The above quote was from 2009 for the Financial Times, 8 years after he retired from a 20-year stint of growing GE shareholder value to the highest in the world - meeting or beating forecasters’ expectations 46 out of 48 straight quarters.
As this Forbes article points out , the difference between managing expectations and managing business outcomes (via products and services) has big impacts on the company, its employees and society. Stock-based compensation, versus real market metrics, changed the narrative on why business exists, confusing many in the process.
Good idea or a dumb idea, it is not the role of business.
Innovate
Most overused buzzword in today's business lexicon? Officially defined as a new idea, device or method. Almost impossible not to hear it at least once in every session at major conferences. Business can innovate. It can be innovative. It can drive new innovations.
But these activities are not in and of themselves the role of the business. They are how business improves its processes for producing, selling or adding value. A Wired article cites skills and behaviours to become more innovative, which are more useful than trumpeting an empty slogan.
- Conceptual thinking
- Curiosity
- Reflection
- Collaboration, among other
(See: GIFT Executive Education for more on the above)
