Ex-GE chief's book captivates Japan

By Yuri Kageyama
Associated Press

TOKYO — Groping to wrest its economy out of a recession and searching for inspiration in a managerial vision, Japan is looking to one of the most influential executives to come out of America — Jack Welch.

The Japanese translation of Jack Welch's book is a big seller in Tokyo. His publisher says Welch's business style "exuded warmth." Associated Press

These are exactly the moves that conservative Japan has been unable to make, stuck in a bureaucratic business culture that has been struggling for more than a decade to catch up with global competition.

The Japanese translation of Welch's new autobiography, "Jack: Straight From the Gut," which made The New York Times best-seller list, is a big seller here as well. More than 165,000 copies are out in print since October.

"I learned so much from his book," said Yasuo Nishiguchi, president of Kyocera Corp., which like other Japanese electronics companies has seen its profits battered by the global slump and competition from Asian rivals.

Emulating Welch, Nishiguchi said he recently started discussion sessions at Kyocera to encourage the exchange of ideas among employee ranks. He also praised Welch's policy of focusing on No. 1 and No. 2 businesses and discarding less promising undertakings.

"If one of our businesses doesn't meet profit standards, then it's out," he said. "That's clear."

Welch, who retired in September, is respected worldwide for his decisiveness and drive. Although he had the unflattering nickname "Neutron Jack" for slashing jobs, Welch also displayed a knack for grooming new talent in the company with a sensitive passion.

Welch was a mix of levelheaded logic and soulful energy.

He was uncompromising with those who remained unproductive despite prodding. But he was also famous for fervent handwritten notes to his workers, unabashed with his love.

It is this caring side of Welch that holds special appeal for corporate Japan, said Tsuneo Taguchi of Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the Tokyo publisher of Welch's book.

For decades, Japanese-style management thrived on seeing the workplace as a family, building on loyalty, stability and teamwork. The transition to Western-style management has been a hard one, equated by many with callous layoffs.

"Welch is very human. Even though GE is huge, he had a management style that exuded warmth," Taguchi said.

Welch acknowledges the path toward recovery will be painful for Japan.

But he often appears on Japanese TV programs about business, urging the country to take pride in its success stories such as electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corp. and camera-maker Canon.

Welch said Japanese companies should stop treating their factories as "shrines," and sell off money-losing ones or merge them with other businesses.

"Selling or rationalizing weak businesses is not betraying them," Welch wrote in his introduction to the Japanese edition of his book. "Giving people a chance to experience the excitement and fulfillment of being part of a winner is not disloyalty. It is an energizing experience. It is renewal, a birth."

The transformation of GE into one of the most profitable companies in the world might well be every Japanese corporate leader's — and worker's — dream.

"I think he's a fantastic person to bring that kind of revival for a company," said 36-year-old Takahiko Fujiwara, who works for an electronics maker. "Whether Japan can do it, that might be difficult."

The parallels run deep.

When Welch became head of GE, the company was under attack from the influx of cheaper TVs and other electronic goods that originated from Japan. Some 20 years later, corporate Japan is under a similar onslaught from South Korea, China and the rest of Asia.