Benchmark Assignment - Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership

Mr. Welch understood in order to build a successful company you must first build a successful and dedicated workforce one person at a time. He discovered you can find leadership internally by encouraging competition from within. Empowering employees by giving them a sense of self-worth in what they are doing was an effective and profitable strategy for Mr. Welch and General Electric, as its value soared four thousand percent throughout his 40-year tenure. Mr. Welch foresaw the impracticality of running a multi-billion dollar corporation as a corporatized monolith, preferring a more informal managerial approach.

I feel Mr. Welch was attempting to share his insight on how he developed a successful working relationship with his employees first instead of developing policies to generate income for the business. In my opinion, making General Electric a financial success became secondary to the overall objective. I believe Mr. Welch surmised the company cannot be profitable and grow without having people perform at their maximum ability. In order to do that, employees must intrinsically believe the work they produce is making a difference. This management style has been emulated by the technology industry, namely those located in Silicon Valley (Google, Apple, Facebook, etc.). Said companies are some of the largest and most influential companies in the world, affecting nearly every aspect of our everyday lives.

There is a lot I would like to emulate from Mr. Welch and incorporate into my leadership skill-set. Oftentimes, I tend to be a bit short in my dealings with colleagues, co-workers and fellow team members alike; especially if there is a disagreement. In the future, I would like to understand their individual skill-sets, thought processes and work habits and mesh them into a singular objective. The ultimate objective is for the team, group or company to be successful through inclusion not exclusion. Admittedly in the past I have contributed to the latter instead of the former. Looking back on previous occupational and educational experiences, my behavior and lack of cooperativeness was a detriment.

Implementing this level of thinking does have its drawbacks. For starters, some people may be ingrained into a certain way of working or thinking, contradictory to what the overall goal of the team, group or company.