Bill Ruh, CEO of GE Digital; and SVP and CDO of General Electric

Episode Overview

• Bill’s perspective on the digital transformation taking place in the industrial sector and how this transformation will eventually impact all sectors.
• The challenges of executing a digital transformation, and Bill’s thoughts on the critical “soft” elements, such as culture, leadership, and talent.
• Bill’s advice on how to blend talent by bringing new people into work with existing employees as opposed to less effective approaches such as not bringing people from the outside at all or segregating new employees.
• A rundown of the digital reporting structure at GE, where Chief Digital Officers report to the CEOs of their business, as well as to Bill.
• An overview of the roles and responsibilities of the three programs created for digital:  GE for GE, GE for installed base customers, and GE for the industrial world.
• The importance of realizing that change must be reflected by the entire organization and that it is something that cannot be done overnight.
• An emphasis on how digital is able to drive greater productivity and efficiency while giving clear outcomes that companies can show to their customers, something GE always starts.

Bill is the Chief Executive Officer of GE Digital, as well as the Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of General Electric, a 126 year-old industrial conglomerate with revenues exceeding $120 billion. At GE, Bill has been responsible for leading a massive digital transformation by bringing in new employees, reprogramming the existing employees, and bringing in Chief Digital Officers from the outside.

Before joining General Electric, Bill served as the Vice President at CISCO. Prior to working at CISCO, Bill was the Senior Vice President at Software AG. Bill has also held executive management positions at The Advisory Board, The MITRE Corporation, and Concept 5 Technologies.

Bill received both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Computer Science from California State University, Fullerton.

Bill serves on the Board of Directors of Magna International Inc.

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