THE ACCELERATORS
GENERAL MOTORS CEO MARY BARRA WAS WALKING THE STAGE AT THE J.P. MORGAN AUTOMOTIVE CONFERENCE IN NEW YORK ON AN EARLY AUGUST MORNING, MAKING A DRAMATIC POINT-BY-POINT CASE FOR THE COMPANY SHE LEADS: THAT GM, DESPITE ALL ITS CHALLENGES AND VARIED COMPETITORS, JUST MIGHT BE THE STRONGEST and most well-positioned business in all of automotive transportation.
And how did the audience of investors respond to Barra’s pitch? With seeming indifference. Indeed, many of the attendees appeared to be more engaged with their iPhones than the CEO’s presentation. It wasn’t just that lunchtime was approaching and blood-sugar levels were low, or that the meeting room’s drab brown-and-tan decor and muted acoustics had dulled everyone’s senses. No, the bigger obstacle was most likely an instinctive skepticism about GM itself—and, perhaps, about Barra, too. General Motors was once an acclaimed titan, the most respected company in America, but those days are long gone. Decades of decline have been punctuated by bankruptcy, a government bailout, and a devastating ignition-switch design flaw that has been implicated in 139 deaths. All of this solidified the notion that GM was a dysfunctional, bureaucracy-ridden has-been. If any business was likely to dominate the future of auto transport, it would be a Silicon Valley darling like Uber, Tesla, Google, or even Apple—all of which have been aggressively investing in disrupting the car business as we know it. They are the ones with the creativity, the talent, and the consumer passion to do something special. Not old-fashioned GM.
As for Barra herself—dressed in a conservative brown suit, speaking with a flat, slightly nasal Michigan accent—her stage presence didn’t exactly challenge this story line. The best she could do to liven up her less-than-dynamic delivery was chopping one hand into the other to punctuate her argument. A 35-year lifer at GM, Barra is a product of the exact company and culture that she is tasked with transforming. Perhaps it’s no surprise that GM’s valuation has dropped by about a quarter since she became CEO, the
