This story is part of the Behind the Desk series where CNBC Make It personally connects with successful business leaders to find out everything from how they got to where they are to what makes them get out of bed in the morning to their daily routine.
Jeff Immelt admits his 16-year career as CEO at General Electric was “controversial” at best after he left the legendary company in 2017 and drowned in debt with crumbling stock value.
But instead of paying his pension of more than $ 200 million and keeping it low, Immelt wrote a book. “Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company,” available Tuesday, describes its failures in running GE.
“I want to think about it,” said Immelt, who now teaches at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. “I don’t want to hide.”
In 2001, Immelt, who previously held leadership positions at GE for 19 years, was selected to succeed Jack Welch, one of the most famous CEOs in US history. Under Welch, GE’s market value rose from $ 14 billion to more than $ 410 billion.
Immelt’s run was not that fruitful.
He took over on September 7, 2001, four days before 9/11. The impact of the terrorist attacks has battered several GE companies, causing its stock to drop by 20%, Immelt writes in “Hot Seat.” Seven years later, the 2008 financial crisis hit GE’s financial services division, GE Capital, which was about to collapse.
During Immelt’s tenure, GE’s stock fell about 30%, losing more than $ 150 billion in market value, prompting many analysts, investors and even co-CEOs. blame for Immelt’s wrongdoing. The year after his departure, GE was dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In December, GE agreed to pay $ 200 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading investors and disclosure failures of its power and insurance business from 2015 to 2017.
“I know there will be more criticism with the book as we relive it,” says Immelt. But “I really like the company. I really like the people, and I really feel there is a different context to paint around GE.”
Here Immelt talks with CNBC Make It about his biggest mistakes, how he copes with extreme stress, and whether money and power really make you happier.
On whether he would do it all again with GE: ‘The good days are really good’
I think the answer is yes. The good days are really good and the things we have been able to do and work on, like globalize the business or launch products or develop people, are extremely rewarding.
And the bad stuff really stinks.
What I’m trying to tell entrepreneurs or MBA students [who I work with] is that without a few bad days you never appreciate the good days. I have a unique take on appreciating good days after going through some bad ones.
It was an honor to lead, and I always will feel it.
General Electric executives Jack Welch and Jeffrey Immelt attend a press conference in New York City. The conference announced that Immelt has been named president and chairman-elect of GE, succeeding Welch.
mark peterson | Corbis Historical | Getty Images
On dealing with extreme stress: ‘I went home at 7 p.m. and went to bed’
Go to bed at night and don’t worry about the things you can’t control. Just do your best. People need to learn how to judge themselves for progress, not perfection. Perfection is impossible these days.
You also have to take care of yourself. You cannot drink too much. You cannot do things that affect your judgment.
During the financial crisis, when I was not working, I went home and went to bed. Some nights it was at 2am and some nights at 7pm I went home at 7pm and went to bed because you never knew when you would get the next amount of sleep.
About his biggest mistakes: I should have viewed the company ‘more holistically’
Very early on after 9/11, I should have seen it much more long-term and holistically [GE], and did it from a cautious standpoint.
The choice I made at the time was to grow GE Capital while we repaired the industrial range of companies. By the time 2007 and 2008 [and the financial crisis] came by, that didn’t look very smart. There was just so much momentum around GE at the time that it would have been a daunting task.
But what I’m telling young leaders is that they need to look at your business for a very long time. Don’t do it every day. I think history might have looked different if I had.
About finding support: ‘Everyone likes you when you’re on top’
My family and close friends have helped me for the past three years and for the past 20 years.
Everyone likes you when you’re at the top, but you need a few people who really like you when you’re at the bottom because almost everyone ends up there at some point.
The fact that I had close friendships and had a wonderful wife and daughter helped me get through.
About buying money from happiness: I was ‘so happy’ as a GE plastics seller
When I was a … [GE] plastic salesman in 1982, I was so happy. I was happy when I ran the medical world [GE Medical Systems from 1996 to 2000]
I think people should be performance driven and have a vision for themselves and what they want to do that is meaningful to them as well as others. That is luck for me, and money is involved.
I didn’t get the chance to spend as much time with my daughter as I would like. But what makes up for it is that she had to do a lot of fun things. I would be insincere if I didn’t say there were benefits [to money], but I’ve always wondered about simple things.
When I was CEO I went to Walmart to shop to see how our lighting products were on the shelves. I would call [former Walmart CEO] Lee Scott or [current Walmart CEO] Doug McMillian and say, “This is what I saw today.” I have never lost sight of the fact that that is what I enjoy most about my job.