Power Failure by William D Cohan — a gripping chronicle of General Electric
When Jeff Immelt took over from Jack Welch as chair and chief executive of General Electric in 2001, the aerospace to fridges and finance group was the most valuable, widely admired company in the world. Its very diverse portfolio of businesses defied the conventional wisdom of the day that conglomeration was the ultimate recipe for inefficient management.
The hubris-to-nemesis story of how this emblematic American corporation ended up being hounded by activist investor Nelson Peltz and broken up under its current chief executive Larry Culp must count as one of the greatest dramas in business history. It is also a morality tale about the way American capitalism became hostage to short-termism and financialisation.
William D Cohan captures that drama exceptionally well in Power Failure. His account of the internal political machinations that accompanied GE’s humiliating decline is backed by impressive research and remarkable access to the key actors, notably Welch. This famously tough chief executive told Cohan, with tears in his eyes, that in picking Immelt as his successor: “I fucked up. I fucked up. That’s my burden and I have to live with it.” It all makes for gripping reading.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:John Plender
