About Jeffrey Immelt
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."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Jeffrey Immelt's recent appearances.
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✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Jeffrey Immelt0:07
Our prime minister. You've got 30 seconds with him. Our prime minister, our challenge, of course, is getting Canada more focused on Asia and he's our leader. And with your experience, what would you say? What two things should he focus on?
I'd say get your hands dirty on one specific project and drive it to conclusion. And I think that would be good for him. It'd be a good learning experience. You know, because to most people, Asia is a caricature, right? If all you did was read the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and watch CNBC, you know nothing about Asia. Nothing at all. It's not until you're in Shian or Mumbai and you're on a four-hour drive to the airport and you're the power goes out when you're shaving in the morning and you're in Beijing at the NDRC and the Chinese government knows more about your company than you know about your company. That's when you know Asia, right? So, I'd say get your hands dirty on one. And then I just think it would be amazing and I love what he's doing on immigration, all that stuff. But it would be amazing to say, if the prime minister of a place I can't even say we're going to do seven things. Well, let me declare here are the things we're really going to do and we're going to fund universities to do it. We're going to have an investment fund. We're going to... And that's how you move the needle, right? You know, you can't be just like the US but nicer or something like that. It's got to be, you know, we've got complimentary skills in this work. So, I'd get my hands dirty on one deal and then I'd say, you know, software, clean tech, clean minerals, healthcare, a couple other things, aviation in the east. You know, there's some really great opportunities for Canada. I think actually Vancouver has got a great opportunity because Seattle and San Francisco are just too there's just too much fever in those towns. So if you can position yourself as a good overflow, this could be a huge software community, maybe attract some of the Chinese software companies who are amazing, the extent to which they're going to come somewhere in North America, they come here because of comfort. I'd be all over that. I'd be all over that. All the consumer companies in China are really great companies. The consumer internet companies in China are really great companies and they're going to have global ambitions as they should. Canada could be a real hub of healthcare innovation because this is where your national health system actually plays your advantage. You can get things to market. You can test them well. You've got good practitioners here. So the physicians are good. The hospitals are good. I think if you really had a concerted effort there, you could really do that.
