Jeffrey R. Immelt
Jeffrey R. Immelt
Jeffrey Robert "Jeff" Immeltis an American business executive. He is currently the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the U.S.-based conglomerate General Electric. He was selected as GE's CEO by their Board of Directors in 2000 to replace Jack Welch upon Welch's retirement from GE. Previously, Immelt had headed up GE's Medical Systems divisionas its President and CEO...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth19 February 1956
CountryUnited States of America
Business leaders should provide expertise in service of our country. My predecessors at GE have done so, as have leaders of many other great American companies.
GE sells more than 96 percent of its products to the private sector, where America's future must be built. But government can help business invest in our shared future.
You can't delegate growth or customer satisfaction.
Surviving a failure gives you more self-confidence. Failures are great learning tools.. but they must be kept to a minimum.
In business as in life, sometimes bad things happen to good people, and sometimes good things happen to bad people. But over time, if you play long enough, everybody gets what he deserves.. good and bad.
I do business in 170 countries; none of them is perfect. There is not even one country that I think of, and I am like, 'God, that did everything that I wanted it to do.'
I'm a complete globalist. I think like a global CEO. But I'm an American. I run an American company. But in order for GE to be successful in the coming years, I've gotta sell my products in every corner of the world.
Enron and 9/11 marked the end of an era of individual freedom and the beginning of personal responsibility.
Is France a completely open market to G.E.? No, of course not. I think we're more discerning about China because it's China, and they're big, and they're more concerning. But the best global companies are ones that are nuanced.
The one thing that people don't get about GE is that, to the people who work here, it's not a company. It's not just a job. You feel like you're part of a 120-year-old ever-growing, ever-improving family.
As one of America's largest exporters, GE remains committed to producing more products in the United States, which is our home and largest market.
President Obama has asked me to chair his new President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
I'd be lying if I didn't say there were days when I went back and said, 'I wish I'd done this. I should have done that. I handled this the wrong way.' But it's always in the motivation of getting better. I've never once looked in the mirror and said, 'Oh boy, can't do this one.'
Many bought into the idea that America could go from a technology-based, export-oriented powerhouse to a services-led, consumption-based economy - and somehow still expect to prosper. That idea was flat wrong. Our economy tilted instead toward the quicker profits of financial services.