One Sunday in March, Gary Wiesner, who runs General Electric Co.’s wind-turbine-blade factory in Pensacola, Fla., received something he’d never gotten before: a personal email from the CEO. H. Lawrence Culp Jr. wanted to know if it would be OK if he came for a visit.
When Culp arrived two days later, alone, in jeans, it marked the first time a GE chief executive officer had visited the plant since the company bought it 18 years ago. He spent about two hours walking the floor and chatting with technicians, stopping only briefly for a call with the board of directors. ...