Jeffrey Immelt (center), CEO 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 was unfair and incomplete.
“I’m completely unhappy about the story that was created,” Immelt said in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber.
“I do not think it was complete. I do not think it was fair. And I think it hurt a lot of people,” Immelt said as he explained why he wrote a book about his tenure as the industrial giant. has.
Immelt’s book, “Hot Seat”, will be published on Tuesday. The publisher describes the book as an “interrogation of himself and his term of office, setting out ‘his proudest moments and his biggest mistakes’.
“All leadership is crisis leadership. And I think to some extent this team, I, have gone through a lot together that others can learn from,” he said. “I wanted to share it too.”
When Immelt took over from former CEO Jack Welch at GE in 2001, the stock was already turning around as the dot-com bubble of the 1990s burst, lowering the broader stock market as well. Immelt led GE through the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis.
Immelt has come under fire from critics due to poor leadership decisions as CEO that have capped GE cash. Immelt was on his way out the door in 2017 and defended the company’s practice of letting an empty business jet follow its corporate plane on several trips around the world.
John Flannery, who watches Immelt, was fired after only 14 months. Flannery was replaced on October 1, 2018 by Larry Culp, who has been a GE board member since April. Culp was previously CEO of Danaher from 2000 to 2014.
Culp is in the midst of a turnaround at GE.