An Update On GM's Transformation And A Look At Its New CEO
Yesterday GM paid the government back its loans. Today let's look at a profile of GM's new CEO. Finally, after decades of mismanagement by financial executives both GM and Ford are being run by people who know how to solve problems and making things. That is, engineers.
I worked for GM when I was in college. One day the CEO came to our facility. We knew in advance and days were spent preparing the facility for the arrival of the king. When he showed up there was literally an entourage of fifty sycophantic minions from corporate following him around. They would invariably nod up and down when he said something profound, like, "get me a coffee". (At that time, this was about as profound as a GM CEO would ever get.)
When I first started in business, there used to be a very profound management style that was pervasive in the United States. This was before the rise of MBA programs focusing on Powerpoint presentations, analysis paralysis of reams of data and general theories of profundity. It was called Management by Walking Around.
It seems GM's new CEO, an old-timer, still values a proven leadership skill. In a corporation where ideas are the life-blood of success, it's amazing what you might learn by walking in unannounced and asking someone what they are working on or how their day is going. This is not a favored management style by our current crop of kings. It's also not a favorite leadership style of our politicians in their ivory towers who would rather use divining rods and Ouija boards to glean what is in the best interest of We the People........Our leaderless society......
As we wrote in many of our posts, including our bullish post on Ford when it looked like the company was in a state of permanent misery, if not eventual collapse, the primary goal of a CEO should be to unlock the intellectual capital contained within the organization. To be a facilitator and coach. How better to do that than by actually understanding what's on the mind of associates? What ideas they may have for making the company more successful. This very fact is the basis for lean manufacturing and for the Toyota Way. A form of somewhat democratic corporation........ I wonder how leaderless Washington politics might change were this to be a regular requirement of of being a public servant? I don't think they like coming out of their castles after the ramrodding the American people gave them over how they handled the health care bill.
Link here.
I worked for GM when I was in college. One day the CEO came to our facility. We knew in advance and days were spent preparing the facility for the arrival of the king. When he showed up there was literally an entourage of fifty sycophantic minions from corporate following him around. They would invariably nod up and down when he said something profound, like, "get me a coffee". (At that time, this was about as profound as a GM CEO would ever get.)
When I first started in business, there used to be a very profound management style that was pervasive in the United States. This was before the rise of MBA programs focusing on Powerpoint presentations, analysis paralysis of reams of data and general theories of profundity. It was called Management by Walking Around.
It seems GM's new CEO, an old-timer, still values a proven leadership skill. In a corporation where ideas are the life-blood of success, it's amazing what you might learn by walking in unannounced and asking someone what they are working on or how their day is going. This is not a favored management style by our current crop of kings. It's also not a favorite leadership style of our politicians in their ivory towers who would rather use divining rods and Ouija boards to glean what is in the best interest of We the People........Our leaderless society......
As we wrote in many of our posts, including our bullish post on Ford when it looked like the company was in a state of permanent misery, if not eventual collapse, the primary goal of a CEO should be to unlock the intellectual capital contained within the organization. To be a facilitator and coach. How better to do that than by actually understanding what's on the mind of associates? What ideas they may have for making the company more successful. This very fact is the basis for lean manufacturing and for the Toyota Way. A form of somewhat democratic corporation........ I wonder how leaderless Washington politics might change were this to be a regular requirement of of being a public servant? I don't think they like coming out of their castles after the ramrodding the American people gave them over how they handled the health care bill.
Link here.
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