The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 11 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Immelt: Listening to everyone creates as much trouble as not listening
“They teach them, like, listen to everybody. Everybody's right, you know, and if you listen to everybody, things are going to be great. That's not true, right? What's true is you can get as much trouble by listening, also in the same way trouble by listening to…”
Immelt: Vet potential board members by picturing them on your worst day
“I always say to the CEO when they're bringing in board people, don't picture them today. Picture them on the worst day. Picture them, you've missed a quarter, an activist shows up, the technology doesn't work, your best person left. Picture how your board's go…”
Immelt: Good board members transfer their credibility to CEOs in crisis
“You want a board that is able to transfer their credibility, whether there is an investor or as an operator, to the leader, to the CEO, in the very worst day. And that's what a good board member should be able to do.”
Immelt: Everyone lies about having thick skin; nobody actually does
“The other pieces I say is this is something that people, everybody lies about. Everybody lies and says, I've got thick skin. Nobody has thick skin. Sorry, nobody has thick skin.”
Immelt says most wealthy people are not self-made and had a head start
“There's so many people that think they were self-made, but most rich people started with a big head start. On everybody else, and they need to remember that.”
Immelt: Legacy companies struggle when innovation requires cultural transformation
“Things that really required not just a new idea, but also a new culture at the same time, are really hard for legacy companies.”
Immelt: Incumbents hold massive advantages over startups through existing distribution and use cases
“What legacy companies don't realize is they have the keys to the kingdom and that you own the use case really, which is, you know, like I sit with startups and they're saying, you know, I want to add 10 salespeople. And I say, you know, guys, really back in th…”
Immelt: In a crisis, leaders must be fear absorbers, not accelerators
“Really when you're in the middle of a crisis, I think the first thing is you want people that absorb fear. So you want people that don't become fear accelerators. They become fear absorbers.”
Immelt: You only see true character at five minutes to midnight
“You never know anything about anybody in a good day. You can only sense them, like, at five minutes to midnight. That's when you see what's the character, the person around you. You never can see it when the sun's up.”
Jeff Immelt: Leaders should expect corporate loyalty, not personal devotion
“Like to me, trust is not loyalty. People confuse trust and loyalty. I never expected people to be loyal to me. I expected them to be loyal to the company, right? To be loyal, put the company first.”
Immelt: Startup founders are only allowed to fear losing product-market fit
“In other words, if you're starting a company, you're really only allowed to be afraid of one thing, product market fit. That's it. We can help fill in the people. We can help fill in, you know, the funding. We can help fill in all those other things. But be af…”