Jeff Immelt of GE - Interview

This is another Stanford Interview - this time with Jeff Immelt of GE. Geoff is an engaging and entertaining speaker. He talks about GE, managing GE dealing with problems and the challenges that he faces and will face. Here is a summary of some of the things that I got out of his lecture - but there is a lot in it.

• CEO needs a point of view of the world - and needs to invest using the world as you see it. If you are investing in a company it would seem to be a good idea to have some kind of faith in the management vision.
• We are in a reordering of global economy - this is something that is well mentioned by other leaders 20% have 80% of GDP this is changing. Also in his opinion europe will be slower growth region 5-10 years.
• Notion of productivity & cost - there will more products at more price points. Sell products at low price points and still make money as you attack new emerging markets.
• Resource scarcity - resource rich parts of world will be interesting. For example Angola. Kazakhstan Ubikistan Russia. Also conservation technology (to conserve scarce resources) is/will be interesting.
• Networked world. Not only IT but also collaborations - joint ventures etc.
• State economy - Governance through the world are very influential in business.
• World is and will become more volatile.
• You have to plan for the long term.
• You need to understand how things fail.

"A CEO drives change and develops other people."