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Lights Out

Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric

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About this listen

 A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER

"If you’re in any kind of leadership role—whether at a company, a non-profit, or somewhere else—there’s a lot you can learn here."—Bill Gates, Gates Notes

How could General Electric—perhaps America’s most iconic corporation—suffer such a swift and sudden fall from grace?

This is the definitive history of General Electric’s epic decline, as told by the two Wall Street Journal reporters who covered its fall.

Since its founding in 1892, GE has been more than just a corporation. For generations, it was job security, a solidly safe investment, and an elite business education for top managers.

GE electrified America, powering everything from lightbulbs to turbines, and became fully integrated into the American societal mindset as few companies ever had. And after two decades of leadership under legendary CEO Jack Welch, GE entered the twenty-first century as America’s most valuable corporation. Yet, fewer than two decades later, the GE of old was gone.

​Lights Out examines how Welch’s handpicked successor, Jeff Immelt, tried to fix flaws in Welch’s profit machine, while stumbling headlong into mistakes of his own. In the end, GE’s traditional win-at-all-costs driven culture seemed to lose its direction, which ultimately caused the company’s decline on both a personal and organizational scale. Lights Out details how one of America’s all-time great companies has been reduced to a cautionary tale for our times.
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All stars
Most relevant
great book, insightful look at a global company and a well read book. kept me on the hook

brilliant insights

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Strikes the perfect balance of telling the 3.5 CEO's of GE over the last 3 decades whilst at the same time detailing some human stories and anecdotes. A really great and informative listen.

Brilliant

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As good an example as you will get of executive kleptocracy, incompetence, board negligence and senior management hubris. Should be a case study in bad management in all business schools.

Hubris and Arrogance

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This book offers some great insights into GE's fall from grace, but it's a bit superficial and one-sided.

Interesting but bit of a hatchet job

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