125 Years

Thomas Edison would love the times we’re living in. The pace of change… the speed of technology advancement… the disruption of industry. We can only imagine what Edison would invent in our world today.

Edison is GE’s founder, and I know he would be proud of the company we are today. This year, GE turns 125 years old. We remain the only original Dow Jones Industrial Average company. We have endured because we have a determination to shape our own future, we focus every minute of every day on customers, and we have a culture where people take care of each other.

At GE, we say “why not us?” It’s our rallying cry, and these are the cornerstones of our mission.

We innovate. We’re a digital industrial that is at the forefront of a new Industrial Internet revolution. We will see 50 billion things and 9 billion people get connected in a few short years. This transformation is even bigger than the Industrial Revolution – it’s the next wave of industrial productivity. We’ve invested to build out our analytics software, machine learning and additive manufacturing. These disruptive technologies are creating new entitlements for productivity, and they are two of our most important bets for the future.

We take risks. More than two-thirds of all jet engines in the world have GE technology. We are launching more products this decade than the previous 30 years combined. These engines are lighter, faster and 25% more fuel efficient than the products they replace. A foundation of our new engines is a material science innovation called “ceramic matrix composites.” Developing this technology required invention in product and process. It required decades of investment, and because of this, our leadership has grown.

We are solving problems. Ecomagination is GE’s clean energy initiative. It has now been in motion for a dozen years, generating $270 billion in revenue. We are working on 65% combined-cycle gas turbine efficiency; solar inverters that provide the lowest-cost electrical architecture enabled by silicon carbide; and hybrid electric aviation engines, the next performance breakthrough in flight. Advances in clean energy illustrate how an entire industry can be transformed by innovation.

Most problems must be solved on a global basis. We do business in more than 180 countries, and we compete because of our technology. Last week, we announced the biggest power services deal in the history of GE in Algeria. What I have learned over time is that you must always look for ways to bring technology closer to your customers. That’s what we’ve put in place, by establishing local roots. We still see substantial opportunity to grow around the world by investing, operating, and building relationships in the countries where we do business. Because we are a real and regular presence in diverse markets, we are one of the U.S.’s biggest exporters.

In the end, great people make it happen. We recently announced a goal to have 20,000 women in STEM roles at GE by 2020, with 50% representation in our technical entry programs. It’s one of our many STEM programs, designed to prepare students for innovative digital industrial jobs of the future. We announced a Brilliant Learning program to equip our 185,000 supply chain workers with the skills of the future. We know that diversity makes GE more competitive and promotes a performance culture.

We are proud to have earned the #7 ranking on Fortune’s “World’s Most Admired” list, but we won’t stop there. There is a lot more creating for us to do.