Mark, Susan...What Do You Say About Ed Whitacre?

Top GM Executives Share Their Opinions Of New/Interim CEO (And Chairman) Ed Whitacre

Dec. 14, 2009

A recent conference call with Mark Reuss (newly-appointed president of GM North America) and Susan Docherty (vice president of Sales, Service and Marketing) provided some more information about chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre – particularly his management style, personality, and goals for the company. Whitacre, who retired as chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T in 2007, was appointed chairman of the “new GM” on June 9 (2009). On December 1st, after the sudden resignation of Fritz Henderson, Whitacre also added CEO to his title. Since not much information was provided about Henderson’s departure, it has been speculated that Whitacre and Henderson bumped heads on many issues and that Fritz was ultimately shown the door. As such, many wondered whether Whitacre was going on a plain-old power grab – hoarding as much power to himself as possible. Reuss’ and Docherty’s comments during the conference call have revealed that the “power grab” rumor couldn’t be further from the truth.

Both executives spoke highly of Whitacre and said that he is very goal-oriented, genuine, and has high expectations for everyone at GM. Instead of a summary, here is the transcribed text from Mark and Susan:

Mark:

What I don’t want on my comments is to look like just because I just got promoted, that I’m in love with the new CEO…. this guy is one of the most honest, genuine people that I’ve met. And forget about whether it’s in the auto industry or anything else he is a terrific person and so that’s really important to me… and the integrity and the honesty and the straightforwardness is something that I personally value a lot… and I’ll leave it at that.

Susan:

… over the last 60 days in my role as VP of sales, I’ve had a chance to interact with him while he was the chairman of the board of directors… he’s obviously now added CEO to his title… my observations would be that he digs very deep into the organization and wants to unleash talent within the organization which I think is positive… I think that even though he does not consider himself an auto expert he asks great questions and from a personal standpoint I would say that he’s pretty clear that he expects people to perform… he wants positive business results and if he sees something that’s off track he’s gonna hold me in particular and I’m sure all executives accountable.. I happen to have a product right now that has a pretty ___-day supply and there isn’t a time that he doesn’t ask me about what it is that myself and the team are doing to go and resolve it and to be quite frank with you – I like being accountable for that… he’s not telling me how to solve the problem but he’s pretty clear with me that he expects me to solve it… and as a leader, there isn’t anything more that I could ask from him than to support me in that effort but I certainly know where I stand in terms of where his expectations are of me.

When asked whether they had any idea about Whitacre’s plan to remain as CEO and Chairman (emphasis on the CEO part), both Reuss and Docherty replied that they didn’t know.

VIA:

Dearly hope they ALL will succeed.../MT

Open Letter To Ms. Susan Docherty, GM VP U.S. Sales & Marketing

Dear Ms. Docherty,

My intention is to remind you, your team and your corporate followers the "reality" and the "existence" of an awesome Chevrolet Concept which was proudly displayed to public at the 2003 Detroit and
2004 Los Angeles Auto Show.
 The Chevrolet SS.

  This awesome concept needs your immediate attention to be removed from its dust settled location and revisited as a possibility to become  a new product to further drive forward the currently
evidenced success of the Chevrolet brand.

This image easily allows one to guess the possibility of a 4-door version.

I sincerely suggest that such a product will be joyfully accepted by your potential customers as it may fill a (transitional) body 'design gap' between a Chevy compact sedan and the muscled Camaros and Corvettes.

GM evidently carries a full range of efficient engines to power up this beauty. And the interior, what you have for Volt and/or Cruze will do...

Even a SS hybrid would complement the model-line nicely keeping in mind the perspective
 of the sales potential of such in the state of California.

Wishing you continued success and looking forward to hear from you soon.

Regards,

 M. Melih Tuzmen(RiskyInstinct)

CLICK BELOW ICON FOR THE GM PRESS RELEASE(for the 2003 Detroit Auto Show)

CLICK BELOW ICON FOR ARTICLE PUBLISHED Oct 11, 2006

Chevrolet SS Concept @ 2003 Detroit Autoshow

Chevrolet SS Concept @ 2004 LA Autoshow

CLICK BELOW ICON FOR MORE IMAGES

    

LINK TO GOOGLE DOC

The New GM Blog

GM's Reuss and Docherty: We Will Earn, Not Buy, Our Market Share

2009-12-08

The way to success for Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac comes down to one thing: sell, sell, sell.

“We need to sell every vehicle we can, customer by customer, dealer by dealer, here, in Canada and Mexico,” GM North America President Mark Reuss said today during a conference call with media. “We’re not setting a metric (for market share) until we do that.”

Added Susan Docherty, vice president of Sales, Service and Marketing: “The old GM tended to buy market share. We’re going to earn our market share.”

That means letting customer demand, not filling plant capacity, drive the decision of what and how much to build.

“We need to be able to flex that capacity,” Docherty said. “When something is hot, we need to be able to put our foot on the gas like we did by adding a third shift to meet demand for the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain.”

Reuss and Docherty spoke to news media for the first time since being promoted to their new positions last Friday. They responded to other questions, including:

60-Day Money Back Guarantee: Since the promotion was launched in mid-September, just 163 of more than 300,000 vehicles have been returned for a refund.

Fuel Economy vs. Content: Reuss said there is “no peanut butter answer” to the question. “Fuel prices are going to be volatile. Finding the balance between good gas mileage and functional use, such full-size pickups used for work, comes down to correctly reading what customers want.

2010 Goals: Reuss said repaying money borrowed from the U.S. and Canadian governments, making the country proud of GM though its products and reemerging as a public company are at the top of the list.

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