Fortune Magazine has named General Motors CEO Mary Barra their ‘Crisis Manager of the Year’ and it’s hard to imagine them even considering anyone else for the distinction. Barra has led GM through one of the automaker’s most challenging times in her 12 months as CEO, but managed to remain honest, humble and seemingly sincere through the ordeal, Fortune says.
GM, Barra and former GM general counsel Michael Milikin all came under heavy criticism from the American public and congress after it was discovered GM waited 11 years to recall cars it knew had faulty ignition switches. Millions of cars were affected by the fault, which has so far been linked to 42 fatalities and several serious injuries.
Despite being at the helm of the company during one of its darkest moments, Barra has managed to look better and better throughout the recall crisis. Barra maintained her reputation by not trying to move past the recall crisis, but addressing it directly. Whereas most CEOs would attempt to sweep the problem under the rug, Barra says she wants it to serve as a reminder of what happens when people don’t do their job correctly. She wants to use it as a way to better the company.
Another factor working in favor of Barra’s reputation was her decision to bring in compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg, who also managed compensation claims for the Sept. 11 attacks and the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. GM gave Feinberg free rein to compensate families of those injured or killed in faulty GM cars and said it won’t challenge his decisions. The compensation fund will be open through to the end of January.
Fortune says Barra seems to genuinely care about those injured or killed in GM cars and is actively trying to ensure a similar situation doesn’t happen again. Barra hasn’t hid from criticism or the media and may have saved an “American icon” of a company from heading down another dark road. If that doesn’t earn you “Crisis Manager of the Year,” were not sure what will.
Comments
CONGRATULATIONS to a Real and True CEO!!! 🙂
Sad that there had to be these crises’ in the first place, but kudos to Mary for how they are being handled under her tenure.
I was against Mary originally and wanted Mark at the top. Today I am glad it turned out the way it did as Mary was more suited to deal with the issues and Mark is doing what he does best product.
I to be honest do not see the crises as all bad. To be honest the good of this has given Mary the ability to fend off the old damage culture that was still not eradicated from the post GM bail out.
There has been a battle inside of GM as pointed out by Lutz. He call the two groups the ones that were the problem and the ones that were not the problem. The battle was waging while Bob was in office and he fought to put people in place to continue that fight and Mark and Mary are two of the people he pointed out as not a part of the problem.
The crises I feel gave Mary the ammo to take down those who were fighting for the old cause and tried to real back GM to her past sins. With out this crises I feel Mary would have still won but how much more damage and delay would it have incurred if she did not have what she needed to silence this crowd.
She has the proof of how they were wrong and why they were wrong and right now they have no reply as she has the support of the board and the public.
There are two people I would love to meet and talk to just for a short bit. One has always been Bob Lutz. The other I would love to speak to is Mary. I see things from Bobs side very easy being a auto enthusiast but I would love to ask Mary about how she sees things on her side of the company on how to pay the bills and direct the culture into the new era.
I tire of the interviews where she just gets asked about her past, dress code changes and if she drives a Corvette etc. I want to hear her real thoughts on GM culture and how she is really planning to change it.
As I see it I do not see her as the first woman leader but I do see her as the first leader at GM that can make much needed changes on the scale we have not seen since Sloan.
I feel GM should be more public with this to show they are really committed to make the changes and just exactly what they are doing for GM and their products.
I know she may not like doing it as most of us would be in the same boat. But I would love to see her speak more publically in the media and commercials to really put a face on the GM leadership and show that they are real people. Add in Mark and Ed Wellborn, Al Oppenhieser and others. Let these people tell their stories in their own words from the heart not a press release.
I have spoken to Al and I can say he is one that needs to be heard. His passion for exciting products is infectious.
I think its also safe to say that Chairman Tim Solso and the Board helped Mary immensely to get through this. This I am sure is one reason why GM split Chairman and CEO roles knowing this was coming down the pipeline. I know a few stock holders that were basically bypassing Barra and looking to the Board to help steer GM through this. Although I do agree Mary did a good job and deserves this award, i also think she needs to be out in the open more.
I fully agree she should be out more. I see her as a valuable asset as she is not the stereo typed head of GM.
She helps make the point that they are not doing business the same way any longer.
As for others she has a good team around her as no one could have done this alone. While we see many CEO’s out there very few do it by themselves.
That is one key is to make sure if you are in charge you have a solid team around you for support. One bad team member can create instability.
GM must be new models in detail to better quality. GM has to be aggressive. GM needs to act quickly. GM needs to quickly bring new models on the market in the future. Gm destroys itself because of the interest in cars new car rääitakse years until they reach the market, and it does not interest anyone, and they are even more disappointed. Gm must offer the first new technologies. GM has made new technologies and making them public, however, they will be on the market again after the other. good luck gm. taught as a child to walk. See how VAG VW operates and learn. VW operates very quickly. strives to be ahead. wants to be first. uses all of its products to a maximum of all possible markets, and so on .VW is one of four cars on the market, for example, one car class. VW Golf, Seat Leon, Skoda Octavia, Audi A3. VW sells sells sells and does not care who is the first of them. VAG wants to be first, and takes care of all of its products for excellence.
GM fuckin within your company to a brand is better than another, or that the car must have a first and a second. GM wants it all midag isaavutada GM must pay attention to all of its products and to contribute to the maximum. All products must be treated equally.
and must be honest. does not lead to a far wrong, and do not contribute to thrive. lies will come out sooner or later. must admit the failures and the fans tell the truth. and the people are not stupid.
Absolutely. You are correct. GM is last at everything, and needs to learn from legitimate manufacturers ( legitimate = the ones not being kept alive artificially with Marxist methods).
We’ve been a largely socialist country here in Canada for decades now, yet we still found enough dollars lying around to prop up GM when they needed it, without much pain on our part.
I would suggest you actually read a qualified academic definition of what Marxism/Socialism/Communism is instead of rely on Alex Jones to do the thinking for you.
You can’t explain this to two guys in a van that looks like a dog. LOL!
I will let you guess which one has the gap in his teeth.
Congratulation, hope that she will do more efforts for the models offred in Africa.