Company Blogs

Making Simple Our Mission

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 16:45:38 +0000

Making Simple Our Mission Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/24/2020 - 09:45

Happy new year and a happy new decade to all of you!

I’ve just returned from CES 2020 and am feeling as inspired as ever. This was my third trip and I’ve found that the event never fails to attract both small start-up and large well-established companies who are thinking big and launching incredible new consumer technologies.

As I wrapped up my annual ritual of touring nearly three million square feet of exhibit space featuring more than 4,500 companies, I was overwhelmed with innovation. I witnessed robot dogs, robotic arms that play ping pong better than Forrest Gump, robots that deliver toilet paper and even drones that act as taxis!

I began to reflect on when GE Lighting started assessing a move into the smart home space... Click to read more.

Company Blogs

Great Teams Shine Like Holiday Lights

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:41:23 +0000

Great Teams Shine Like Holiday Lights Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/06/2020 - 09:41

On December 6, 2019, GE Lighting employees, families and friends kicked off the 95th annual holiday light display at our global headquarters. For the first time ever, we used the C by GE smart home mobile app to turn on more than half a million colorful energy-saving LED lights.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about holiday lights. Each year I feel compelled to write about our ceremony as I am continually inspired by this great Cleveland tradition that kicks off a special season.

This time of year, I reflect on how fortunate I am to lead an organization that understands, recognizes and values teamwork. I’m proud to say that every day teams across our business strive for continuous improvement in all we do. It’s our secret sauce.

To use a seasonal analogy, inefficient and ineffective teams are like old strings of traditional holiday lights. If one single bulb didn’t light up on a string, none of the other bulbs on that string could shine. In other words, a group of individuals won’t succeed as a team if a single member isn’t aligned.

Also, multi-color holiday light designs tend to be the ones that leave an impressive lasting effect. Similarly, greater diversity in people and perspectives gives teams a better chance to produce results that wow.

No business can succeed in an environment where expectations around teamwork aren’t communicated and observed. We communicate with great frequency about individual and team behaviors, and expectations, so we can all flourish and deliver the best possible results.

The following four tenants help guide how we work together:

1) Trust and respect. We trust one another and treat each other with the utmost respect regardless of age, race, gender, tenure or job title. Whether it be creating lean operational processes or progressing innovation in the smart home space, we empower and inspire one another.

Read more here.

Company Blogs

Lighting as a Vacation-Ready Tool

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 23:35:50 +0000

Lighting as a Vacation-Ready Tool Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/07/2019 - 17:35

I like to think we still live in a world where neighbors look out for neighbors. With summer vacations on the horizon, it’s nice to have someone nearby to look over the house while you’re away, whether that’s retrieving mail or watering flowers. One thing fewer people are leaving to chance though is securing their home from unwanted guests.

Before the advent of cameras, motion detectors and home security monitoring, leaving the lights on meant a little extra peace of mind. Even before I worked in the lighting industry, we’d always flip the switch on our way out to a vacation. And even in this era of super connectivity, lighting remains one of the most cost effective and easiest ways to turn on a little extra peace of mind. We’ve just gotten smarter about how to really utilize it while we’re away.

1. Scheduling: Smart lighting means before you head out the door, you can create schedules in smart lighting apps for lights to come on and off at different times of the day to mimic how you live when someone is home. You can do this with smart light bulbs or install smart switches to control any type of light bulb you already have at home.

Read more here.

Company Blogs

Betting on Something Bigger this Run for the Roses

Anonymous — Wed, 01 May 2019 23:32:40 +0000

Betting on Something Bigger this Run for the Roses Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/01/2019 - 17:32

We’re rounding to the first Saturday in May. For a person born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, that only means one thing--the Kentucky Derby (Run for the Roses) is coming. This is more than the fastest two minutes in sports. For me, it’s meant a coming together of family and friends, a bit of a history and the inspiring beginnings of big moments for so many hopefuls. This year the Derby stands for all of that and more, as I bet on something a little more personal.

My early love of the Derby is rooted in my mother’s parties with my dad’s BBQ. Once you were invited, you came back year after year, even if you didn’t get an official invite. In my college years, I experienced that raw, frat-like party atmosphere of the infield, which I could only stomach once. Then in my working years, I was given a corporate invite and got to hang out on Millionaire’s Row, gawking at the rich and famous the Derby always draws, with a mint julep and a slice of derby pie in hand.

Read more here.

Company Blogs

LEDs Mean More This Earth Day

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 23:29:13 +0000

LEDs Mean More This Earth Day Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/22/2019 - 17:29

For years, Earth Day has provided a great platform to remind consumers of the energy-saving benefits of LEDs. This Earth Day, those benefits still ring true – LEDs are 70-90 percent more efficient than incandescent light sources, last more than a decade* and save up to $80 over the life of a bulb* -- but now that’s only part of the reason to make the switch.

Every day for the past few months, I’ve walked past budding plants and herbs in our building lobby. I live in Cleveland, so growing plants in February and March isn’t something you see every day. But, Mother Nature has found her way indoors in the form of a thriving vegetable and herb garden, not thanks to sunlight, but thanks to LEDs. Our engineers drew on their deep understanding of the light spectrum to create LEDs that allow plants to reach their full growth indoors, sometimes even faster than the time it’d take under direct sunlight. So in this case, switch to LEDs, get great energy savings AND a year-round herb garden.

Click here to read more.

Company Blogs

March Madness: Business Foul or Huddle Moment

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 22:59:16 +0000

March Madness: Business Foul or Huddle Moment Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/21/2019 - 16:59

The excitement of March Madness is in the air! Mixed with bracket picks and game schedules, around this time every year, I also start seeing stories about the business costs of March Madness in terms of lost hours and distracted employees. While I understand those calculations and how some disciplines may be impacted, I view March Madness with a slightly different business lens.

First, as an assist. I enjoy talking the upsets, the rise of the underdog and those buzzer-beaters with employees. Sports can bind us across all layers and areas of the organization and connect us past the regimen of our day-to-day work. Today we even had our GE Lighting employees take a timeout to build their own brackets and do it with pizza, good comradery and a little friendly competition.

Second, as a playbook. The height of sports reminds me of the parallels between sports and business and the spirit we should apply to our work every day.

To read Bill's top 5 basketball plays for business, click here.

Company Blogs

Accountability—Are You Measuring the Right Things?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 00:02:18 +0000

Accountability—Are You Measuring the Right Things? Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/26/2019 - 17:02

This is just about the time when people start falling off their New Year’s Resolutions. All those who vowed to lose weight this year started with good intentions, made some adjustments and have stepped on a scale every day since, many without seeing results. The ones who have succeeded have meticulously counted inputs that contribute to weight loss – how many calories they are consuming, how much exercise they’re logging, how much sleep they are getting.

In the business world, too many organizations spend time simply measuring the numbers on the scale. To make real progress and truly get things done, we all need to be taking a long, hard, ongoing look at the inputs that contribute to them. By measuring the inputs of your desired goals, you will see potential challenges before they become problems. You will make adjustments earlier in the process that will generate the right activity across other areas.

To read more, click here.

Company Blogs

2019 Lighting Trends & Opportunities

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 00:10:23 +0000

2019 Lighting Trends & Opportunities Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/25/2019 - 17:10

GE Lighting started with the light bulb, an invention that fulfilled the basic human desire to see and experience more of the world. Today, light still delivers on that promise. But, it does so much more.

Our teams are excited about that potential in 2019—a year that is more than reinventing the light bulb, but reinventing the productivity, wellness and security that comes with it.

Illumination will always be at the heart of our purpose, but today we’re imagining lighting that also drives new outcomes…all delivered in a way that is as simple as screwing in a light bulb.

There are five trends and opportunities on our radar this year. Read more here

Company Blogs

Better Sleep: A Light Bulb Moment

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Mar 2018 17:24:05 +0000

Better Sleep: A Light Bulb Moment Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/15/2018 - 11:24

As a kid, mom was always on me to get a good night’s sleep. Over the years, countless scientists have proven mom right. We all know sleep, and lack thereof, can have a huge impact on our lives, so much so that new groups of scientists are studying how we influence our environments to ensure we create better sleep.

Today “get a good night’s sleep” is more than a saying. It’s a movement. In fact, there is actually a week, this week, dedicated to Sleep Awareness.

Read more here.

Company Blogs

Lighting Reflections, Predictions

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 18:21:57 +0000

Lighting Reflections, Predictions Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/29/2018 - 11:21

It’s hard to believe we are already a month into a new year. 2018 promises to be another year of transition in the lighting industry, including ongoing LED growth and smart LED adoption. Here are some of the things we learned last year and some of the things we are watching in ‘18:

1) LED Adoption on the Rise: In the consumer market, sales of LED bulbs are now greater than sales of all other lighting technologies combined. In 2017, consumers began to shift from CFLs and convert to LEDs as prices continued to come down and quality of light increased. LEDs will be the dominating technology this year, but we still have many opportunities to convert. Sixty percent of sockets across the U.S. still contain an inefficient bulb.

2) Brand Matters: In a world where LEDs last a decade or more, consumers are standing behind the quality and reliability of trusted brands. Retailers are backing that up by concentrating branded lighting products on their shelves. You will see an even greater presence of GE this year. As part of our brand tracking, we regularly commission a 3rd party to survey consumers on their lighting preferences—GE came out tops among major brands in terms of being most recommended and most trusted and having the best value and best product quality.

Read more here.