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  • William Maley
    William Maley

    GM CEO: Not Afraid To Continue The Executive Shuffle

    William Maley

    Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

    August 4, 2012

    "In recent weeks, you have seen that we do not hesitate to act when change is required to make the business stronger."

    Those words coming out of General Motors CEO Dan Akerson during a conference call with reporters this week. Akerson was referencing the recent outings of Global Marketing Chief Joel Ewanick and Dave Lyon, who was to become VP of design at GM Europe.

    Akerson went on to say, "from time to time, it will mean parting company with people who are not delivering expected results, or alternatively, who don't meet the highest standards for accountability or integrity."

    In terms of making the business strong, GM needs some help. Second quarter results saw revenue and net income drop when compared to the same time last year. Chalk the losses to the uneasy economy in Europe and Japanese Automakers coming back strongly after last year's earthquake.

    Source: The Detroit News

    William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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    You cannot fault a person who is willing to make changes when a person has not fulfilled their goals.

    I agree that they need to kill off some dead or dying products and get new models to market sooner rather than later.

    At least change is happening now which is better than the good ol boy network that was killing GM.

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    Coke Can should probably watch his back then.

    He mkes me miss Ed Witacre. He almost makes me miss Rick Wagoner.

    What has Ed Whitacre actually done at GM?

    Moreover, NOBODY worth his salt should miss that epic failure and slow-going GM lifer that is G. Richard Waggoner! If Wags had been replaced with a real leader ten years ago, GM either would have avoided bankruptcy and/or at least minimized its effects. Wags is the reason GM had to go to BK. Wags is the reason GM needed loans from the federal government in order to survive BK. Wags was a fundamentally awful leader who is a living reminder of the Peter Principle. Good riddance to him!

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    You cannot fault a person who is willing to make changes when a person has not fulfilled their goals.

    I agree that they need to kill off some dead or dying products and get new models to market sooner rather than later.

    At least change is happening now which is better than the good ol boy network that was killing GM.

    Quite true. Now if only he will do something about Opel and Vauxhall. Like toss them both into the bin.

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    You cannot fault a person who is willing to make changes when a person has not fulfilled their goals.

    I agree that they need to kill off some dead or dying products and get new models to market sooner rather than later.

    At least change is happening now which is better than the good ol boy network that was killing GM.

    Quite true. Now if only he will do something about Opel and Vauxhall. Like toss them both into the bin.

    I agree that Opel and Vauxhall need major work. I do not agree that we need all the engineering and mgmt resources they have there. I think they need to scale back these groups and focus on getting euro versions of cars that the public wants sooner. I think GM needs to do some major revamping in house for the Euro division.

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    Coke Can should probably watch his back then.

    He mkes me miss Ed Witacre. He almost makes me miss Rick Wagoner.

    What has Ed Whitacre actually done at GM?

    What Ed did was let each person work with his gifts and then stand back and let the people who knew their stuff do their thing let the car guy be car guys and the accountants be accountants. Dan Ackerson is an accountant and is why the Malibu is the way it is today. He's not a car guy, he should not have made that call...... and they really need to keep the guy away from a microphone.

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    What GM needs to do it get those who call the shots down to a small group tha represents the different areas of GM and get them to work together. GM still has too many people doing things in different directions on different pages.

    Ackerson should be the benevolent dictator over trusted people that are let do what they do best but on the same page as each other. I still see too many going different ways and not working together.

    Engineering is doing fine and designe has been doing well. Now if we can only get marketing and product planning on the same page it would help.

    The key with Ackerson and those who answer to him should keep the lines of communication going both ways. As for the board memebers keep out unless you see something really wrong. There will be mistakes made no matter who calls the shots but if there are no mistakes there is not enough effort to try new things.

    If one was to look at most well lead companies there is always a strong leader and trusted people under them that remain in close contact.

    GM was lead by commitee too long. Back in the old days the Sloans were over a staff that knew what he wanted and were let do what they needed to do to meet or exceed these goals.

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    The old committee system was one part of what led GM to BK. Nuke that now. If you don't believe me, look at Ford. Ford has a clear vision and a clear direction and Ford can and will execute it. GM in some respects still needs that. The marketing people (especially) and product planning people are not doing GM any favors these days: fire them and start again. There really is too little cohesion at GM and that is one thing the General needs right now.

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    GM needs to let the various brands compete with each other like they were separate companies, like they did in the '60s. This internal competition kept all the brands on their toes and GM crushed the competition regularly.

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