I can find the quote, but not the source!

October 3, 2011 5:43 AM

I'm trying to find a copy of Jack Welch's General Electric 1992 Letter to Shareowners that included the phrase, "speed, simplicity, and self-confidence."

I have the article from the 1980s in the Harvard Business Review, but I need the actual letter to the shareowners. The SEC only goes back to 1994, and GE's archives only go back to 2000. I see references to this letter everywhere, but not the letter itself. Can anyone help?

posted by xingcat to Work & Money (3 answers total)

Best answer: if you have access to a university library a data provider like Thomson One will have SEC filings as scanned hard copies dating back to the mid 80's at least. I suspect the letter would be in the 10-K or maybe the Proxy.

That's really your best option. You could probably get a hard copy of those documents from the SEC as well, but that might cost you a few dollars.
posted by JPD at 6:55 AM on October 3, 2011

Best answer: I work at GE, and I asked an HR person about this. He said your best bet is the a public or university library. Failing that, you might try contacting the Jack Welch Management Institute at Chancellor University in Ohio, or the John F. Welch College of Business at Sacred Heart University.
posted by magstheaxe at 8:52 AM on October 3, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks! It appears that university libraries do have these. I wonder why it's not readily available online?
posted by xingcat at 12:00 PM on October 5, 2011