I READ IT SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

I Read It So You Don’t Have To: Former GE CEO’s New Memoir

In ‘Hot Seat,’ Jeff Immelt gives his version of the iconic American conglomerate’s downfall

Kaushik Viswanath
Marker
Published in
6 min readMar 15, 2021

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Photo Illustration: Save As/Medium

I Read It So You Don’t Have To is a new series that gives you the TL;DR on a new business book you want to read — but don’t have time to.

What did I read?

Jeff Immelt’s new memoir, Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company, published last month.

So who’s Jeff Immelt?

Immelt, once considered a human embodiment of corporate innovation, was the ninth CEO and chairman of General Electric, the American conglomerate better known as GE, from 2001 to 2017. Having served as a manager in GE’s plastics, appliances, and health care divisions through the ’80s and ’90s, he eventually won a succession battle to take over the reins from Jack Welch, GE’s legendary CEO for two decades. Immelt describes himself in the book as “not a genius and not lucky.”

Give me the 30-second sell.

After being subject to endless criticism in the wake of stepping down in 2017, Immelt tries to set the record straight. While his predecessor, Welch…

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Kaushik Viswanath
Marker

Previously: Creators & Marker @Medium and business books at Penguin Random House.