Jeffrey Immelt (center), executive at General Electric Corporation, attends a press conference in New York.
Erik Freeland | Corbis Historical | Getty Images
Jeff Immelt told CNBC on Monday that his perception of his time as CEO of General Electric was unfair and incomplete.
“I’m completely unhappy with the narrative that’s been created,” Immelt said in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber.
“I don’t think it was complete. I don’t think it was fair. And I think it hurt a lot of people,” Immelt said, explaining why he wrote a book about his tenure leading the industrial giant.
Immelt’s book, “Hot Seat,” is set to be published on Tuesday. The editor describes the book as an “interrogation of him and his mandate,” detailing “his proudest moments and greatest mistakes.”
“All leadership is leadership in crisis situations. And I think to a certain extent, this team, I, have gone through a lot of things together from which others can learn,” he said. “I wanted to share that too.”
When Immelt took over at GE in 2001 from then-CEO Jack Welch, stocks were already turning as the 1990s dot-com bubble exploded and the broader stock market fell. Immelt sailed on GE in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis.
Immelt was attacked by critics for poor management decisions as CEO, which left GE in trouble. Upon leaving the door in 2017, Immelt found itself defending the company’s practice of having an empty business plane to follow its corporate plane on several trips around the world.
John Flannery, who is looking for Immelt, was then removed from the top position after only 14 months. Flannery was replaced on October 1, 2018, with Larry Culp, who has been a member of GE’s board of directors since April. Culp was previously CEO of Danaher from 2000 to 2014.
The culprit is in the middle of executing a change at GE.