Immelt is a RISKTAKER/ SURGEON...a unique combination!

Risktaker/ Surgeon... a unique leadership style!
Since the early 1990's I have enabled my clients to integrate strategies with leadership and human resources.

• In 1993, I wrote "Risktaker,Caretaker,Surgeon, Undertaker- the four faces of strategic leadership." The basic premise of my consulting practice and the book was that there was "no one type of leader for all times" or to challenge the premise of St. Thomas More's biographers, there is no one leader for all seasons.I used the simple life cycle to describe my theory. There are four stages of the life cycle:
  Embryonic stage, birth and childhood, and this requires "risk taking, missionary leaders".
  Teenage and early adulthood/ growth stage, that needs Caretakers..who will care for and grow the organization systematically;
  Then there is middle age and maturity and this requires the surgeon, a leader that will focus on the best and growth and prune the declining or dying.
  Finally there is the decline, fall and death stage and this requires an Undertaker.

Like all categorizations, they are simple but don't cover all situations. But this simple relationship to the right type of leader and the stage of a business enables organizations to spot the mismatches.

It is clear that you don't want a risk taker when the company needs major surgery or when it is time to divest or liquidate the assets.In a company like GE... which has businesses in all stages, the message is that the company needs a portfolio of leaders and the willingness to place the right type for the right situation. Historically, GE has had a "portfolio of leaders" and was able to match the type with the strategies. This was part of the strategic system when I was Corporate Planner in the early 1980's.

However, in my book and subsequent articles I concluded that GE's CEO's since the mid 1970's have been skilled surgeons. Borch started the pruning, Jones did some more and Welch was a great deal maker. I wrote an article several years ago called the "College of Surgeons" and described how most GE alumni were surgeon leaders when they left GE.

Now we have the Immelt era. Jeff started as a traditional surgeon and pruned many businesses, but as his years progressed he has become a very unique leader, which I have concluded is a RISK TAKER/SURGEON.

Risk taking Ventures...Immelt and his team have worked hard to focus on moving GE back to its traditional innovation, systems, solution role, which Welch had de-emphasized and even negated.This was achieved primarily by acquisitions and some internal innovations, but he has further increased the complexity and risks by making these global and increasingly moving into unstable, but potentially long term profitable areas like China, Middle East etc. He has bet billions on these ventures and even was willing to open research labs in countries that are not secure. In short, he has the missionary zeal and attributes of a "risk taker" leader.

Surgeon...but Immelt and his team have also continued the pruning. In fact, it has been greater and more pervasive than any of his predecessors. The latest surgery is demonstrated by his willingness to prune the "traditional GE" businesses, like appliances, lighting, motors etc. He clearly willing to to get out of businesses which he believes are not fast growing and global.Complexity, confusion and unpredictability are the results. Since most leaders fit one of the four categories, they are easier to understand and predict. The stakeholders, investors and the media understand what a risk taker or surgeon is and so they begin to feel comfortable with them, even if they don't agree.

However, when you have a compound/ split leadership personality it gets very complicated and difficult for the key stakeholders to understand and support. This is even worse when the leader says one thing one day and then does something different the next. This was the problem Immelt demonstrated when he promised a 13% growth and only delivered 5% in the first quarter of 2008.I am not sure the combination of "risk taker" and "surgeon" really works and can be successful in the long run.

Bill Rothschild...author of The Secret to GE's Success and Risktaker, Caretaker, Surgeon, Undertaker- the four faces of strategic leadership.