A Review of "Addresses of Young and Swope" |
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Published June 24 2021
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These are selected verbal and written communications from Owen D. Young to his customers, employees, shareholders, and industry peers from 1920 to 1929. The main focus of this review is on Owen Young's ideas and ideals. So, who were Owen D. Young and Gerard Swope?
Here is the setting that brought them into power at G.E.
“Corporations have no souls, but they are well equipped with nerves, and on May 16, 1922, those of the General Electric Company were quivering like the strings of Paderewski’s piano. … General Electric was getting a new chief executive for the first time in its thirty-year history, and a stranger to most of its men. They fretted impotently, worrying about what he might do to them and their jobs. …
“A dozen of the fifteen distinguished bankers and businessmen who composed the Board of Directors were concerned less with nerves than figures. These showed that their business had shrunk almost half in less than two years. … The man they elected president, Gerard Swope, … was virtually unknown to the public, but he had a reputation in the electrical industry itself for knowing more about it than any man on earth. …
“The new chairman of the Board who had been elected with him, was Owen D. Young. “One of us will be the captain and the other navigator,” was the way Young put it. … [within the walls of the] General Electric offices it was said that he [Owen D. Young] was “Mr. Outside” and Swope “Mr. Inside.”
Here is the setting that brought them into power at G.E.
“Corporations have no souls, but they are well equipped with nerves, and on May 16, 1922, those of the General Electric Company were quivering like the strings of Paderewski’s piano. … General Electric was getting a new chief executive for the first time in its thirty-year history, and a stranger to most of its men. They fretted impotently, worrying about what he might do to them and their jobs. …
“A dozen of the fifteen distinguished bankers and businessmen who composed the Board of Directors were concerned less with nerves than figures. These showed that their business had shrunk almost half in less than two years. … The man they elected president, Gerard Swope, … was virtually unknown to the public, but he had a reputation in the electrical industry itself for knowing more about it than any man on earth. …
“The new chairman of the Board who had been elected with him, was Owen D. Young. “One of us will be the captain and the other navigator,” was the way Young put it. … [within the walls of the] General Electric offices it was said that he [Owen D. Young] was “Mr. Outside” and Swope “Mr. Inside.”
David Loth, Swope of G.E.
Owen D. Young was the man who worked outside General Electric.
A Review of Owen D. Young's Thoughts from "Selected Addresses"
- This Author’s Thoughts and Perceptions
- Selected Quotes Gerard Swope
This Author's Thoughts and Perceptions
Owen Young as CEO of General Electric in 1922
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This book of speeches is captivating. It takes time and dedication (or a good speech writer which I have found no evidence of in the case of these executives) for a chief executive to put together the type of detailed addresses found in this book. It displays a commitment to communication and dedication to spreading their ideas and ideals within their corporations.
Thomas J. Watson Sr. published a similar collection of his speeches and writings to his customers, employees, shareholders and business peers which were consolidated into two books: Men-Minutes-Money and Human Relations. These three executives knew each other, worked with each other in various degrees and believed not only in management by wandering around but staying in constant touch with their stakeholders. |
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Compared to the options chief executives have at their disposal today, this collection of speeches was the only way to write their commitments in stone for their stakeholders. It is one level of commitment to give a speech, it is much deeper level of commitment—and accountability—to have it delivered to your audience in writing.
As an old Latin proverb goes, “Verba volant, scripta manent” which means “spoken words fly away, written words remain.” These were executives who meant what they said and said what they meant. Their words remain to inspire a new generation of chief executives. These are some of the words of Owen D. Young |
Gerard Swope as President of General Electric in 1922
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The Words of Owen D. Young in Selected Addresses
We have modern day examples of 21st Century business leaders who tried to cut their way to prosperity. For example, Louis V. Gerstner in his first two years released more than 80,000 people at IBM (30% of the total worldwide full-time workforce) and took an $8 billion charge in one year to cover the first half of those cuts.
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In 1936, Owen D. Young repeatedly told his fellow businessmen that their industry must not merely pay a living wage but a “cultural” wage. He then chided them saying, “Organized business has been quick to take the advantage of group action but has been slow to assume group responsibilities.”
It appears that one of the first times Mr. Young put forth the concept of the cultural wage is captured in this book in a speech he delivered before his industry peers at the National Electric Light Association Convention in 1926. He said that a cultural wage was needed because “no man is free until want is removed from his door and until his intellect may be developed to take advantage of all the opportunities which may be available and are guaranteed to him in a free country.” He believed that it was his industry that could make such a standard of living possible by making “human beings directors instead of generators of power.” This country and its laborers owe much to these beliefs of both Owen D. Young and Gerard Swope. |
Owen D. Young, Watson Sr. and IBM
Owen D. Young and Watson Sr. both served at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Owen D. Young served as a Class B Director from 1923 to 1927 and a Class C Director from 1927 through 1940. Watson Sr. served with Mr. Young as a Class B Director from 1933 through 1940. During this time, Mr. Young was first the Deputy Chairman (1927–1938) and then Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank (1938–1940).
Owen D. Young—General Electric’s “Mr. Outside”— probably knew Tom Watson on a working-for-humanity basis, better than most, as they served together over their lifetimes on several, varied organizations. During the Great Depression, they worked together on the Share the Work Movement and Citizens Family Welfare Committee. During World War II, they worked together on the Citizen’s Committee for the Army and Navy, and the Russian War Relief fund. They served together several times raising funds for the Cathedral of St. John in New York City. [See Footnote #1]
Mr. Young spoke at the Society of the Genesee event in 1934 and said of Tom Watson:
"This country boy whom you honor tonight is typical of many, and more successful than most. He has attacked the problems of life, and still attacks them, with verve, with persistence, with patience, with humor, with seriousness, undaunted and unafraid. … [he is] beloved by them who know him, respected by all, devoted to the public welfare, a gentleman not of the old school or the new, but one who can qualify in both."
Swope, Young, and Watson were cited in 1935 by the Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Ernest G. Draper, as examples of “statesmanship in industry.”
This book with selected excerpts from Swope and Young (and two similar books by Thomas J. Watson Sr.) are windows into our economic past and show the nature of three chief executives who put mankind and country before themselves.
For those who care to read them, their written words remain--scripta manent.
Cheers,
- Pete
Mr. Young spoke at the Society of the Genesee event in 1934 and said of Tom Watson:
"This country boy whom you honor tonight is typical of many, and more successful than most. He has attacked the problems of life, and still attacks them, with verve, with persistence, with patience, with humor, with seriousness, undaunted and unafraid. … [he is] beloved by them who know him, respected by all, devoted to the public welfare, a gentleman not of the old school or the new, but one who can qualify in both."
Swope, Young, and Watson were cited in 1935 by the Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Ernest G. Draper, as examples of “statesmanship in industry.”
This book with selected excerpts from Swope and Young (and two similar books by Thomas J. Watson Sr.) are windows into our economic past and show the nature of three chief executives who put mankind and country before themselves.
For those who care to read them, their written words remain--scripta manent.
Cheers,
- Pete
[Footnote #1] The author has only completed the preliminary research in this area. There may be more financial, economic and political intersections between these men.