The cruelest system in the world is when they give people 3 percent to 4 percent increases to keep them even with inflation. They carry them along, don’t give them appraisals, don’t tell them what they are doing wrong, how they can improve and then, a recession comes.
Then, they call them in and say, “Hey, you gotta go.” That is the cruellest form of management.
We tell the bottom 10 percent, “Look. You’ve got a year. Find yourself somewhere to go.” And they do. They’ve got good credentials, they go out and they launch into a new career instead of always being tarred as the bottom 10. Don’t think of this as cruel. Think of telling people where they stand as one of your main obligations as a leader.
Jack Welch – born John Francis Welch jr., legendary American manager: General Electric (1935-2020), Fortune 1999: Manager of the Century