Author William D. Cohan offers a warning to companies great and small as he details the rise and fall of General Electric, one of the most well-known American corporations.
Key Details
- In his book Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon, financial journalist William D. Cohan dives into what made General Electric Company great and what made it fall.
- Once a great source of innovation and invention, GE is now a cautionary tale for all who try to emulate it.
- Though the company once seemed unstoppable, Cohan dives into the cracks in the visage that were always there, forecasting its fall.
- He reveals that legendary CEO Jack Welch admitted to him that hiring Jeff Immelt was a mistake.
Why it’s news
As an icon of American ingenuity and progress, GE once stood as an example of an American ideal. Cohan dives into the image and examines where it all went wrong.
Once, the company founded by Thomas Edison, produced inventions ranging from lightbulbs to jet engines and stood as a company to be admired and emulated.
Cohan uses the story of GE’s fall to take a closer look at American capitalism and how the reader can better understand it.
By examining the foundation, company culture, rapid growth and acquisitions, Cohan dives deep into what made the company successful and what shook its foundation. In the end, Cohan shows that the mistake the behemoth company made were many of the same other fallen corporations fell prey to.
This cautionary tale offers guidance to those looking to emulate the greatness of Edison’s fallen company and how to avoid its mistakes.
Cohan was an investment banker on Wall Street for 17 years before turning to financial journalism. He is a New York Times bestselling author of The Price of Silence, Money and Power, House of Cards, and The Last Tycoons. He has also written Four Friends: Promising Lives Cut Short and Why Wall Street Matters and has frequently written for The New York Times, Bloomberg, Fortune, and more.
Power Failure was published by Portfolio and will be available November 15, 2022.
