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 the perception of his time as CEO of General Electric has been unfair and incomplete.
“I’m wholly unhappy about the narrative that has been created,” Immelt said in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber.
“I don’t think it’s been complete. I don’t think it’s been fair. And I think it’s hurt a lot of people,” Immelt said, while explaining why he wrote a book about his tenure leading the industrial giant.
Immelt’s book, “Hot Seat,” is slated to be published Tuesday. The publisher describes the book as an “interrogation of himself and his tenure,” detailing “his proudest moments and his biggest mistakes.”
“All leadership is crisis leadership. And I think to a certain extent, this team, me, went through a lot together that others can learn from,” he said. “I wanted to share that as well.”
When Immelt took over at GE in 2001 from then-CEO Jack Welch, the stock was already turning over, as the dot-com bubble of the 1990s burst and took the broader stock market lower as well. Immelt navigated GE through the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis.
Immelt came under fire by critics for poor leadership decisions as CEO that left GE cash-strapped. On his way out the door in 2017, Immelt found himself defending the company’s practice of having an empty business jet follow his corporate plane on several trips around the world.
John Flannery, who look over for Immelt, was then ousted from the top job after just 14 months. Flannery was replaced Oct. 1, 2018, with Larry Culp, who had been a GE board member since April. Culp previously was CEO of Danaher from 2000 to 2014.
Culp is in the midst of executing a turnaround at GE.
