Yahoo Finance GM's Mary Barra on leading through crisis
General Motors (GM) Chair & CEO Mary Barra has overcome a host of issues over her 10 years as leader of the 100-year-old plus company. At the time Barra took over as CEO, General Motors was still emerging from its 2009 bankruptcy and reeling from an ignition switch recall that led to over one hundred fatalities. Barra was tasked with completely overhauling GM's siloed culture and changing how the public viewed the company’s cars, as well as regaining their trust.
"A crisis is the time you really demonstrate to the entire team that you're going to live your values," Barra told Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi in a recent exclusive sit-down interview -- as well as a spin in the newly designed E-Ray Corvette on GM’s technical campus in Michigan. Barra shares with Yahoo Finance how she has led GM through crises, as she did when she took over the helm, as well as how she intends to make good on her bets to become the leader of electric and autonomous vehicles despite stiff competition from Tesla (TLSA) and skepticism from shareholders.
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Editor's Note: This article was written by Brian Vitagliano
Video transcript
MARY BARRA: I think a crisis is the time you really demonstrate to the entire team you're going to live your values. You know, you're going to do what you've been saying. It's easy to do the right thing, or it's easy to live your values when everything's going well.
But really, showing them when it's tough, we're still going to do the right thing. We're still going to live our values. We're going to focus on the customer, all of that. I think that's what you've got to demonstrate. And when you do, it becomes much more ingrained, and people are like, OK, yes, I get it. They're committed. And that's so important when you lead a team the size of General Motors.
