The late 60's is when George Welch became the head of the GE plastics division, in 71' he also became the head of the GE metallurgy division. Throughout the 60 he developed and popularized "rank and yank", basically firing 10% of your lowest performing employees on a regular basis.

The idea of corporate having loyalty to their consumers and workers died at the hands of George Welch. The obsession with quarterly profits, paper profits, and maximizing short term gains are all basically the invention of this one little man.

He was made a titan of industry for parting out one of the most iconic and profitable businesses in US history. Pretty much every CEO has walked in his image since, despite the fact that he ran He into the ground.