CHARLES COFFIN by ThEME

“Most people have never heard of General Electric's first president, Charles Coffin, and that's testimony to his greatness. No CEO finds it easy to take over from a founding entrepreneur; and just imagine what it’s like when the founder holds patents on the electric light, the phonograph, the motion picture, the alkaline battery, and the dissemination of electricity. Coffin knew his job was not to be the next Thomas Edison. Of course Coffin, too, proved a master inventor. His invention was the General Electric Co.

Coffin oversaw two social innovations of huge significance: America's first research laboratory, and the idea of systematic management development.

Edison was a genius with a thousand helpers; Coffin created a system of genius that didn’t depend on him. Unusual for an executive of a fast-growing company in the late 18th and early 19th century, he ruled by consensus and gentle motivation. As the GE biography notes, he called his co-workers ‘associates,’ and made sure they weren’t seen as mere subordinates. He didn’t order them to do something, preferring instead to use his powers of suggestion. Also, he sought suggestions from those around him, then ‘decisively made up his own mind on key questions.’”

—Bill Donaldson