Jeffrey Immelt (center), executive of General Electric Corporation, attends a press conference in New York.
Erik Freeland | Corbis Historical | Getty Images
Jeff Immelt told CNBC on Monday that the perception of his time as CEO of General Electric has been unfair and incomplete.
“I’m completely unhappy with the narrative that’s been created,” Immelt said in an interview with David Faber of CNBC.
“I don’t think it was complete. I don’t think it was fair. And I think it hurt a lot of people,” Immelt said, explaining why he wrote a book about his tenure leading the industrial giant.
Immelt’s book, “Hot Seat,” is scheduled for release Tuesday. The editor describes the book as an “interrogation of himself and his tenure,” detailing “his proudest moments and his great mistakes.”
“All leadership is leadership in crisis. And I think to some extent, this team, me, went through a lot of things together, from which others can learn,” he said. “I wanted to share that too.”
When Immelt took over at GE in 2001 from then-CEO Jack Welch, stocks were already spinning as the dot-com bubble burst as of the 1990s and caused the wider stock market to go down as well. Immelt sailed for GE after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis.
Immelt was attacked by critics for his poor leadership decisions as CEO that left GE in opposition. When he walked out the door in 2017, Immelt found himself defending the company’s practice of having an empty business plane follow its corporate plane on several trips around the world.
John Flannery, who is looking for Immelt, was fired from his first job after just 14 months. Flannery was replaced on October 1, 2018 by Larry Culp, who had been a member of GE’s board of directors since April. Culp was previously CEO of Danaher from 2000 to 2014.
Culp is in the midst of implementing a change to GE.