D&B: You went off the General Electric board when you retired. Is that company policy?

Jones: Yes. Because GE has such a strong board and because it is such a complex and diverse corporation, it is the custom that once you retire as chairman you retire as a director. You do not look over the shoulder of your successor. You are, of course, available to your successor. He's free to pick up the phone and call you anytime, to meet with you, discuss some of his problems, and get your counsel But that's done privately. It's not done before the board.

D&B: Is that a policy that you favor?

Jones: It works very well for General Electric. I don't necessarily prescribe it for all corporations. There are some corporations where the chairman has been so involved in the growth and development of the corporation that some formal continuity might be desirable.

D&B: Did you have any mixed feelings about retirement?

Jones: Let me put it this way. It's our practice and our custom at General Electric to do a couple of things. One, you don't signal too far in advance the actual date of retirement I, and my two most immediate predecessors, retired before we reached age 65. You want to retire at a somewhat indefinite date so that people aren't just waiting for that shoe to drop, knowing that there's a definite termination at that 65th birthday. And two, you want to retire when your team is ready. If you hang on, then you run the risk of losing some key members. They get restless and the offers are coming in over the transom. So once that team is ready and you have sufficient time to work with them and you have every confidence in their capabilities, then you should step aside.

D&B: You came to outside directorship rather late in your career, after you retired from General Electric.

Jones: I was so active when I was chairman of General Electric in both the Business Roundtable and the Business Council, and I was spending so much time representing the company and the business community in Washington, that I felt I couldn't afford additional time outside the company to become a director of any other corporation Most of my peers in American industry at the time understood my position and didn't press me too hard. When I announced my impending retirement in December 1980, then I received a number of invitations to join boards of directors. When I did retire April 1, 1981, I had selected a fair number of boards on which I was very happy to serve.