Jack Welch, legendary former CEO of General Electric, spoke at the Y last week with Stephen J. Adler, editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek, and Jack had a few things to say about green products and CEO pay that were picked up on blogs and in the media. Here are some excerpts.

Noise Between Stations:

One point he made stood out. Because his politics are “right of center” and he’s obviously pro-business, he’s not quick to believe in global warming without more evidence; he took the time to cite scientists who have refuted Al Gore’s statements. So for anyone taking an intellectual position on the issue, he said, it’s very difficult. But for business people the strategy is clear: stop denying this might happen and prepare for it by developing products and manufacturing that are cleaner and greener than the competition.

Jack Welch thinks people should stop complaining so much about the vast sums CEOs are paid these days. The former GE chief — who faced his own CEO-compensation scandal when the perks of his retirement package came to light — told a star-struck audience at the 92nd Street Y Thursday night that the current poster boy for plunder, former Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli, a longtime GE exec under Welch, shouldn’t be blamed for wanting what his contract said was his. “Bob took a sinking company and put it back together,” he said, his wife the writer Suzy Welch, at his side. “But unfortunately Bob believed through his toes that he deserved to be paid what was in his contract, and when the stock market did not reflect earnings, it turned out to be a lightning rod. He didn’t change with the times.”

Physically, Welch, now 71, is smaller than I expected, probably 5’7” or so. Suzy, 24 years younger, is tall and lanky, and looks younger than her 47 years. The interviewer, well prepared, asked him questions ranging from the effect of global warming concerns on business to his now famous management theory including the 10-70-20 rule. Welch believes that the job of management is to get rid of the bottom 10% of the workforce who are performing poorly on an annual basis. Conversely, he believes tha the top 20% should be rewarded handsomely. ( You may remember that his severence or, I think he called it his “succession” package was so lucrative that the Fed got involved to see if there were any irregularities.

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