His moves include:

--Encouraging the recruitment of outsiders, inside of relying exclusively on home grown talent, to give the company fresh blood. One example is Vice-Chairman Sir William Castell, CEO of recently acquired Amersham, now President and CEO of GE Healthcare.

--Inside of the practice of moving the best managers around to different spots, encouraging managers to become experts in their business.

--A $100 million renovation of the company's research center in Niskayuna, New York; expansion of research centers in Bangalore, Shanghai, and Munich.

--Getting out of slow-growing, low margin “cash generators” like appliances in favor of more promising growth industries such as bioscience and wind power.

--Inside of tying executive compensation exclusively to better bottom line results, linking bonuses to the ability to generate new ideas, cash growth, revenue growth, and increased customer satisfaction.

For a leader like Jeff Immelt and a company with the size and the track record of GE’s, the only way to insure continued success is to undertake such an overhaul. The strategy of small, incremental moves around the edges is actually the most risky alternative for large companies like GE.