GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt told nearly 5,000 Navy midshipmen, faculty and staff last night at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, that he is optimistic about America’s future and that winning requires that we work harder, work smarter and work together. Immelt said that there was “only one economic path for the future. We need growth; the kind of growth that creates jobs.” That growth will come from “regaining our love for competition.”
Competing and Winning Around the World
“I’m an American. I run an American company,” said Immelt, “but I also know that in order for GE to be successful in the coming years, we need open markets. I’ve got to sell my products in every corner of the world.” He noted that for most of his career, the U.S. consumer was the engine for global growth. But that has changed, as more than 1 billion consumers will join the middle class in emerging markets over the next decade. “To win, we have to get out there and seize the opportunity,” Immelt said.
For example, GE’s exports have nearly tripled over the last ten years, from $7 billion to $20 billion. He pointed out that “GE runs a trade surplus to China” and that competing globally also means hiring here at home. Job creation, said Immelt, is not a “zero sum game.”
“We have a gas turbine plant that employs 3,000 people in South Carolina,” Immelt told his audience. “This year, all of the turbines they build will be sold outside of the United States.”
Immelt emphasized that winning globally requires fully committing to education, innovation and technology, harnessing what Thomas Edison described in 1915 as the “natural inventive genius of Americans.” He said that “the United States did not become an economic powerhouse by accident or luck. Instead, it was the byproduct of our innovative companies and entrepreneurs. Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.”
Applying Innovation to Solving the Big Problems
Immelt called on the midshipmen to tackle with gusto “the three great challenges for your generation: healthcare, energy and infrastructure.” He said that that determined spirit of taking on the big problems drove GE, just last month, to announce a $1 billion R&D effort over the next five years to develop new cancer solutions and has helped make GE the world’s clean energy company. He noted that competitiveness of America’s infrastructure ranks 16th in the world and that, “there is probably not a single thing we could do to create more near-term jobs and increase long-term productivity and competitiveness than invest in our infrastructure.”
Leadership and Unity
Immelt stressed that business and government–and all of us as Americans–must find a way to work together if we are to compete and win around the world and solve the biggest problems. Noting that we’re celebrating the Reagan centennial, he praised President Reagan for being both “tough-minded and hopeful,” and also “willing to work with his detractors.” That approach, said Immelt, should also be a model of leadership in the 21st century, which “is about building bigger and diverse teams; teams that accomplish tough missions with a culture of respect.”
Thanking the midshipmen for their service “the choice you’ve made to lead” Immelt concluded with an optimistic call to the Brigade: “Let’s do it. Let’s build confidence. And let’s put that natural inventive genius of Americans to work. And let’s win.”
