Abstract
Jack Welch was the CEO of General Electric (GE) from 1981 until 2001. He is regarded as one of the most successful CEOs of the 20th century. This essay intends to analyze Jack Welch's two-decade leadership by answering the question of what made him the "Manager of the Century" and GE the "Most Respected Company in the World". Jack Welch took on leadership in April 1981, taking over from "management legend" Reginald Jones who had managed GE very successfully. However, at the beginning of the 1980s the U.S. economy found itself in a recession. The growth rate of the GDP even dropped to -6.4% in the first quarter of 1982. Coupled with this was the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression in 1929, as well as high interest rates. Moreover, Japanese high-tech companies had emerged, swiftly becoming main competitors for GE in the global market. Internally, Welch had to face a highly bureaucratic company, a disadvantage that was soon about to change.
