Jeffrey Immelt (center), an executive at 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 was unfair and incomplete.
“I am totally unhappy with the narrative that was created,” Immelt said in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber.
“I don’t think it’s complete. I don’t think it’s fair. And I think it hurt a lot of people,” said Immelt, while explaining why he wrote a book about his management at the leadership of the industrial giant.
Immelt’s book “Hot Seat” is scheduled to be published on Tuesday. The editor describes the book as an “interrogation of himself and his management”, detailing “his proudest moments and his biggest mistakes”.
“All leadership is leadership in crisis. And I think that, in a way, this team, I, have gone through many things together that others can learn from, ”he said. “I wanted to share that too.”
When Immelt took over GE in 2001 from then CEO Jack Welch, stocks were already spinning, as the dot-com bubble of the 1990s burst and pushed the broader stock market down as well. Immelt led GE through the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis.
Immelt was criticized for criticism of poor leadership decisions as CEO that left GE penniless. On his departure in 2017, Immelt found himself defending the company’s practice of making an empty business jet follow its corporate plane on several trips around the world.
John Flannery, who takes care of Immelt, was removed from office in just 14 months. Flannery was replaced on October 1, 2018 by Larry Culp, who has been a board member of GE since April. Culp was previously CEO of Danaher from 2000 to 2014.
Culp is in the midst of a recovery at GE.