Jack Welch

When the possibility of human cloning was first broached a couple of years ago, the world debated on who we would like cloned to benefit us all.

Let's take an obvious example, Jack Welch, the legendary CEO who transformed General Electric from a sleeping giant into a non-sleeping giant. He was one of those leaders people wanted cloned because of his management prowess.

During Jack Welch's twenty years as the leader of General Electric, he became one of the best-known business leaders in the world. He made GE more profitable and more valuable by making its management structure less complicated and by focusing on the businesses where the company was most efficient. Some of his methods attracted a lot of criticism.

Welch retired from General Electric in 2001. His memoir, Jack: Straight from the Gut, which was one of many books Welch wrote over his career, became a best-seller as executives looked to his words of advice.

At the time of jack Welch's retirement, GE was the most valuable company in the world. Financial analysts estimated it was worth $490 billion. When Welch took over the company two decades earlier, the value was $14 billion.