"I was expecting this halo above him, this deity. It was like talking to your grandfather. You feel comfortable around him. You don't expect him to be so down-to-earth."
This a comment made by a General Electric (GE) employee after sessions, where Welch would sit around, talk, and be the normal guy that he was with everyone in the company.
So why do so many people attack him as something other than this? He wasn't afraid to do the right thing when he had to; specifically downsizing. Whenever there are layoffs there is a lot of pain involved, and the residue of the bitterness can last for years.
If you ever study history, there are followers of people from even hundreds of 
years ago that battle over issues as if they happened yesterday. There's simply no way of avoiding the negative feedback from times when these types of tough decisions have to be made.
But those that worked with and new Welch had a high respect and love for him. They may not of said it in that way, but it was there when you listen to many of those that were thankful for being under his tutelage during the time he was at GE.
This isn't to say that for certain personality types Welch wasn't challenging. But for the vast majority of General Electric workers he was a regular guy, a passionate regular guy, but a regular guy nonetheless.
All the great managers have something like this attributed to them. Many people are always surprised at how regular and ordinary they are as human beings. The general difference is they have a passion for what they're doing, and that passion is expressed in different ways with people.
In the end, people love to work for and with people that are willing to rub shoulders with them and hang out like a regular person. After all, managers are regular people that simply have leadership skills and a title. The secret is that those leadership skills include knowing we're not really any different or better than anybody else.
Other Jack Welch Resources:
Jack Welch's advice to MIT Sloan students
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