Geoff Immelt of GE’s comments on leadership in his speech at West Point made the headlines this week but it was the following remark that made the media sit up.

“ I think we are at the end of a difficult generation of business leadership, and maybe leadership in general. Tough-mindedness, a good trait – was replaced by meanness and greed – both terrible traits. Rewards became perverted. The richest people made the most mistakes with the least accountability. In too many situations, leaders divided us instead of bringing us together. As a result, the bottom 25% of the American population is poorer than they were 25 years ago. That is just wrong.”

Some clearly did not like this remark, but there is some truth in it although the last sentence is a bit of a politically charged generalisation.  Was it co-incidence or cynicism that led the FT to note immediately under this quote that “GE wants to win a large slice of the infrastructure projects funded by governments around the world in an effort to kick-start their economies.”?

Geoff Immelt’s speech was called “Renewing American Leadership” and it is a pity other parts were not better covered by the media.  GE is well known in the business world for its leadership development and Mr. Immelt gave a five point list of leadership traits that he himself wanted to improve upon, and they are no doubt qualities that he sees as key to good leadership; they are extracted from the speech below:

“First, we have to be better listeners. This sounds simple … but are we really listening? Do we really engage with people who have different opinions; are we ready and willing to accept critical inputs? …..

Second, leaders must become systems thinkers who are comfortable with ambiguity …..

Third, leaders must build competency and move with speed. …..

Fourth, leaders must motivate with vision, but win through execution. …..

Last, leaders must like and respect people. ….”  Full text of Geoff Immelt’s speech at West Point

For investors and the financial institutions profitability is about the only leadership quality that is of interest.  Geoff Immelt, like so many CEO’s, will be judged not on the quality of his leadership but on the profits and losses that GE reports.