Leading with Emotional Intelligence: Hands-On ... - always yours

36 LEADING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
In 2006 Fortune reported that GE was rated #1 in the World’s Most
Admired Companies for the sixth time in eight years. 37
During the Great Recession it dropped to #9 in 2009 and #16 in
2010. John Chambers, CEO of CISCO, rated Immelt as the CEO he
most admires and stated, “The job that GE and Jeff Immelt have
done is the best in business. You learn a lot about a person and a
company during the tough times.” 38 Immelt is on President Obama’s
economic recovery advisory board.
Immelt’s initial entry into GE was challenging. Not only did he
follow the legendary Jack Welch, who had been CEO for twenty
years, but he also took his new position only four days before 9/11
and the collapse of the World Trade Center. His leadership has been
highlighted by weathering many storms and much criticism, but
Immelt has pulled through and shined because he has demonstrated
many of the EI competencies in his long and distinguished career.
In 1994, when Immelt was vice president of GE Plastics American,
he almost got fi red for poor performance. Instead of reaching his
20% profit goal, he delivered only 7% in earnings growth with a
missed income of approximately $50 million!
In an interview with Fast Company, Immelt recalled the dramatic
subsequent events. During the annual leadership meeting
in 1995, he was actively avoiding having the “tough talk” with
Welch and tried to escape the auditorium. Welch grabbed him as
he was slipping away and said, “Jeff I am your biggest fan, but you
just had your worst year in the company. Just the worst year. I
love you and I know you can do better. But I’m going to take you
out if you can’t get it fi xed.” 39 (This is a good example of tough
empathy from Welch.)
“Even though I came close to being fi red,” Immelt added, “I
never considered quitting. I knew the issues were my fault and I
didn’t want to let my people down.” He described this experience
as the most painful time in his entire career. But Immelt is highly
adaptable, and he reflected, “Surviving a failure gives you more