Well it didn’t take long for CEO Larry Culp to make first big blunder; appointing John Rice as a Chairman for Power. You have got to be kidding! Rice was connected at the hip with Immelt and spent millions on a failed global operations group that contributed nothing and he also maintained two offices one in Atlanta and one in the most expensive city in the world... Hong Kong. Another layer of bureaucracy we can ill afford! Additionally naming Scott Strazik as CEO of Power is a questionable move at best. When will we get someone that understands Operations? We have too many Finance Leaders running the show that have no Operational acumen and fail miserably with customer connections. There is so much duplication of Operations it is mind blogging. We need to put the brakes on and go back to basics... instead we bring consultants to help determine proposed organizational structure costing millions. Are we really that bad we can’t determine the right organizational structure; if so we’ve got even bigger problems. Larry...so disappointed as it appears we’re still so disconnected; was certainly expecting more. Not expecting much now but again building up more bureaucracy and high paid organizations to support the newly appointed Leaders.
17 replies (most recent on top)
To the individual that wrote all these troubles were a result of JW... obviously your miss informed and haven’t been around. Too say after 16 years of Immelt that somehow JW was the issue is like the political climate of this country... easier to blame some else.
Many comments hint to the fact that there was a "GE culture", built on meritocracy and operational excellence. But are we sure of that? JW is regarded as a myth, but much of the trouble we are in is a consequence of his decisions. JW surfed the booming economy and the globalization of the 80s and 90s. Then, when the game get tough (2001, and then 2008), the company started to miserably fail.
What if the "GE culture" is just a fiction, and never existed? And we have been telling and believing fairy tales for years?
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Eliminate CAS.
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Eliminate affitinity groups.
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Eliminate poor leaders responsible for power disaster, appoint good ones in their place.
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Restore our meritocracy
Rice Patty and Meltdown need to share the same jail cell...Cornstalk should get a corner one wearing the new pink...
Bringing this leader back is just as dumb as bringing Jail Immelt back as a high paid advisor.
@WhiqId6-yib Add Bill Ruth and 1000 highly-paid engineers at San Ram with their Predix scam to your list please.
Wonder how many more millions of compensation we’re going to pay Rice this time around on top of his golden parachute!
Not sure what decisions he’ll make but given his track record with Immelt we’d be better off without him. This is like bringing back a Leader as much responsible for the state of the company as anyone. I for one want to be done with all of them...what they should doing is clawing back the millions he walked away with too. Talk about throwing salt in a wound.
I could be wrong, but I think this is just a temporary move until someone else is appointed to the job. He will make some hard decisions that may upset personnel within that sector and then JR will be replaced. He takes the blame, then disappears.
Great post and replies! I’m beginning to feel is just another one of the Corporate Country Club Swamp Creatures!
How much more money are we going to shell out to Rice now after the millions he walked away After the biggest failure of an icon that he was a part of. Disgraceful that is the best Culp has to offer.
Excellent post and replies. Shameful to see that clown back in the mix. At one point GGO was costing 3/4 of a billion a year, and the politics of this wasted money caused great leaders to leave as opposed to being part of the stupidity...think “Energy de-layering.” The jail comments are especially on point. Never saw this guy as anything more than a used car salesmen. Sad.
Excellent post. Rice should be serving time in jail for all the accounting shenanigans he did while at GE. Additionally, all of his stock and stock options should be confiscated. Instead, GE's new CEO re-hires this guy. Aghhhh.
Agree on the post and the list of big mistakes. Amazing how you think finally someone comes into to fix the mess that Immelt and his cronies created not only does he not get rid of anyone but brings back one of the biggest puppet of them all John Rice. How disgusting...shows ignorance and incompetence. Those of you who aren’t looking outside for opportunities better pull your head out of the sand. Nothing happening at the top same old bloated bureaucracy and the lay offs will all be the layers where actual work is getting done.
Excellent post on the list:
How about the useless leadership programs?
Yes toxic culture including the buddy system of incompetence...
Stop the inbreeding! No new ideas no new methods no new processes ... Stagnation ...
Hardly the first big blunder:
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Not firing Stokes.
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Not firing Miller.
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Not giving earnings guidance.
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Not cutting corporate head count.
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Talking to ANY wall street analyst.
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DIVING head first into the GE culture
cesspool.
This is just a short list, I'm sure there are many more I've missed.
I agree bringing Rice back was a very bad decision. GE keeps repeating the same actions hoping for a different result. Layoff after layoff. Reorg after Reorg. Asset sale after asset sale. The definition of stupid continues. Looking forward to the next round of layoffs.