General Electric’s CEO shuffle: Assessing the road to this point – and its digital future

Less than a month after becoming chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) last year, John Flannery wrote a LinkedIn missive outlining the company’s future strategy. In short, it was full steam ahead for digital. “We have fully embraced the digital industrial transformation, and we believe in its potential to change the world,” Flannery wrote. “For our customers, digital is bringing new levels of innovation and productivity – and they are seeing real, tangible outcomes. This is happening in each of our businesses. Now, we are taking these outcomes and transferring what we have learned directly to our customers.” However quickly this knowledge transfer was taking place, it wasn’t quick enough. GE announced earlier today that H. Lawrence Culp Jr. would take over as chairman and CEO immediately following a unanimous vote from the board of directors.