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At that time, Jack was famous for his personal leader’s notes. In business, Jack Welch was the most famous advocate of cvs2bvs in the US.
Jack used cvs2bvs at GE to help him change the culture of a 100-year-old manufacturer to the most valuable company (at the time he left it) in the history of the world!
I was invited to GE soon after he became chairman and CEO. In the 1980s I spent several years, at his request, installing the cvs2bvs brain software at GE. He wrote to me saying,
“I would love to have a management team that really understood the cvs2bvs algorithm. It’s the ‘value-added’ role in the management process”.
In his book about his time at GE called, Jack (Warner Books 2001), he wrote, “It would make each of us wake up with the goal of “Finding a Better Way Every Day”. It was a phrase that became a slogan, put up on the walls of GE factories and offices around the world”.
Jack also used cvs2bvs in crisis management situations and on one very serious occasion involving a crisis between GE and President Reagan’s Defense Secretary, Caspar Weinberger, Jack asked me to meet with him privately, in Manhattan, to apply cvs2bvs to finding a solution.
He also told me that it helped him design new concepts like ‘Boundarylessness’ and ‘Work-Out’. He wrote, “Suddenly, “Finding a Better Way Every Day” wasn’t just a slogan. It was the essence of boundaryless behaviour, and it defined our expectations”.
As my Dad used to say, “Nobody’s perfect!” and Jack had his share of setbacks but he was a genuine strategic thinker and one of the most accomplished business leaders of his time.
Jack was famous for the little hand-written notes he would send to people. He sent me several and the one I prized the most was, “Michael, you are a friend of our company”.
Hand-written notes are a very personal and powerful communication. I have known several leaders who use handwritten notes with great effect.
I first was taught to use ‘The Leader’s Note’ in the Army and I saw recently where the Duchess of Cornwall (who is Royal Colonel of the 4th Battalion The Rifles) sent handwritten notes to all the soldiers in her regiment who were wounded in Iraq.
Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Sanders, commander of 4 Rifles, said,
She bled with us throughout the tour. She wrote by hand to all the wounded and the families of those killed. She gave each of the wounded presents – whisky or hampers. We feel incredibly lucky to have her as our Royal Colonel. At a time when people in England did not really know what we were going through, she did.
DFQ #20:
PTO: Write a Leader’s Note!
On a postcard, engraved writing paper or special paper for the purpose (not email), write a short personal note of encouragement (around 10 to 100 words) to someone who sees you as their leader or mentor.
Post that you have completed this PTO within the next 24 hours saying who, when, where etc:
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Done and in the mail to 2 members of our Fundraising Committee who have recently taken on new roles.
written notes have been replaced by SMS messages…..
My most common message to my kids have been, not what they should not do, but the most important: HAVE FUN!
I’ve left a note congratulating my wife (who definitely does NOT see me as a leader!) for her efforts over the past 18 months with our daughter.
I decided to write one note each for ‘home’ and work. One note was to my Mum who is a great support for me that words cannot describe. The other is for a colleague to let them know that I am converting their position from contract to on-going. The hope is that this would be appreciated and also give her some confidence that she is a valued team member.
I have written a note for a staff member that has been battling breast cancer for the same amount of time that I have been pregnant. This person is younger than I and yet to start a family. My note is to let her know how impressed I am by her strength and the way that she has faced her battle head on.
I have left for a new employee who has been performing well after a short period of time.
Done. I wrote 2 notes. A research project I lead relies on data generated by another group. The 2 people in this other group who do this have worked really hard over the past year and I suspect the hard work has not been fully appreciated. I sent them both a note thanking them for their efforts. They both need cheering up.
My wife (I do not think I am a mentor or leader, but an equal), today, at home: to thank her for the amazing job she is doing looking after our kids, and to ensure her that her return to work is her own decision, when she decides that it is the best for her and our family.
I must admit, I’m not good at writing encouragement note.
Anyway, I wrote one to my son, encouraging him to work extra hard who is in 3rd year Uni., which is also the final year of the first part of his double degree course.
I value the personal touch over the mass communication (although emails etc do have their place)
I wrote a note to a colleague thanking and praising them for their support and helping me out on some work which they did in addition to their normal duties.