To make it clear this was indeed about growth and development, and not an iteration of the previous rank-and-yank performance reviews (after which the bottom 10 percent of GE’s performers were ousted—in theory—every year), we stipulated that everyone would have at least one value that was rated red (as in a red stoplight: “Stop, this needs work”)—and one that was rated green (as in “Keep going; this is good”). The message: growing a company, as well as growing leadership, was a work in progress, and each one of us needed to evolve.
