Select a CEO who exemplifies the positive aspects of strategic leadership and discuss

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I believe that former General Electric (GE) CEO Jack Welch is one of the greatest corporate leaders of this century. If leadership is an art, then surely Welch has proved himself a master painter. Jack Welch grew to fame in the business world through his management success and skills during his many years at General Electric. Welch turned the struggling slow moving giant of a company into a dynamic growth company revered by many. During his 20 years of leadership at General Electric (GE) Welch increased the value of the company from $13 billion to several hundred billion. During his 20 year reign of General Electric, one of Americas largest and most well known companies Jack Welch's management skills became almost legendary. His no nonsense leadership style gave him a reputation of being hard, even ruthless, but also fair when making business decisions.

It is a model that has delivered extraordinary growth, increasing the market value of GE from just $12 billion in 1981 to about $280 billion today. No one, not Microsoft's William H. Gates III or Intel's Andrew S. Grove, not Walt Disney's Michael D. Eisner or Berkshire Hathaway's Warren E. Buffet, not even the late Coca-Cola chieftain Roberto C. Goizueta or the late Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton has created more shareholder value than Jack Welch. So giddy are some Wall Street analysts at GE's prospects that they believe that when Welch leaves at the end of the year 2000, GE's stock could trade at $150 to $200 a share, up from $82 now, and the company could be worth $490 billion to $650 billion. ''This guy's legacy will be to create more shareholder value on the face of the planet than ever--forever,'' says Nicholas P. Heymann, a onetime GE auditor who follows the company for Prudential Securities.

Less well understood, however, is how Jack Welch is able to wield ...