Bill Lane’s book intertwines successful business presentations with snapshots of General Electric CEO Jack Welch.
Bill acknowledges that this book is not an attempt to tell the same stories that Jack Welch has already told in his own books. Rather it aims to show how Bill’s own area of expertise, business communication, was honored and used to help Jack wake up the sleeping giant General Electric and set it on the path to becoming one of the highest rated companies in the US. USA
Bill began his life by re-gutting a soldier to save his life while serving in the Pentagon. By a stroke of luck, his boss found an advertisement there for a job in the private sector that looked like it would suit Bill. And the company was General Electric, just before Jack Welch took over as CEO.
In the introduction to Jacked Up, Bill says of his 20 years working for Jack: “I saw a funny, inspiring and crazy side of Jack.”
During Bill’s tenure as Jack Welch’s speechwriter and, in due course, also Director of Executive Communications at GE, he had the opportunity to see firsthand how Jack Welch operated, how he functioned, and understood how Jack truly believed in a set of core values. that were deeply embedded in the heart of GE.
Bill is a great storyteller and this book keeps him interesting. He’s interested in hearing how Jack, Bill, and GE go from huge, expensive “vision” presentations to “Don’t do what I did, do this instead” presentations.
There are many introductory clues woven throughout the stories Bill tells. I suspect that some of them may seem very rude. For example, Bill suggests interrupting a presentation rehearsal with your comments at any time. In fact, he goes further and suggests interrupting any presentation that you have not looked at how you can help the viewer.
It also makes the valid point that bright, bright we are the best and this is how you should do it to make it amazing. You need to add one or two of the wells it fell into. Because, as we all know, the road to success has some little holes to trip the cautious or unsuspecting!
And all the time that Bill explains how GE communications worked and how he introduced himself at GE’s personnel school in Crotonville, he also gives us his insight into Jack Welch.
I have to say that Bill obviously holds Jack in high regard and the stories he tells indicate that Jack’s main concern was that GE should be a great company to work for. He also notes that presenting to the GE people could make or break a career. The same is true outside of GE.
If you have a career in a large company like GE, you should read this book. Because even if you are a big shot or a shooting star, there are some examples in this book that you should read to make sure you don’t get cold or your star fades away. Because once that happens, you are just one step away from the door.
Throughout the book, Master Communicator Bill Lane urges us to rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse. And not just in front of the mirror, he suggests looking for a few colleagues, someone from the administrator, and other random “victims,” including a known cynic. That way, you’ll get feedback on whether your presentation is a good sleeping pill or a wake-up call.
One of the suggestions that I try to take seriously is to edit, cut and trim material that is boring, slightly interesting, or just interesting to some of your friends.
Bill also offers a lot of advice on how to run group presentations, and one that I was excited about was the chapter titled “The Piercing Test. Are You Relevant?”
Bill asks if the proposed topic for one of the group presentations is boring, or is it likely to be boring for the people who will attend. If so, please don’t hand it over!
Finally, Bill describes Jack’s departure, followed by his own, with a cute package a few months later.
I found that although this book was educating me, it was actually keeping me reading, like a good story. Kind of like Bill’s point: be a storyteller. I am convinced that this book can help any student of presentations.
