Despite being jacked up by none other than Jack Welch, there is a very slim chance indeed of anyone taking more than a passing note of Bill Lane?s take on what made GE one of the fast-growing, glib-talking companies during Welch?s time. This is for the simple reason that when there are half a dozen books on the stands already on the man, why would anyone want a sixth or perhaps a seventh interpretation of the wisdom in Welch?s words? Of course, this time it is demystified by his ?speechwriter of 20 years? as the publisher describes Lane on the cover.
Technically, the process is called ripping. After getting catapulted into a position that virtually made Lane Welch?s chief mouthpiece at GE, when he confesses to taking home a seven figure salary, this comes across as a kiss and tell tale. It is not so much for Lane?s vicariously doled out insights on corporate communication, as for the arrogant tone that he adopts, which, as we know could also be a rip-off from Welch.
Thus the book comes packed with all the smart, Welch-ian expletives. Even the chapter heads sound corny ? Torched by an A-hole, Reflections of a Pimp, Death of a Pitchman ? all part of the packaging, to make Lane?s writing mimic Welch?s voice as closely as possible, if, the book were to make any impact at all.
Take for instance the speech that Lane makes at his own retirement party. This is soon after he gets the boot when Jeff Immelt is brought into the picture to take Welch?s place at GE. Despite Lane?s elaborate attempts at polishing and fine-tuning his five-minute script into something that ?Jack would be proud off,? it comes across in the book as trite and blunt; just as Jack?s attempts at public speaking are. In that sense, the book is true to form.
The only issue is that this sort of highhandedness in both speech and writing would be easy to excuse in a man who would later claim to have converted GE into a high-speed ?cigarette boat? (whatever that expression means), but not in his speechwriter, who in his bluntness and rugged writing ends up sounding phony and contrived.
That said, the pace of the book is racy, if saucy, but enough said of that already. The reader in all ?humility? (What?s that, Lane?) must also appreciate the fly on the wall account of how ?Welch talked GE into becoming the world?s greatest company? that only Lane, as an author could have provided.
But if you are looking for something more deep and insightful; say, a blue print for external and internal communication that you might like to see in practice at your organisation, you?d be better off looking for it some place else, perhaps in Welch?s next book with Suzy.
As for why Lane had to write this book, he is candid for once when he signs off with a sentence, addressed straight to his mentor: ?Jack, you have to understand vanity.? This tome is about vanity. The truth dawns in the end. It?s not about communication strategy ? Welch?s or Lane?s. Period.