In his letter in General Electric’s 2000 annual report, Jack Welch sorted managers into four types by two questions. Do they share the company’s values? Do they make the numbers? A manager who does both: “sky’s the limit!” A manager who shares the values but misses the numbers gets “typically, another chance, or two.”
Welch called the fourth type “the toughest call of all: the manager who doesn’t share the values, but delivers the numbers.” GE removed them, because they “have the power, by themselves, to destroy the open, informal, trust-based culture.”