CEO SPECIAL............. JEFF IMMELT .....CORE PHILOSOPHY

JEFF IMMELT ....CORE PHILOSOPHY   Jeff Immelt on what it takes to run one of the world's most admired companies  News of GE pursuing the energy assets of Alstom is just out, but Jeff Immelt looks surprisingly zen-like. While Immelt's persona--the 6 feet 4 inch frame, the shock of white hair, the ready smile and the remarkably chilled out disposition may overshadow a will of steel that's required to successfully navigate a $ 146 bn behemoth through the choppy world economy, don't be fooled. This man plays to win. The 59-year-old's leadership skills have been tested to the hilt by a credit crisis and a crippling recession but the successor to the legendary Jack Welch has relentlessly stuck to the task of creating a new GE. Based on the new economic reality and GE's own competitive strengths, Immelt has rejigged the conglomerate's portfolio by getting out of businesses like media, plastics and insurance while investing aggressively in clean energy, water and healthcare. Under Immelt, GE is getting future ready: gunning for leadership in infrastructure, creating a culture of innovation and simplification, focusing on emerging markets and squeezing out efficiency to retain its winning edge. In a freewheeling chat with Corporate Dossier, Immelt discusses the principles around which how he is creating a new GE. Edited excerpts: As someone who manages a lot of CEOs and senior leaders, how do you evaluate talent? The common trait of CEOs and business heads is that they are learners. If you had dinner with Warren Buffett, I guarantee you he is going to ask you more questions than he answers. You have to force the Oracle of Omaha to answer your questions because he is so curious about the world. When I sit in somebody's office, I am always looking for things in their office. They connect them to the lowest point of their organisation, whether it is a mission statement or a picture. If I go to somebody's office, and see say a Ming dynasty vase or French paintings, it turns me off. I like to see people who are in touch with the ground level. They know how work gets done in their company. I run a big company; I couldn't possibly know everything that's happening but after all this time, I know how every job gets done. I have a good sense of how a manufacturing leader leads the plant or what a finance leader does or how a salesman functions. If you work in my office, you would see a big picture of products being made. You will see a jet engine being made, you'll see an MRI scan being used by a doctor. You often say that GE is competitive because it learns and changes. How do you nurture this culture? That's just who we are. We have a culture where people are externally focused, humble and learning. This company is always paranoid about competition, always humble. It's a work-in-progress company and successful people in GE are all learners. They all like to learn new things, new tricks. That's the kind of people we recruit, that's how we train them and that's what we expect. You have exited some businesses and invested in others.What are the principles behind carving out a new GE? A company of our size should always have a theory about the future in terms of what we want to invest in and what big themes to follow. We invest in emerging market consumers. We invest on big energy dislocations, like shale gas. All of our products have sensors and generate data so we invest in analytics. We invest on advanced manu facturing as a way to transform our cost. We always to try to bet on these big themes and we construct our portfolio around them. The media business is a good business. I never looked at NBC as being anything other than a good business but I didn't think of it as a core business. The new GE that we are creating is the world's most competitive infrastructure company. Have the fundamentals of business changed post-2008? The environment's clearly different. You can think about how much of the change is cyclical and how much secular. But we're just in a different generation. I tend to be somebody who thinks the world's different. The perspective that society has on financial services, I can tell you, is extremely different, not just in the US, but in every country I go through around the world. Every big company wants to innovate like a small company. How is GE managing that? I don't want to do that. I have close to 50,000 sales people and almost the same number of engineers. I like that! I think that is a massive competitive advantage. I don't want to go from 50,000 to 8, right? What I admire about small companies is that they only work on what's important. They put the customer first. There's no bullshit, no nonsense. What I'm trying to bring into GE is this notion of less wasted motion, more speed. What's the essence? You know. A small company always works on the essence of what's important. Big companies start working on all kinds of other things. Is the simplification drive also a part of that? It is. That's the title we've given. In management decisions, less is more. The India team will tell you that 95% of all commercial decisions are now made in India for India. Three or four years ago, they had to call New York or Atlanta. We've unplugged all that. Is the reverse innovation experiment still continuing? I am a believer. It's completely going to happen. In healthcare, we have created new products and these products are aligned to the realities of the emerging markets. You are basically going to have the same product everywhere. You are going to reflect what Jet Airways needs just like United Airways. India is going to redefine the modern practices of healthcare globally. It is going to be determined in this country. Is the GE board talking about your successor? Every board always has a plan and the GE board also has a plan. I have never been more passionate about the company than we are right now. For GE, succession is really important but it's not today (laughs). But is it true that instead of 10 years extension, you have asked for a shorter tenure? I think I have a one-day contract. We think long term but the notion that anybody gets handed like 20 years, 15 years to 12 years tenure doesn't hold true. You stay if you can bring the heat, if you are competitive, if you are making a difference. Have you ever asked Jack Welch how he rated your performance as a CEO? It would be unfair. But I don't even really think about it in that context. I really don't.  Global CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Post held since: September 7, 2001. 2013 Revenues: $146 bn Biggest Challenge: Creating a competitive future-ready GE Big belief: Focus on the core Proud moment: Polls regularly choosing GE as America's Most Admired Company and World's Most Admired Company Oops moment: Missing first quarter earnings target in 2008 Outside assignment: Chair of President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness in 2011 CD vinod.mahanta