So Long GM
Why is there a need for innovative, no box thinking? One answer is June 1, 2009. That was the day that the "Heartbeat of America" passed on and our government got into the auto business. GM has been close to the brink of bankruptcy before, and finally caved in amidst the current economic struggles strangling the world.
Have you set back and deeply thought about this or did you simply shrug your shoulders and say, Oh well!" In today's world, the company could not stay the course, so they learned the consequences of continuing poor performance. We are not here to debate why this happened. It did.
But I wonder how many people could not in the wildest dreams ever really believe that GM would end up as new department of the government. I wonder how many GM people believed this, especially in the top levels of the organization. I wonder how many courageous decisions that needed to be made at the company were never made. All their talk about how competitive they were and how equal their cars were, was not enough, was it?
So here is the question Assuming they were unfairly disadvantaged as they claimed with their costs for pensions, health care, and supplements for laid off or idle workers, blah, blah, blah, what did they do that was dramatically different to address them - besides ongoing harping and endless confrontations with the unions. Did they make marked improvements with labor, so they all were committed to success, or did they approach the relationships in virtually the same ways. Did they try truly innovative approaches to selling new cars, beyond new features and deep discounts. I truly hope so, but fear they worst. Clearly, strategies such as On-Star and employee comparable discounts for everyone were nowhere near bold enough.
If you think you can stay pretty much the same and survive today, take some cash and buy your corporate tomb stone right now. You will not make it. And you should not. My guess is that an unfair playing field or other external forces are not the biggest problem for companies such as GM or perhaps yours. It is too many people, including those in senior management positions, who are permanently parked in the box of yesterday's world (whether they believe it or not). That is the real issue that must be resolved.
Think about it.
Steve
Have you set back and deeply thought about this or did you simply shrug your shoulders and say, Oh well!" In today's world, the company could not stay the course, so they learned the consequences of continuing poor performance. We are not here to debate why this happened. It did.
But I wonder how many people could not in the wildest dreams ever really believe that GM would end up as new department of the government. I wonder how many GM people believed this, especially in the top levels of the organization. I wonder how many courageous decisions that needed to be made at the company were never made. All their talk about how competitive they were and how equal their cars were, was not enough, was it?
So here is the question Assuming they were unfairly disadvantaged as they claimed with their costs for pensions, health care, and supplements for laid off or idle workers, blah, blah, blah, what did they do that was dramatically different to address them - besides ongoing harping and endless confrontations with the unions. Did they make marked improvements with labor, so they all were committed to success, or did they approach the relationships in virtually the same ways. Did they try truly innovative approaches to selling new cars, beyond new features and deep discounts. I truly hope so, but fear they worst. Clearly, strategies such as On-Star and employee comparable discounts for everyone were nowhere near bold enough.
If you think you can stay pretty much the same and survive today, take some cash and buy your corporate tomb stone right now. You will not make it. And you should not. My guess is that an unfair playing field or other external forces are not the biggest problem for companies such as GM or perhaps yours. It is too many people, including those in senior management positions, who are permanently parked in the box of yesterday's world (whether they believe it or not). That is the real issue that must be resolved.
Think about it.
Steve
posted by Steve C. at
7:13 PM
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