In my lifetime, I’ve read a great many speeches by CEO/Chairpersons, given to annual shareholders meetings and printed in Annual Reports. They are generally tedious and overly rosy.  But recently I read GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt’s talk to GE’s annual meeting on April 27. It was exceptional, with a strong message for innovators.  

Summarized in one word: RESET!

reset-button

In Immelt’s own words:

I believe we are going through more than a cycle. The global economy, and capitalism, will be “reset” in several important ways.

• The interaction between government and business will change forever. In a reset economy, the government will be a regulator; and also an industry policy champion, a financier, and a key partner.
•  The financial industry will radically restructure. There will be less leverage, fewer competitors, and a fundamental repricing of risk. It will remain an important industry, just different.
•  There are other resets as well: the diminished role of the automotive industry; a prolonged downturn in housing; a decline in the prominence of alternative investments; and the nature of executive responsibility and compensation. You get the point. 

Successful companies won’t just “hunker down”; they will seek out the new opportunities in a reset world.
 
The ‘reset’ button initiates a restart. This is exactly what is happening in global markets. It is a source of enormous opportunities.

Have you pressed your own reset button? If not, why not? If you did — what happened? What emerged?