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Nelson Peltz calls GE’s Larry Culp ‘the No. 1 industrial CEO on the planet’ after stock outperformed Apple and Google last year

Alan Murray, Nicholas Gordon
·2-min read

Good morning.

Quick quiz: Who’s the CEO of GE? For decades, you would have been laughed out of business school for failing that one. But today…not so much. That’s partly because the iconic company is a shadow of what it once was—falling from the most valuable company in America to No. 52 on the Fortune 500 list. It’s also because the current CEO, unlike his predecessors, doesn’t care whether you know his name or not. Larry Culp is low key, press shy, and talks a lot about humility. But for the first time in a quarter century, he is also making money for his owners. Last year, he provided shareholders a gain of 96%—outperforming Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

How does he do it? Fortune’s Shawn Tully takes a deep dive in a story you should read this morning here. It has a lot to do with “lean” manufacturing, also known as “kaizen.” Culp used the Japanese management system to outperform in his previous job, as CEO of Danaher, and now he’s killing it at GE. Says investor Nelson Peltz: “He’s the No. 1 industrial CEO on the planet. There is no No. 2.”

And since it’s Friday, some feedback:

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B.C. correctly noted that the CEOs at our Davos dinner, whom I quoted on Monday, didn’t mention climate when talking about the top risk of 2024. That’s true and may reflect their view that climate change is a longer-run issue.

R.P. and M.H. beat me up from opposite sides on my Wednesday post that looked at the business implications of the 2024 election. R.P. said “it can be easily argued that the current government is socialistic,” while M.H. complained there is “only one party and candidate openly proclaiming dictatorial powers on Day One.”

And D.M. sent a nice tribute to our new magazine, which is fronted by a haunting picture of a unicorpse: “That’s a brilliant, iconic cover.”

Have a great weekend. On Monday, CEO Daily will have a treat for you: a new addition to our growing stable of contributors, Diane Brady, writing on her first day as executive director of Fortune Live Media. I’ll be skiing in Colorado.

More news below.


Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com