Leadership & the Autonomous Enterprise: A Conversation with Former GE CEO Jeff Immelt | Imagine 2026
What does it take to lead an enterprise through crisis, technological disruption, and immense uncertainty? Former GE CEO Jeffย ...
Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Ge Aerospace
Search every verified Jeffrey Immelt interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote โ each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Jeffrey Immelt, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric, participated in two public events in May 2026. At the Imagine 2026 conference on May 19, Immelt discussed leadership during technological disruption and the adoption of AI. He stated that an "AI winter" is inevitable, where people may say "it doesn't work" or that too much money has been spent, and emphasized the importance of perseverance through such crises. Immelt also said that AI will differentiate performance between hospitals, banks, and airlines, and that leaders must "exercise new muscles." He advised that tech professionals should not be the ones to explain technology to the public, saying "we should never let tech people talk about tech." On May 1, Immelt appeared as the inaugural Teevens Center Leadership Fellow at Dartmouth College. During the conversation, he said that leadership involves giving people truth and context, and that "there are two magic words to being a leader: blame me." He reflected on his own experience with imposter syndrome, stating he was "not comfortable enough in my own skin to say, I don't know." Immelt also commented on organizational culture, saying "your culture is only as good as the worst person you're willing to tolerate." He praised Dartmouth's current position, calling it "the best house in a bad neighborhood" and a "differentiated opportunity."
“AI is going to make one hospital do better than another. It's going to make one bank do better than another. It's going to make one airline do better than the other. So you've got to exercise new muscles as leaders and as companies.”
“If I were back in my old seat, I'd probably take one of the eight divisions. I would say to the CFO of that division, look, I want you to figure out how to do this with kind of half the resources you have right now, and I'm going to give you $50 million to invest in the in the technology to facilitate it. We're going t...”
“You can basically run uh a big scale insurance company like Nationwide with maybe 80% less what I would call frictional cost. I don't want to pick on people, but just say frictional cost, it's not even close. you know, if you build it from the ground up versus where it is.”
“Leadership is about making bets and being accountable for them. Making bets and being accountable for them so investment is is a core one and then look there's there's just you know we're going to have an AI winter right we're going to have we're going to have the moment where people say, 'Oh, it doesn't work.' Or or w...”
What does it take to lead an enterprise through crisis, technological disruption, and immense uncertainty? Former GE CEO Jeffย ...
What does it take to lead when the path forward is uncertain? In this fireside conversation, Jeff Immelt, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric and the inaugural Teevens Center Leadership Fellow, joins Dr. Duncan Simpson, Director of the Teevens Center for Peak Performance, for a candid discussion on leadership, adaptability, failure, decision-making, and helping people and teams move forward through rapid change. Drawing on his experience leading GE through periods of significant transformation and global disruption, Immelt shares practical lessons on what it means to lead under pressurโฆ
Thereโs no instruction manual for how to be a CEO, and that role has undergone massive change in recent decades. So how do the leaders of great corporations today prepare themselves to make the hard decisions? Jeff Immelt, former CEO of GE and now current instructor at Stanford University, shares some of his top lessons on leading a major corporation in his book, Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company. Jeff joins Greg to reflect on his long career at GE, discussing his sense of belonging and the changing nature of career expectations, especially among today's youth. They dโฆ
What does it really take to lead through complexity, criticism, and change? In this episode of Step Wise, Dr. Foster Mobley sitsย ...
Explore the exciting investment opportunities in Saudi Arabiaโs healthcare sector with Jeff Immelt, Venture Partner at NEA. Find out at GHE as Jeff Immelt shares the mindset that drives real change. Book a stand: https://globalhealthexpo.info/youtube... Register your interest: https://globalhealthexpo.info/youtube...
Grounds but in this case I don't know that an introduction is necessary uh everyone knows Jeff immelt uh 35 years at GE namedย ...
Not so long ago, G.E. was the most valuable company in the world, a conglomerate that included everything from light bulbs and jet engines to financial services and The Apprentice. Now itโs selling off body parts to survive. What does the C.E.O. who presided over the decline have to say for himself? This episode was originally published February 17, 2021. For a full transcript, resources, and more, visit: https://freak.ws/3W2bW4v Photo credit: Audrey Bernstein FOLLOW FREAKONOMICS RADIO: YouTube: https://freak.ws/3yIl6dl Apple Podcasts: https://freak.ws/3yAvQh0 Spotify: https://freak.ws/3Tsdโฆ
When it comes to leading through hard economic times, Jeff Immelt knows a thing or two about crisis leadership. In a fireside chat on the first day of Venture Atlanta 2022, moderator Vanessa Larco of New Enterprise Associates spoke with Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of GE from 2001 to 2017. Based on his decades of experience, Immelt offered up some lessons in leadership for founders and investors who may be panicking in the midst of a potential economic downturn. You can check out the full Venture Atlanta 2022 conference recap here: https://www.ventureatlanta.org/ventur...
This weekโs guest is Jeff Immelt, former CEO of General Electric and current venture partner at New Enterprise Associates. Jeff will be speaking at the University of Montana on September 27th as part of the Baucus Centerโs Stockman Bank Speaker Series. He was kind enough to join Justin for a conversation in advance of his visit. Justin and Jeff speak about shocks and crises and a course at Stanford Jeff teaches called Systems Leadership. As a teacher, Jeff reflects on the importance of mental health in student populations and how heโs noticed students today are more place restrictive when theโฆ
Jeff Immelt is an American business executive currently working as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates. He previously served as the CEO of General Electric from 2001 to 2017, and the CEO of GE's Medical Systems division from 1997 to 2000. Jeff Immelt has stayed with G.E. since the year 1982, following his graduation from Harvard with a Masterโs degree in Business Administration. Following his retirement from G.E, Jeff now works on various non-profit projects, including the Robin Hood Foundation, which is devoted to addressing poverty issues within New York City. In this episode oโฆ
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