The Fast Company Interview: Jeff Immelt

Your father, Joe, spent 38 years working for GE Aircraft Engines. You once said that you always knew when your dad had a good or bad boss at GE, because you saw the difference it made in your family. How so?

I always tell our leaders that they're GE to the people in this company. When I would sit around the kitchen table with my dad, I never knew who the CEO of GE was. I knew my dad's boss. And this has a tremendous impact on the 300,000 people in this company. I say my job isn't to manage 300,000 people. It's to manage you. If you have the values, the ambition, if you're able to create excellence, this is going to be a great company. The 300,000 people may see my face in an annual report, or they may go home one night and see me on CNBC, but that is too abstract in a company of our size. We've got to bring our company to life in the faces of the people sitting around a table. This is a company where we want people to make a difference. We want them to be proud of where they work.

But when your dad had a bad boss, did he behave differently at home?

Yeah. He came home in a bad mood, uncertain about the future. And when he had a good boss, he was pumped. The frontline folks are critical to how the company does.

So how do you get those people pumped?

People want to win. And if people think they've been given the capability to win and are with winners, that's how you get people in the game. People who want to build things and like who they work with will stay with us. We lose people who just want to make a lot of money, or just want to be powerful. They tend to be successful at other places. But if you like building stuff, and you like who you work with, this is a pretty energizing place to work.

It was said in the hallways of GE when you were named CEO that if there was any concern, it was that you trusted people too much.

I'm less trusting than you think I am, and Jack is more trusting than people think he is. So I would say we're in the same street. We may be on opposite curbs. Look, I was never a dupe. But I also want to believe the best in terms of what people can do. And if you want to make a growth culture, you've got to have a way to nurture people and not make them fight so goddamn hard to get any idea through the door.

What parts of your ordinary life have you had to give up for this job? Do you ever get to watch The West Wing or ER?

You have to have different ways to interact with the world. What I'll do is get a bunch of tapes of TV shows and watch them when I fly. I still protect working out every day. I get up at 5:30 in the morning, work out for an hour at home, doing the treadmill, the stair stepper, and the elliptical trainer. I flip between CNBC, Imus, and ESPN during the hour of cardiovascular. At least half the nights, maybe 60%, I'm away from home. Probably the one thing I've tried to hold on to is a relationship with my family, particularly my daughter, Sarah. When I got the job, she was a freshman in high school. She's graduating this year and going to Boston College. As best we could, we gave her a fairly normal life. Beyond that, there's nothing that is normal. You're on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I'm thinking about the company all that time. My wife and I are great friends, so it's something that both of us have adjusted to. But there is nothing typical. It's constantly about being on.

Is there a certain time at night you try to get to sleep?

When I'm at home, I'm usually asleep by 10:00 or 10:30. If I put my head down at your feet right now, I'd be asleep in 30 seconds. I can sleep anywhere, anyplace, anytime.

What do you try to read in a day?

I typically read The Wall Street Journal, from the center section out. I'll read down the middle and pick what I want to read. Then I'll go to the Financial Times and scan the FT Index and the second section. I'll read the New York Times business page and throw the rest away. I look at USA Today, the sports section first, business page second, and life third. I'll turn to Page Six of the New York Post and then a little bit on business. And I probably get 40 journals a week. I'll read everything from Fast Company and Business Week to Aviation Week, Chemical Week, and Modern Healthcare. I take them with me when I travel.

Do you ever go to a supermarket or walk into a Wal-Mart?

Yeah. Yeah. I do it for two reasons. One is I like the freedom of it. I like having a life as best I can, but I also go to see how the lighting section is shelved, particularly Wal-Mart's. There is one in Norwalk and one in Wilton, and I'll hit both those, and occasionally on the road, I'll go to a Wal-Mart as well. I savor as much normalcy as I can get.