Leader's Edge Column

Seeing Beyond Monday Morning

Where managing with long-term vision is concerned, even a top corporate chief like Jack Welch needs a helping hand.
By Don MacRae

Recently I tuned in to watch Lesley Stahl's 60 Minutes interview with one of the world's top corporate leaders: General Electric Chairman and CEO Jack Welch Jr. I was shocked to learn that as recently as two years ago Jack knew next to nothing about the impact of the Internet.

His wife, Jane, finally got his attention by sitting him in front of a computer and dialing up a Yahoo! message board where GE folks were gossiping about their CEO. This gentle kick in the butt from a trusted partner was necessary to focus Jack on the future.

WRITING ON THE WALL. What's shocking is that holding Jack's hand as he dialed the Net was even necessary. In 1998, the Web wasn't exactly rocket science, and its growth projections were going into orbit. Ad revenue and business-to-business Internet deals were projected to leap from $8 billion in 1997 to $327 billion in 2002. Over that same period, PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicted, consumer purchases online would increase from $5 billion to a surprisingly precise $94 billion.

The Net was significantly more than a blip on the horizon, even at Jack's own company. Way back in 1994, GE Plastics became the company's first division to go online. And in 1996, GE-owned NBC teamed up with Microsoft to launch cable channel MSNBC and a companion Web site.

Despite shelling out tens of millions of dollars for such initiatives, Jack didn't personally appreciate the significance of the Net until that day in front of the computer. As he said in his 60 Minutes interview: "I just didn't get it."

THE BEST BRAINS. It's not that Jack isn't bright. This celebrated leader has three degrees in chemical engineering, including a doctorate. Noel Tichy, respected author, management professor, and long-time GE observer, refers to Jack as one of the two greatest corporate leaders of the century (GM's Alfred Sloan is the other).

Welch earned his reputation by transforming an old-line industrial giant into a leading edge global growth engine. He reshaped the company through acquisitions and entries into emerging markets while producing a string of revenue and earnings records.

Jack didn't fail to get the Net because he's surrounded by unenlightened people, either. GE boasts what headhunters consider the most talent-rich management bench in the world. So why didn't one of them do what Jane did for him? For that matter, why didn't this brilliant leader do it for himself?

The answer is Monday-morning thinking, so called because that's about as far into the future as today's execs go when doing strategic planning. Corporate leaders, including such role models as Welch, are often so fixated on immediate results that even a modest forward focus has been wiped off their radar screens.

NEAR SIGHTED. In the few organizations where lip service is paid to long-term planning, barriers are quickly erected. Bold new ideas require extensive business plans. An intense interrogation follows, similar to the grilling you would give an employee suspected of industrial espionage. Funds may be awarded to explore a promising idea, but the money soon dries up if results and profits aren't as quick to arrive as the next magnet for management's short-term thinking.

Monday-morning thinking starts at the very top and quickly spreads. The board pressures the CEO for immediate, if not sooner, results. The CEO passes that mandate down to the next level, and so it goes. The result is a management team that views leadership as a series of sprints rather than a marathon. A short-term view is rewarded. Potential contributors to the organization's future, meanwhile, learn to keep their heads down and their butts covered. Who needs the aggravation?

The key to true organizational success, by contrast, is getting leaders to focus on the future even as they do their feet-to-the-fire act to deliver short-term results. To bear witness to Jane Welch's contribution to broadening her husband's thinking, companies everywhere might try implementing Jane Welch meetings -- JWs for short. These could be modeled after GE's corporate executive council (CEC) sessions, where GE's top 30 officers gather before the close of each quarter to share their triumphs and failures and test their collective wisdom.

Similarly, JWs would bring together top talent in an organization to discuss all manner of trends that could affect their future and develop ways to meet those challenges before they cost the business its continued success. The results would be presented to the company's Jack Welch -- and hopefully, have the same impact that Jane's intervention did.

JW'S CONTRIBUTION. Because she sat her husband in front of a computer a few years ago, the Internet has since become GE's first, second, third, and fourth priorities, Jack says. And because he represents a model of success for other managers, the Internet has quickly become one of the highest priorities for businesses around the world.

It's for this reason, Jane, that we owe you one. You've helped us all focus on the future. Thanks! And for the sake of future corporate leaders, keep up the great work.

© 2001. The Lachlan Group. All rights reserved.