During 21 years as the chief executive of General Electric, Jack Welch handwrote elaborate appraisals of his subordinates, reviewing what they did well-and what they didn't. Then, upon his retirement in 2001, Welch published his memoir, "Jack: Straight From the Gut," which gave the former boss the chance to receive some candid reviews of his own. "When confronted with a topic that might have actually made his memoir interesting, Welch runs in the other direction," wrote The New York Times. The Miami Herald concluded: "This thing might have emerged from the wrong end of the author's alimentary canal." "There were some great ones, too," Welch countered recently, when NEWSWEEK reminded him of those slams. Despite the book's sales-more than 2.7 million copies-Welch's associates say the bad reviews bothered him. He admits his first literary foray left room for improvement. "It didn't go far enough," he says. "It was just one guy's story."
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