the 2008-09 Global Financial Crisis to the 2011 meltdown of Fukushima's nuclear reactors, which were designed by GE. But Immelt's biggest challenge was inherited: Welch had handed over a company that had great people, but was short on innovation. Immelt set out to change GE's focus by making it more global, more rooted in technology, and more diverse. But the stock market rarely rewarded his efforts, and GE struggled. In Hot Seat, Immelt offers a rigorous and raw interrogation of himself and his tenure, detailing for the first time his proudest moments and his biggest mistakes. The most crucial component of leadership, he writes, is the willingness to make decisions. But knowing what to do is a thousand times easier than knowing when to do it. Perseverance, combined with clear communication, can ensure progress, if not perfection, he says. That won't protect any CEO from second-guessing, but Immelt explains how he's pushed through even the most withering criticism: by staying focused on his team and the goals they tried to achieve. As the business world continues to be rocked by stunning economic upheaval, Hot Seat takes you into the office, head, and heart of the man who became CEO of GE on the eve of 9/11, and then led the iconic behemoth for sixteen fascinating, and often turbulent, years. A handbook on leadership--and life (Stanley A. McChrystal, General, US Army [Retired], CEO and Founder, McChrystal Group).

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9781982114718

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Reviews

Jeff Immelt's disarmingly candid retrospective of his 15-year tenure as CEO of GE dissects his successes and failures, providing insider perspective on the rationale for his most controversial decisions. He explores the emotional and intellectual challenges of the loneliest, most challenging position in any organization. There are many lessons to be gleaned from this narrative. This is an insightful perspective for aspiring, current and future leaders. --Toby Cosgrove, Executive Advisor, Former President and CEO, Cleveland Clinic For anyone who's endured failure or heartbreak in their professional life--and that means everyone--Jeff's tale, full of insight, wisdom, perseverance and heart, is an invaluable resource and a blueprint for dealing with the wonderful chaos of leadership. --Jennifer Aaker, author of Humor, Seriously Jeff has delivered the most insightful perspective on GE over a remarkable period of change and growth with the same intellectual energy, self reflection, and bold leadership that he used in running the company for more than 16 years. This book is the definitive account of how it all unfolded. --Geoff Beattie, Chairman and CEO, Generation Capital The metric that matters in a business leadership book is how many pages you underline things on because you know you want to remember and refer back to them. Hot Seat scored 192 for me. If you're looking for a 'How great was I?' memoir, move to the next book. If you want the real lessons of leading one of the world's most complex companies through sixteen of the world's most challenging and least predictable years, take a seat and turn to page one. --Andrew Robertson, President and CEO, BBDO Worldwide

Author Information

Jeff Immelt was the ninth Chairman of GE and served as CEO for sixteen years. He has been named one of the World's Best CEOs three times by Barron's. During his tenure as CEO, GE was named America's Most Admired Company by Fortune magazine and one of The World's Most Respected Companies in polls by Barron's and Financial Times. Immelt has received fifteen honorary degrees and numerous awards for business leadership and chaired the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness under the Obama administration. He is a member of The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a lecturer at Stanford University. Immelt earned a BA in applied mathematics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard University. He and his wife have one daughter. Amy Wallace is a writer based in California. She splits her time between magazines and books. Her magazine work has appeared in GQ, Wired, The New Yorker, New York, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Details, The Nation, The New York Times Magazine, Elle, and other national publications. Two of her profiles-- Hollywood's Information Man (Los Angeles, 2001) and Walking Time Bomb (New York, 2019)--have been National Magazine Award finalists. An archive of her work can be found at Amy-Wallace.com. In 2014, she collaborated with Ed Catmull, then the president of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, on his New York Times bestselling book Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. Her second collaborative book, this one with former CEO of General Electric Jeff Immelt, is Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company.

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