Journal of Online Higher Education
2010 • July • Volume: 1 • Issue: 7
2
Introduction
Managers are aware of the strengths and weaknesses necessary to build teams so that
those skills are supported and complemented. A cursory examination of the required literature
reading (Avolio & Gardner, 2005; Carson, Tesluk, & Marrone, 2007; De Reuver, 2006; Hunt,
Osborn, & Boal, 2009; Mohr & Wolfram, 2008) suggested that there were a variety of topics
concerned with organizational leadership and that character in leadership played a prominent role
in that organizational leadership. Some of the literature suggested that personal power and
influence could have something to do with character in leadership (Heard, 2007; Peterson, 2007).
This paper will analyze and evaluate Jack Welch's leadership style, role, and philosophy,
evaluate the role leadership plays in an organization, and address how Welch might inspire
leadership in the future.
Analysis and Evaluation of Jack Welch's Leadership Style
The literature noted, of the top two dozen professions in the United States, that the
engineering profession was a close second, behind the medical profession, for perceived honesty
in the workplace (Calhoun, 2007). The public's, perceived ethical standards and the simple,
honest character attributed to engineers seemed to have something to do with the way that
engineers have managed their subordinates. Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric,
was asked how he could rectify and align his business and private ethics, since he was a solid
Catholic, and he stated to observers that both sets of ethics, concerning his character, were
exactly the same and that he had no problems making tough business decisions (Calhoun, 2007).
Intuitively, a cursory evaluation of the analysis above that tied ethics, and their use, to the
leadership characteristic of character, would seem to be obvious. Jack Welch was able to take
over the leadership GE, when the company was in the doldrums, and he used his leadership skills
