Ending 'era of meanness'

Lots of chatter this morning about the comments of GE CEO Jeff Immelt - specifically, that the U.S. is at the end of a generation when greed drove leaders and "rewards became perverted." From Reuters:

"We are at the end of a difficult generation of business leadership, and maybe leadership in general. Tough-mindedness, a good trait, was replaced by meanness and greed, both terrible traits," the head of the largest U.S. conglomerate said in prepared remarks to be delivered at the U.S. Military Academy. "Rewards became perverted. The richest people made the most mistakes with the least accountability," Immelt said. "In too many situations, leaders divided us instead of bringing us together."

This goes quite a bit further than the usual lukewarm mea culpas we've been hearing from top CEOs. Immelt says that the last 18 months have taught him to be a better listener (too bad he didn't find religion a lot sooner).

"In the peak of the financial crisis, it seemed like the world was going to end every weekend," Immelt said. "I am sure that my board and investors frequently wondered what in the heck I was doing. I had to act without perfect knowledge; I had to act faster than my ability to communicate or explain my actions. I could do this because we had built trust. And we kept GE safe because we moved fast."