Jack and Suzy Welch will share more insights into the real-life MBA on Tuesday, April 28 at their Chicago Ideas Conversation.
Photo credit: Ben Baker

During Jack Welch’s 20-year tenure at GE, the company’s stock increased over 4,000%. Today, alongside his wife, former Harvard Business Review editor Suzy Welch, Jack is sharing the practical advice behind his business success with their latest book The Real-Life MBA. In an e-mail conersation, we talked to Jack and Suzy about their “no-BS guide to competing, team-building and getting ahead in business today.”

You can catch Jack and Suzy Welch, and hear more tips to earning your own real-life MBA, on Tuesday, April 28 at their Chicago Ideas Conversation.

Your book is titled The Real-Life MBA. How would you define a “real-life” MBA? What distinguishes the advice you provide in your book from the traditional MBA?

The real-life part of our MBA is how practical it is—more connected, we believe, to the real work people do every day, and less theoretical than the traditional MBA you received on a leafy campus. We don’t claim our book is a replacement for the traditional MBA, but it can do a lot for people who already have one or don’t have the time or resources to go back to school. It’s in every way about learning today and applying that learning tomorrow.

What are the biggest challenges managers face today? How have those challenges changed since you (Jack) took over as Chairman and CEO of GE in 1981?

The new economy is faster, vastly more digital, more global, less predictable and has more government interventions than ever.

One aspect of leadership your book addresses is the modern-day, fast-moving corporate crisis. How should executives address and put out those types of fires?

With candor, transparency and speed. If you’ve made a mistake, own it and start to fix it. There is no point in trying to cover up a crisis; there’s never been a reason to, but the world of social media has made it impossible. But the best tact in terms of crises is to build credibility and goodwill in every medium every day.

Address the young businessperson, someone who is just starting to climb the corporate ladder. What primary advice do you have for this individual?

First, over deliver. Do more than is asked, and expected. Second, exude positive energy. Be someone people want to hang with. And third, be curious and never stop learning.

Follow Jack Welch (@jack_welch) and Suzy Welch (@SuzyWelch) on Twitter and Instagram (@jack_and_suzy).

Q&As are edited for clarity and length.