Imagine It Forward summary

By 1998, Comstock’s media career was flourishing. Now 38 years of age, she was vice president of NBC News and had helped transform the network into a major media player.

But once again, risk and change came knocking when the CEO of GE – the famous Jack Welch – asked her to join his company as vice president of corporate communications. She readily accepted, not knowing that this would be her toughest assignment yet.

When frightening situations occur, we often want to hunker down and take comfort in what’s safe and familiar. But believe it or not, these times of stress and adversity can also be hidden opportunities to try something new.

On September 11th, 2001, Comstock was preparing for another ordinary day at GE. But then the first plane hit the World Trade Center – suddenly, the whole of America, including GE, was thrown into a state of crisis.

In the early 2000s, traditional television networks around the globe found themselves competing with a strange new player in the media world – cats playing the piano. New digital platforms such as YouTube and MySpace were suddenly vying for consumers’ attention. Traditional media networks would have to change to survive. But, as Comstock found out, there would be no change without conflict.

To ensure GE’s television network, NBC, moved with the times, the company assigned Comstock to be NBC’s new head of digital. Her job was to oversee GE’s investment in new digital content for its media network. Unfortunately, some of her colleagues weren’t happy about this new allocation of resources – and they weren’t afraid to show it.

Change, as we all know, is inevitable. But in the modern economy, with its constant stream of new technologies, start-ups and disruptions to traditional industries, change comes ever more rapidly. Economists have even coined an acronym for it: VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.

Unfortunately, during her tenure at GE, Comstock has witnessed the company having to learn about this uncertainty the hard way.

The mantra of the digital age is openness. In today’s economy, open and easy access to information and ideas has brought about a radical change in the way the world does business. Old hierarchies have been replaced by networks, and centralized business bureaucracies have given way to new platforms that are shared and decentralized. So where does GE fit into this brave new world of information sharing and openness?

From 2007, GE saw how profitable this new generation of digital companies, such as Facebook, Amazon and Google, were becoming. Soon, GE’s top executives began to want a piece of this new digital pie for themselves. But the question was, would they be capable of the change needed to get it?