Many readers of this site know Mary Barra as the CEO of General Motors, but she didn’t come into that role from another company. Barra is a GM lifer who slowly worked her way through the automotive giant’s ranks, starting off as a co-op student with the company when she was just 18.
After serving as the plant manager of Detroit Hamtramck Assembly and holding several other engineering and staff positions within the company, Barra was eventually selected to lead GM’s Global Human Resources department. It was there that she made a very small yet rather important change to the company’s dress code policy, as explained in an episode of Fortune‘s latest Leadership Next podcast.
In this podcast, Geoff Colvin, who has covered Mary Barra for years, explains how Barra found the 10-page dress code policy that GM had in place to be ridiculous. In response, she shortened the dress code policy down to just two words: “dress appropriately.” Fortune says this “straightforward, no-nonsense approach to leading the company” is something that “has come to characterize Barra’s run as CEO.” Where other CEOs may talk, Barra takes action.
Fortune also says that Barra’s penchant for taking action rather than providing a PR-driven statement was on display when she established an Inclusion Advisory Board in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Rather than releasing a statement, Barra established the Inclusion Advisory Board and sent out an internal memo to employees to make them aware of GM’s official stance on the matter.
“In this moment, we each must decide what we can do – individually and collectively – to drive change… meaningful, deliberate change,” she wrote in the letter. “As one of the largest global companies, there is much we can do.”
GM has recently said that it wants to be the most inclusive company in the world. Barra is the only female CEO of a major automaker and wants to make inclusivity and equality more common in the industry, pledging “to ensure that the leadership of General Motors, and by extension, the entire GM family, consistently remains aware of our responsibility to bring awareness to injustice.”
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Comments
Forget about clothing and think about germs.. UV-C lamps can kill bacteria including COVID-19; imagine the peace of mind for workers if they knew with a certainty of having a germ free work environment.
COVID is a virus.
Stop listening to your president
You must of bought alot of UV lamp stock as you never miss an opportunity to push them.
I think most workers would still want clothes!
The problem with “dress appropriately“ is it’s open to personal option/taste with no base foundation.
True, hopefully an illustration within a manual or an example posted on the walls of the facilities could demonstrate what is and what is not the standard when it comes to Auto Manufacture wear and appearance of clothing, we’ll see in due time.
Does it really matter what people wear? I doubt anybody will come in to work undressed 😉
This articles a joke. Just like Barra.
GM should walk her out and replace her with a younger and more educated, less expensive CEO.
I work at an engineering architecture firm. Dress appropriately starts great, but then female staff start wearing sandals, flip flops or berkenstocks… Then the old fellas think that their public course golf attire is fjne: cargo short, polo, velcro sandals. And the young co-ops are then wearing ripped jeans and v neck t shirts.
A comprehensive and respectful dress code is required policy. And we try to not be too gender specific because that just opens up all new modern doors of issues. Business casual with examples, note that clients often come through the office for meetings, etc.
Same goes for tidy and clean work spaces. No one wants to see 15 empty coke cans at your desk or 3 day old smoothie/blender cups.
Also an engineer, old very large manufacturing company. My facility has design and production, and we’re one of the few facilities that doesn’t have a specific dress code (other than not wearing competitor logos and couple basic things like that). We just say dress for your day. If the VP is coming for a review with the design engineers, they wear dress pants and ties. If a manufacturing engineer is setting up a new workcenter, they wear an old greasy Tshirt and worn out jeans. Testing at the test track all day? Wear your warmest hoodie. Most days in between are nice jeans and a polo. It works out well for us.
As far as desks, yeah we have that problem….we do office 5S days at least once a year where we put trash/recycling/shredding dumpsters down every aisle and a case of 409 and everyone is expected to clean for the afternoon.
Another words “Dress Appropriately”
Years ago I was working at an auto auction in Colorado. One day the management came up with the dress code.. Don’t know why. They’ve listed so many things that were inappropriate. One of the things listed said “you may wear no corporate logo T-shirts“. So being a smart ass, I had a T-shirt printed that said NO CORPORATE LOGO T-SHIRT. They told me I could not wear that T-shirt. So I showed them the paperwork they gave me that granted me permission. It said you may wear no corporate logo T-shirts. They checked with their legal department. And they found it acceptable.
Mom always said if you cant say anything nice……
I respect the simplicity, but “dress appropriately” is 100% subjective and with the current society that we live in, that phrase can become a slippery slope of monumental proportions very quickly.
We shall see,
At my school where I work similar words were used. Teachers and staff sashay in with shorts, sandals and all sorts of inappropriate dress as if they were going to the beech. Give em an inch and they will take a mile. The liberal way. When you take away some sort of rules chaos soon ensues.
Don’t know much about Barr’s, but have experienced dress codes requiring a tie and hated it. GM plants have machinery that can severely injure someone wearing a tie. Ties serve no purpose. Tesla has eclipsed GM and Ford Combined cap value. Some of the best R&D, biotech, computer eng, finance is done by employees looking like beach goers. Read Consumer Reports where GM products have been consistently far lower than Asian ones wrt quality and satisfaction. Take off your suits and ties and get your hands dirty fixing vehicle problems.
In a society where a few things are offensive to everyone, and many things are offensive to a few, there is credibility to the idea of standard company provided corporate uniform. As long as that corporate uniform isn’t offensive.
And no displaying of academic, sports, political, or special interest symbols because everyone gets the same great products and services.
A dress code is not a suit and tie folks. It just means look presentable and wear proper clothes to work. Show that you are proud to be a GM employee and leave your shorts and tank tops for the beach. A better idea would be for GM to provide good looking uniforms for employees.
Does anyone remember the wonderful 1950’s when GM (in Canada, at least) required all field personnel to wear a suit and a Fedora. And, generally, they desired representatives to be six feet tall. Those were the days!!! 🙂
Unfortunately this generation has lost there morals,respect & dignity sadly! We’ve become a nation of whiners,laziness & selfishness! We don’t value ppl’s opinions or critique with tolerance only with resentment & bitter frustrations! But the biggest problem in America is the family structure no more love & devotion & care only bitterness & regret! Stop being part of the problem & start being a part of the solutions! It starts from the top all the way to the bottom!! Make America Whole Again!!!
Yea instead of today with police- brutaliy, riots, expensive war, drug, race, sex problems we need to go to 1970, with police- brutaliy, riots, expensive war, drug, race, sex problems..
Yea going backwards is the problem! When will we evolve is my (?) We can & should be doing much better as a species!
I like everything that Mary Barra does. She’s smart and does things the right way. I hope she stays forever.
Leaving it up to each person sounds nice, but when someone comes in dressed offensively and gets sent home, the lawsuits will begin. It simply doesn’t work to tell people to be responsible and leave it at that.
This entire article could have been shortened to roughly a paragraph.
Geoff Colvin, who has covered Mary Barra for years, explains how Barra found the 10-page dress code policy that GM had in place to be ridiculous. In response, she shortened the dress code policy down to just two words: “dress appropriately.”
Give workers uniforms and everyone is equal. Imagine when a T-shirt that offends somebody.
Gee Mary, hows that helping out in increasing GMs sales? The only reason she has kept her job is because she’s a woman and the most inclusive car company couldn’t give a toss about actually selling cars that people want
Fortunately GM and many other companies have moved away from the goal of sales, being the biggest, having the top market share. That is one of the things that put them into bankruptcy.
Barra has sensibly focussed on making quality vehicles that people value enough to pay a price, which GM can make an acceptable profit from. An acceptable profit of course allows them to survive through tough times like these.
Of course, fewer people even want cars these days. GM makes good money from its trucks and SUVs. In fact if it stopped making cars its profitability would hardly change. But there are future opportunities in cars, probably through EVs. Barra realises that opportunity and the value of GMs car brands in aiding that opportunity.
I cover alot of CEOs. Mary is one of the most impressive I’ve seen. I hope she continues at GM for a long time and sees those strategies, including AVs, to fruition, making GM into the worlds most valuable vehicle company once again.
Barra , you need to retire. GM is more of a mess now than when you took over. Give someone else a chance.
Yea going backwards is the problem! When will we evolve is my (?) We can & should be doing much better as a species!
Why doesn’t Mary start doing TV commercials like lee Iacocca and show women that maybe they should buy a car from a company that promotes women to CEO instead of buying other countries products.
She has a assault video on YouTube workingmen1 called when car dealers attack
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