Jack Welsh, the recently retired CEO of General Electric, presents a rare glimpse into how to build a successful organization in his book, "Straight from the Gut." His honesty and openness is refreshing and reaffirms that success is sometimes built from failure, but more often from calculated planning and the willingness to take risks.

From explaining false kindness to developing a high performing workplace, Welsh demonstrates that good business behavior and high values separate the successful companies from the not so successful ones.

Many business experts such as Noel Tichey cite Welsh for his leadership skills. However, this book transcends leadership and is really about performance for both individuals and organizations. Without fancy performance models, Welsh knew from his gut what individuals needed to continually strive to reach their potential. He shared these simple strategies and how GE translated potential into performance.

When Jack Welsh was asked what business he was in, he simply replied the people business. The greatest resource for any company is their people. However, in todays fast paced global workplace usually the people are the most under utilized resource. For those CEOs, managers, business owners and even educators who wish to improve their outcomes, this book is a must read.