CEO speak... Contd.

Because of public demand(ahem...), I am posting some thoughts of what the CEO of GE, Jeff Immelt, spoke when he was at Auburn.
(Disclaimer: These thoughts may have been modified by me and may not accurately portray the thoughts of Jeff Immelt. These are just from memory and should not be miscontrued as slander or malign).

Hmmm...There were some problems.. I went with a book and pen to take some notes... But there was not even enough standing space...The audi was jammed... packed to the brim.. people were sitting in the aisles, standin on their toes...so will just put out some things which I remember ...

Bureaucracy. Any huge organization will get bogged down by bureaucracy. GE is bigger than many many countries in the financial countries. If you really need to innovate, cut down the red-tapes. Allow a forum for all employees to put out their thoughts.

Innovation. As Rutherford said to a graduate student who said he worked day and night continuously -"then when do you think?!? " ...Devote some qualtiy time to think. Just the rigmarole of work will kill your creativity. Companies ought to give time to relax to all classes of employees - this will indirectly help it in getting dividends.

Management. When someone asked him if there was one company that *he* - as the CEO of GE admired, what would that be. The answer was no surprise. The one company that really is at the leading edge of innovation, quite unbureaucratic and SUPERBLY managed is Toyota. He said that Toyota is the blue chip amongst the Fortune 10-20 companies... Almost all of them look up to it.

Other than that, there was some mention about the Jack Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore(this is the biggest research center of GE outside USA). And the perpetual worry that US is producing lesser and lesser engineers and graduate students.

I am trying to find where they have posted the video of his speech. Will try to get that.