Jack Welch on the Role of a Manager

With Jack Welch visiting campus today here at Bryant University, I thought that I would share one of my favorite Welch quotes:

I see my job as a manager today so much clearer.  I see it as walking around with a can of fertilizer in one hand and a jug of water in the other.  Think of the employee population as a garden, and you are pouring the water and the fertilizer on.  You want the flowers to grow.  Some will grow.  Some you will have to cut out.  But your job is to constantly pour the water and the fertilizer, and give everyone a chance to flourish.

Welch shared this particular story in an interview with Harvard Business School Professor Chris Bartlett in 1999.