My latest read: “Jack: Straight from the Gut” by Jack Welch. I wanted to read this one for some time. Somehow my previous boss (an MBA) instilled this belief in me that books by great management experts is worth reading and he gave some recommendations – this is one of them. But over time, I have developed some distaste for self-help kind of books which advertises “10 ways to make your wife happy”, “How to become popular” etc and the likes of “Chicken Soup for the soul” (I think they must have got a kick from the success they got for their first editions, so they started giving these soup bowls for Teenage soul, Couple’s soul, Mother’s soul, Daughter’s soul etc – you can find soups for any soul now). This one has a tag line which says “For every man and women who wants to succeed in 21st century” or something like that. Just because of that line, I would have dropped this book, but I saw that line only after borrowing it from a friend.

To tell you the truth, he is really an amazing man – it is not like you take a lottery coupon and next day you are chairman of GE. It takes lot of grit, intelligence, courage, passion and all that good stuff. So maybe there are some things which I can learn.

There is something he professes though out the book – ability to take tough decisions, be it people or business. I got fascinated by this term “Superficial Congeniality”; by being soft with people when you need to be brutally honest, you are doing injustice to yourself as well as the other person.

Once upon a time, I use to think that I can never be a manager type, I am too techie for that. I still harbor that thought some times, but maybe I can bring myself to terms with being in management stream and be good at it. Or maybe all this is “Quarter-life crisis” (a chain mail) which is talking about the confusion of twenty-something.

Funny side of it: I was telling my wife over lunch that this guy is great, but maybe he didn’t do good in his personal life because he divorced his wife after 28 years because they could not adjust with his workaholic nature. That is the downside of becoming a CEO. She promptly said that I can look for something peaceful after making enough money to sustain ourselves for some years.
“So you don’t want me to become a CEO? Any wife would want her husband to succeed.”
.......she was silent for some time and then replied
“Come to think of it, it is okay even if you become the CEO.”