THE most significant learning experiences usually come when you have a bad boss. In 1981, I took my first management job. I was 27, running a little business at General Electric, about $5 million with 12 employees, and I was having some sort of problem. I called up my boss, asking advice, and he says, "What you're learning is that it's lonely at the top." I said, "What?"

I never called that boss and asked for help again. About three years later, I got his job. He got fired. I said to myself, "When I'm in management or any leadership job, I will never say that to anyone else."

Another moment for me was in 1988, when I became a marketing manager for another G.E. division. I had run a region in the field successfully, but they wanted to bring me to headquarters to do this marketing job. I was not a marketing person.

Paul Van Orden, who was a big marketing guy at the time at G.E., met with me and said, "This is a good guy, but he can't spell marketing." They put me in the job anyway.

My new boss, Dick Stonesifer, during my first meeting with him, said, "Let me see your strategic plan." The long and short of it was, I answered him that the presentation was basically in my brain.

He said to me one of the most insightful things I had ever heard: "How the blank do you expect me to mobilize 3,000 employees if the plan is in your brain?"

I learned that if you are going to be a big-time leader, you have to be able to get things out of your brain and into writing. If it's not written down, it's hard to get people to understand it and they can't commit to it. And if they don't commit to it, you don't get the optimal execution.

I learned about nurturing employees during my time at G.E., from Jack Welch. He was a master at managing from the top down and from the bottom up. He'd go directly to the front-line employee to figure out what was going on. Sometime in the early 1990's, I saw him in a factory where they made refrigerators, in Louisville. I ran the refrigerator business at the time. He went right to the workers on the assembly line to hear what they had to say.

I do frequent C.E.O. chats with front-line employees. I learned that from Jack.

I use this all the time and we've had maybe five fights in 20 years.

I think being exposed early in life to a range of experiences helped me learn and grow.

My dad played football at the University of Wisconsin, where I also graduated. When my dad graduated he was so poor he had to sell his football jersey to pay his bills.

My dad started out at the bottom in sales at Rayovac batteries. I used to travel with him on business trips. He'd take me to sales calls with him. His technique? Learned street smarts.

I was in one meeting with him when I was 12, and there were about 10 to 12 people from a big supermarket chain there. He was having to deal with objections, something regarding Rayovac versus Eveready, and he had such knowledge of all aspects of the business. He taught me to stay focused on the customers. By doing so, he prevailed and ultimately became the national sales manager of the whole company.

As told to Eve Tahmincioglu.