Welch lead by example by prodding people to give it their best shot each and every time they stepped up to the plate. In fact, he encouraged them to step up to the plate more and make changes. He squeezed the best performances out of people and got big results.

The Work-Out Program consisted of five key elements; off-site meetings, focus on issues and key processes, cross-sectional participation, small groups and follow-up. The Work-Out sessions were to be two-to-three day events held off-site and involved between fifty and one-hundred employees from all levels and functions of a business. Initially the sessions focused on removing unnecessary work but as the program developed it focused more on complex business processes. The sessions usually started with small groups brainstorming followed by a plenary session in which suggestions developed from the small groups were openly debated. At the end of discussion, the leader was required to make an immediate decision and a follow-up process was made to ensure what had been decided was implemented.

However, explaining this investment after 71 businesses were sold was the topic of every conversation. In order for GE to become a world-class competitor it had to retain the best people and become the lowest-cost provider of goods and services. GE had to get the best people in the world and had to pay them that way. GE couldn’t afford to carry along people they didn’t need. GE needed to expand some businesses while shrinking or selling others.

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