Jeffrey Immelt (center), president of General Electric Corporation, attends a press conference in New York.
Erik Freeland | Corbis Historical | Getty Images
Jeff Immelt told CNBC on Monday that the perception of his time as CEO of General Electric was unfair and incomplete.
“I am not at all happy with the story that has been created,” Immelt said in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber.
“I don’t think it’s complete. I don’t think it’s been fair. And I think it hurt a lot of people,” Immelt said, explaining why he wrote a book about his tenure as the leader of the industrial giant.
Immelt’s book, “Hot Seat”, will be published Tuesday. The publisher describes the book as a “questioning of himself and his tenure,” describing “his proudest moments and his greatest mistakes.”
“All leadership is crisis leadership. And I think this team, me, has to some extent been through a lot together that others can learn from,” he said. “I wanted to share that too.”
When Immelt took over from GE from then-CEO Jack Welch in 2001, the stock turned around as the dot-com bubble of the 1990s burst and also brought the broader stock market down. Immelt navigated GE through the aftermath of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the 2008 financial crisis.
Immelt came under fire from critics for poor leadership decisions as CEO, which put GE in trouble. When Immelt went out in 2017, he defended the company’s practice of having an empty business jet follow its corporate jet on several trips around the world.
John Flannery, who is looking for Immelt, was subsequently kicked out of the top job after just 14 months. Flannery was replaced on October 1, 2018 by Larry Culp, who had been a GE board member since April. Culp was CEO of Danaher from 2000 to 2014.
Culp is on a turnaround at GE.