The Secret to GE's Success: A Former Insider Reveals the Management Strategies of the World's Most Competitive Company

Looking beyond GE's legendary CEO Jack Welch, Rothschild takes a wider perspective on the company's history in this unwieldy management guide. Structuring the book around the various phases in the company's evolution, he looks all the way back to the founding by Thomas Edison in 1879 and analyzes the business lessons that have gradually emerged. At the same time, Rothschild, a former GE insider who formed his own consulting company in 1984, focuses on five key success areas: leadership, adaptability, talent, influence and networks, reinforcing key "takeaways" at the end of each chapter. Unfortunately, the book's chronological structure and overwhelming detail makes it read more like an annotated history than a management guide with business-changing insights. (Jan.)