"Shun the incremental, and look for the quantum leap."
We have to realize when Welch made this statement, he was the leader of the largest company in the world. Even now the foundation he laid makes the General Electric (GE) number two or number three in the world, depending on how oil is doing with PetroChina (PTR). Exxon Mobile (XOM) is way ahead of them both.
The reason I say this, is incremental to me is ok, as long as you're working on the right thing. From Welch's way of looking at things, he was looking to make and keep GE as the No. 1 company in the world, so he looked at things from a different perspective.
Even so, there is a place for looking for quantum leaps, even in small companies. But the key there is making sure there is a great training program in place to help workers make a transition to a big step forward. Many companies have made big leaps and end up crashing and burning because workers weren't able to service customers along with the big leap forward.
One thing being incremental in outlook does, is allow competitors to catch us after some time. While we can be working on the right thing, there is only so far we can take it before there isn't much more room for improvement that makes sense to the consumer.
It's at that point we need to think of quantum leaps and big steps. That's where we need to recreate or disrupt the category we serve. There's a time when improvement with a product or service is no longer relevant because it's no longer the right thing to be offering.
Those that discover this first, and respond accordingly, will be the first to market with a new product or service, and will take the lead from competitors. From there we can again make incremental improvements for a time, and then look to disrupt the market again.
Developing this habit makes our competitors respond to us, rather than us always following their lead and copying what they do.
Other Jack Welch Resources:
Jack Welch's advice to MIT Sloan students
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