World Business Forum 2013-Jack Welch

Last Tuesday, I had the opportunity to attend the World Business Forum live stream in Kingston, and found it to be incredibly inspiring. Above all the other speakers, Mr. Jack Welch's insights stuck out in my mind.

The first thing that grabbed my attention about his speech was his focus on generosity. He said that although a leader must possess energy, edge, execution, and passion, having a mentality of generosity ("the generosity gene") was the most important factor of successful leadership. He went on to add that being selfish always gets you stuck. This may not happen right away, but down the road, it always catches up with you.

The second thing that I found absolutely gripping about his talk was his focus on values. Mr. Welch recommends that every company pick 6 values and define them, then implement them. This is necessary because it is important to let people know where they stand (in terms of values), so that they may improve. He closed off this part of his speech with the phrase "doing well allows you to do good."-which I believe resonated strongly with many people, thinking of how important altruism is to such a successful businessman.

In the Q & A period, Jack then went on to discuss the Millennials (or Generation Y), and how we can be reached in the business world. He gave four prominent points on the topic. In order to truly connect with our generation, we must be given a purpose, an exciting workplace, a role model(s), and we must be praised when we do well (if not overpraised). From this part of the talk, my favourite quote was "see who is doing things better than you are and run with them." meaning that there is always something you can learn from other people.

The entire Jack Welch talk was gripping and profound, however there was one quote near the end that struck me the most, and that I will leave you with today. He said, "As a leader, you only grow through the reflective glory of those under you." It was something I had never thought of before, and once again, showed this highly respected man's passion for marrying altruism with business.

I feel very fortunate that I was able to take part in the WBF 2013. I gleaned a lot from it-especially from Jack Welch-that I will apply going forward in my career, and in my life.