We’re less than a month away from the release of Jack and Suzy Welch‘s newest work, The Real Life MBA:  Your No-BS Guide to Winning the Game, Building a Team, and Growing Your Career (Harper Business, 2015).   It is a certain best-seller, and pre-orders for the book are rocking the online outlets. Considering their personal backgrounds, perhaps you join me in being perplexed that even before its release, the book ranks #11 in the Amazon.com best-selling list in Business Ethics.

“Say what?”  If you don’t know the story, here is a brief account.  Suffice it to say that much more detail is available to you through the Internet.  Jack’s second wife, Jane Beasley, found out about an affair between Suzy Wetlaufer and Welch.  At the time, Suzy was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review.  Beasley delivered this information to the publication, and Wetlaufer was forced to resign in early 2002 after admitting to having been involved in an affair with Welch while preparing an interview with him for HBR.  Personal and professional ethics?   This did not turn out too badly for Beasley.  While Welch had crafted a prenupital agreement, she had insisted on a ten-year time limit for its enforceability, and therefore, left the marriage with around $180 million of Welch’s money.  That interview was never published.  Suzy and Jack married in 2004.

This is not their first co-authored book.  Randy Mayeux presented their first one, Winning (Harper Business, 2005) at the First Friday Book Synopsis.  It reached # 1 on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal business best-selling lists.   We did not present their next co-authored work, Winning:  The Answers:  Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions in Business Today (Harper Business, 2006).

They both have another single-authored book.  Randy presented a synopsis of Jack: Straight from the Gut (Business Plus, 2003).  In 2010, Suzy wrote 10-10-10:  A Fast and Powerful Way to Get Unstuck in Love, at Work, and with Your Family (Scribner).  Randy gave that synopsis to several of our Creative Communication Network clients.  I remember that audiences we delivered that synopsis to were not exactly thrilled at the quality of information transferred.  In fact, at the Fort Worth Club, our event planner remarked that she wished she would have selected another book.  Maybe her reputation backfired on that one.  Of course, she didn’t write that one way to get unstuck is to have an affair with a famous married man.  It certainly worked for her.

Note that both of these authors are very competent and successful.  History will likely write Jack as the most successful CEO in American history.  His style and substance led General Electric to a fast and furious climb to the top of elite and powerful businesses.  All the labels, such as “Neutron Jack,” are applicable.  His decisions were profound and effective.  And, he believed in lifelong learning and professional development, even teaching courses on-site at the GE Learning Center.  Many CEO’s don’t even know their company has a learning center, let alone take the time to go teach in it.  Suzy’s role at one of the most prestigious business publications gave her strong credibility, as did her work experience at Bain.

Considering their reputation, most likely, this one will also fly to the top.  It is not out of the question that you might hear a synopsis of this at our event.  In fact, many of our regular attendees may push us very hard to present it.  It will be exciting to see what the sub-topics will be from the Table of Contents.  Only time will tell whether this one is heavier on style than substance.  The title alone is appealing.

But, ethics?  Is this really the best resource?