The other evening I was at the brewhouse, reciting my three-minute life’s story to the inquisitive guy next to me. In my one minute life’s story, GE never comes up. But expanded to three minutes, it does.
“Oh, did you like working at GE?”
Yes, yes I did… until I didn’t.
When did it all change? Decades ago, as the finance manager of a small business, I delivered a relatively gloomy forecast for the quarter. There was simply no reasonable chance for us to make the plan. We just didn’t have the orders. My boss kept saying, “I understand, but ya gotta tell me there is a chance.” He kept pushing for “a chance” till I finally I walked around the office, seeking donations of a nickel, dime or quarter. When I had a whole dollar, I went out, bought a lottery ticket and put it in the safe. The next time I was on the phone with my boss, I truthfully said, “We have a chance.”
That was not when I stopped liking working at GE. My boss understood the odds were very long. My forecasts were believed. Nothing sinister. The little twist at the end? We actually made that quarter. It took a major natural disaster, but we made it.
Years later, in other jobs, the arrogance in the GE cultural air was always thick:
“It takes six months to a year to implement this program? We are GE, we can do it in a month.” Management by brute force. Pound, pound, pound. Find a way. And we usually did. The skills, the work ethic, and the pride was thick too. Still liked working for GE.
It was only a few years ago. I was definitively told that I was not political enough. I refused to tell higher management what they wanted to hear. I was too honest.
Now, I could be diplomatic. I could temper my thoughts and be tactful. But always in the end, I couldn’t lie. And I couldn’t keep my mouth shut as clear and costly mistakes were about to be perpetrated. So, yeah, the culture had changed. I really was… Just. Too. Honest. For me, that is the day the music died. I thought it was confined only to my business, but later, headlines proclaimed, “Jeff Immelt’s refusal to give or take bad news defined his leadership at GE.”
Sadly, the culture really had changed.
And I am grateful. Sincerely and exceptionally grateful. If it hadn’t… I’d still be there.
“Since my house burned down
I now have a better view
of the rising moon”
― Mizuta Masahide