General Electric ousted CEO John Flannery on Monday after barely a year in the big chair. Anxious shareholders want a turnaround, and Mr. Flannery wasn’t delivering fast enough. He had moved to refocus the company on aviation and power generation, while selling other businesses. Yet on his watch the stock fell by half, and GE warned Monday it would miss more financial targets. Anyone who thinks corporate CEOs hold sinecures in today’s competitive world should contemplate Mr. Flannery’s fate.
His replacement, Larry Culp, is...