What You Can Learn From Jack Welch’s Success
Successful people don’t complain about problems; they try to solve them.
The steps to becoming a success are quite laid out for all to see. There are common traits to every successful person. They act whenever they can get even when they don’t feel too great. Failure is not a deterrent to them because they quickly rise when they fall and try again. They choose to get along with whatever needs to be done, and they stick to it.
This message was evident during a recent video session with Jack Welch who was then head of General Electric. During that session, one of the executives complained that the new work out program introduced by Welch wasn’t working. The executive complained that he didn’t have time to see his family with his 90 hour work weeks.
It was surprising to hear Welch say to the executive coldly, “That’s your fault.” Welch went on to explain that anybody who couldn’t find time for the important things in life outside of work should do something about it. Change the scope of your work or find something else to do. It’s no use complaining to everybody about it.
You have to make a choice and take control of your own life. You can’t dictate what life throws at you, but you can certainly take control of your reactions to these things. This is what successful people do. They do not blame others for anything. Blaming others for these things is an indication of mediocrity, and even though it comes naturally to us to that, we must do better.
Human beings are social animals. When we fail at things, it can get us kicked out of a group, so we naturally find others to blame and make up excuses to absolve ourselves from blame. We are also naturally lean towards a group that is high performing and high achieving so ironically when things go wrong we dissociate through blame and when things do go well, we associate ourselves to the winning group. The people who have found true success do not shy away from their failures and accept only victories. They accept both.
You have a choice to make. These decisions can be tough, and it takes courage to stick with things, but ultimately it is left to you to decide if you want to be great or mediocre.