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Enron Mail |
Ken --=20
Investor's Business Daily would like to write a profile of you for their=20 "Leaders & Success" page. The daily feature is a 1200-word profile with a= =20 top executive about their keys to success and how they motivate people. Y= ou=20 are scheduled to do a 45-minute telephone interview with David Saito-Chung,= =20 IBD's markets writer, on Wednesday,=20 Nov. 29 at 1:30 p.m. David said the goal of his story is to not just=20 describe what you have accomplished at Enron, but show how you achieved=20 success. He is looking for specific examples and anecdotes that illustrate= =20 Enron's vision and innovation. =20 David has submitted the following questions in advance of the interview: What did critics say when Enron proposed to create a natural gas trading=20 market? How did you respond to their opinions? Why did you see an opportuni= ty=20 while others didn=01,t? You debated with people at the FERC on how the natural gas market should be= =20 run. You also lobbied the government to change its rules that regulated the= =20 natural gas industry. Was persistence the biggest key to your success in=20 those matters? Tell me about the planning of EnronOnline. Whose idea was it? How did you= =20 initially respond to it? Why do you think EnronOnline has been so successful? How do you view technology? What role has it played in Enron=01,s success?= =20 Some publications have named Enron as having one of the best-quality=20 management teams of any company. Why?=20 How do you build and keep foster a strong managing team? How many people at= =20 Enron have =01&CEO=018 in their official business titles? Why can you compete with major investment banks on Wall Street to get the= =20 brightest business school graduates? How does your company inspire employees to be creative and innovative? Why was Enron the first to create risk management products for the paper=20 products industry and other industries? As additional background, I've also attached the Leaders & Success feature = on=20 GE's Jeffrey Immelt in today's paper. I will come to your office at 1:30= =20 tomorrow to place the call. =20 Thank you. Karen About Leaders & Success We uncover what turned ordinary individuals into extraordinary leaders. The= se=20 motivational profiles reveal the techniques, philosophies and determination= =20 that drive successful people to the top. Learn practical management=20 techniques and methods to move you ahead in your career. These are proven= =20 models of success you won't want to miss.? Leaders & Success Tuesday, November 28, 2000 GE's Jeffrey R. Immelt=20 His Focus On The Customer Boosted Him To The Top=20 By Patrick Seitz Investor's Business Daily Jeffrey R. Immelt, the man chosen to succeed the legendary Jack Welch as=20 chief executive of General Electric Co., knows there's just one person=20 keeping him in business: the customer. And that customer is the person Imme= lt=20 goes all-out to please. Immelt, 44, was plucked from the company's fast-growing GE Medical Systems= =20 business, where he had served as president and chief executive since 1997.= =20 The $7 billion unit, based in Waukesha, Wis., is a world leader in medical= =20 diagnostic technology and information systems. Immelt attributes much of his success to his laserlike focus on sales. "I love working with customers. . . . Sales has really influenced everythin= g=20 I do. It has instilled in me the important traits of operating with a sense= =20 of urgency and listening to people," Immelt said. Immelt on Monday was named president and chairman-elect of GE. He will=20 succeed John F. "Jack" Welch Jr., GE's chairman and CEO, when Welch retires= =20 at the end of 2001. When Immelt landed at GE Medical Systems in 1997, he quickly showed a knack= =20 for squeezing growth from a unit known for sluggish sales. Last year, its= =20 revenue jumped 23% to $6 billion. Customers credit Immelt with going way beyond sales. When Chicago's=20 Northwestern Memorial Hospital expanded its scanning services last year,=20 Immelt spent hours helping to manage its work flow. "That's the kind of collaboration that we find unusual," Northwestern=20 Memorial CEO Gary Mecklenburg told Business Week. Immelt has proven himself both by turning around troubled GE divisions and= =20 extracting better performance from thriving units. Immelt knows how important it is to set the pace, not follow it. To keep GE= =20 Medical flourishing, he's pushed the unit to expand acquisitions and new=20 product offerings. The division's product line ranges from ultrasound devic= es=20 used in doctors' offices to multimillion-dollar CT and MRI scanners. In his earlier work in GE's Plastics division, Immelt stood out by persuadi= ng=20 hard-boiled carmakers to substitute plastics for metal on some parts. As vice president of consumer service for GE's Appliances division, Immelt= =20 deftly handled the fallout from a recall of refrigerator compressors. To ke= ep=20 workers' morale pumped up during the recall, Immelt would often climb up on= a=20 forklift in GE's Louisville, Ky., plant and pass out words of encouragement= =20 and praise. He took time to speak with employees during such sessions,=20 listening carefully to their ideas and concerns. Immelt believes that open, fast communication with workers is crucial. Not = a=20 table-thumper, he meets with employees =01) sometimes hundreds at a time = =01) to=20 discuss where GE Medical is going. Colleagues say he works at=20 consensus-building, urging others to understand different points of view. After returning from corporate meetings, Immelt distills the latest GE=20 thinking on videotape, and copies are sent to offices around the world. Understanding that seeing someone face to face helps foster stronger=20 relationships, Immelt also travels often to meet employees and customers.= =20 Constant contact keeps a company united, Immelt believes. So he updates the= =20 company's employees once a week via e-mail on the latest developments =01) = new=20 business, lost sales opportunities and other nuggets about company=20 initiatives. E-mail is sent in five languages, and at times up to a dozen,= =20 according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Immelt was one of three GE executives who analysts considered possible=20 successors to Welch. Welch, 65, has been at the helm of the Fairfield,=20 Conn.-based finance, industrial and broadcasting powerhouse for the past tw= o=20 decades.=20 "Jeff Immelt is a natural leader, and ideally suited to lead GE for many=20 years," Welch said. "He brings a keen strategic intellect, a cutting-edge= =20 technological background, strong leadership characteristics and a unique se= t=20 of team-building skills." Knowing that preparation is key to long-term success, Immelt has long been= =20 preparing himself, says Charles M. Lillis, a former GE executive who hired= =20 Immelt in 1982. "Starting in high school, (in) everything he did he was a leader," Lillis= =20 told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "He played football. He was a student= =20 leader. He went to Procter & Gamble after college and he did a great job in= =20 sales. He also had the right balance of self-confidence and awareness that = he=20 did not know everything." Immelt has strong marketing skills and helped create the GE slogan, "We bri= ng=20 good things to life," in his first job at GE. Analysts and friends say the 6-foot, 4-inch Immelt possesses not only a=20 commanding physical presence but also the intellectual strength necessary t= o=20 inspire management and workers at GE. Immelt believes that a consistent=20 approach will give the biggest pay off.=20 He's been with GE practically all of his working life, just as his father,= =20 Joseph, before him. His father spent his 38-year career at GE working in th= e=20 Aircraft Engine division in Cincinnati. Immelt has a good sense of humor and the ability to present himself well to= =20 both Wall Street and the average worker, much like Welch. Immelt realizes that humor helps ease conversation, forge bonds and motivat= e=20 people. He saw that as an offensive tackle for Dartmouth College's football= =20 team in the 1970s.=20 Immelt wanted to keep football practice fun to keep his fellow players fire= d=20 up. Immelt came up with gags, including a tongue-in-cheek award for the coa= ch=20 of the week. He liked to loosen up the team with jokes on the sidelines and= =20 in the huddle, according to teammates. Despite the fun and games, his teammates could see Immelt's drive. "When th= e=20 rest of us were feeling our way through college, he took it to the next=20 level," former teammate Curt P. Oberg told Business Week. Immelt studied just as hard as he played. He graduated cum laude with his= =20 B.S. degree in applied mathematics from Dartmouth and an MBA from Harvard= =20 University. He joined GE in 1982 after a short stint with Procter & Gamble Co. as a bra= nd=20 manager. His first job with GE was in corporate marketing. That was followe= d=20 by sales, marketing and management positions in the company's plastics and= =20 appliances divisions. When Immelt took over at GE Medical Systems in 1997, one of his first actio= ns=20 was to oversee an internal management shake-up. "He is an extremely capable executive leader, as evidenced by his record as= =20 CEO of GE Medical Systems," analyst Martin Sankey, vice president of Goldma= n,=20 Sachs & Co. in New York told The Associated Press. "He compiled a strong=20 record of generating growth and moving into new markets." GE Medical Systems has seen profit rise as demand for big-ticket medical=20 imaging and patient-monitoring gear has grown. "Immelt clearly runs the best business at GE-GE Medical," Bill Fiala, an=20 analyst at Edward Jones, told Reuters. "He's taken it international, and he= 's=20 done a fantastic job designing new products and capturing market share." He's a disciple and expert of Six Sigma, the quality movement that has been= =20 made almost a religion at GE. Six Sigma is a complex, highly statistical=20 quality program that Welch wants as his legacy. To make sure he understood the program, Immelt immersed himself in the stud= y=20 of Six Sigma. Relying on his background in mathematics, he worked out=20 probabilities by using solid statistical research. GE's next chief will replace an executive who has become a poster boy for= =20 American-style capitalism. Welch's relentless focus on profit and market=20 share =01) and GE's evolution from basic manufacturing to the service secto= r and=20 technology =01) has been dissected by corporate managers and studied by bus= iness=20 schools. , Investor's Business Daily, Inc. 2000. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or redistribution is prohibited. For reprints, call Scoop Media Services (800)=20
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