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By Root 928 0

which had never failed me before, flagging.Why work for a company that is continually vilified in the media? Why struggle to contribute to America’s most important industry when it is despised by our own government, with many advocating the disappearance of both GM and Chrysler (“And good riddance”)? Why, if we were to receive government money, produce the “ecologically correct” econo-boxes the media and environmentalists think we all should drive, but that the bulk of the American public doesn’t want? (There were rumblings from prominent Democrats that “if they get our money, they’re going to produce the kind of vehicles we want them to produce.”) I knew we would have no more corporate aircraft, and I knew pay would be cut to levels far below those normal for industry. I could live with that, but a life in a company absorbed into the warm, fuzzy matrix of the federal bureaucracy was not one I wanted to live.

That’s why I announced my decision to retire . . . a decision I reversed when the new course of the company became clear. (Happily, my unusual pessimism later proved to be unfounded, except for the company planes and the pay!)

Despite the confusion and hot-potato tactics evident during the transition from the Bush administration to that of President Obama, GM received, in various forms, enough to see the company through until the hoped-for upturn in the spring of 2009. Soon after his inauguration, the new president appointed an Automotive Task Force to investigate the plight of the industry and to suggest courses of action. It was headed by Steven Rattner, a somewhat controversial financier; Ron Bloom, a former investment banker and United Steelworkers negotiator; Larry Summers, a noted economist; and Harry Wilson, a youthful and successful private equity executive. These four, with the analytical assistance of BCG (Boston Consulting Group), which provided the necessary “arms and legs” for countless interviews, analyses, and reports, soon sifted through every aspect of General Motors with a finetooth comb.

Many of their preconceived notions were understandable, given the slant of the U.S. media over the decades: They expected a product development activity devoid of great designers and engineers and a tendency toward comfortable, safe mediocrity. In other words, they were expecting the situation that I had found seven years earlier. Happily, they were amazed by the spirit, skill, dedication, and speed of GM’s product creators and our laserlike focus on developing best-in-class vehicles. The future product program, when shown to the task force, impressed them with its audacity and excellence. (Behaving like the wealthy individuals they were, the task force exhibited the most admiration and lust for the now-launched 550-horsepower Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, while the more politically correct future small SUVs were praised at a more rational level.) Contrary to the task force’s fears, Product Development turned out to be a bright spot, an area of true excellence, and one which almost certainly helped in the later recommendation to engineer a rescue of GM.

The other area of unqualified excellence was manufacturing. Lingering in the minds of the general public are outdated images of dark, rundown, smoky Detroit factories, peopled by lazy, alcoholic, or even drug-abusing workers who, rather than pursuing quality, would actually sabotage the product in order to hurt their employer. (We’ve all heard tales of Coke bottles being deliberately left in doors to produce a severe rattle later on.) I suppose some of this existed in the bad old days many decades ago, but today’s reality is the exact opposite: gleaming buildings, well-landscaped grounds, brilliantly lit inside, with a level of cleanliness that would rival many hospitals.All of the fabled “Toyota Production System” methods were learned and incorporated over the years. Modern equipment, a positive change in union-management working relationships, a union-shared focus on quality, a massive investment in ongoing training, and a relentless drive for greater efficiency