GM AND ITS LOST LEADERSHIP

Today it was announced that Toyota is now larger than GM. The "common theme" in the press is that GM lost its lead due to the high cost of health insurance, unions and other issues beyond its controls. The problem is that this hides the true source of a loss of market position, and that is its lack of leadership. When GM started giving away benefits to the unions just to avoid a strike, rather than bring the workforce into strategic alignment by using some form of gain sharing, thus aligning its needs with that of its workforce it took the easy way out and avoided demonstrating good leadership. When GM started making cars that fit the needs of the accountants in the 1970's, rather than the design and styling desired by its customers it was due to a lack of vision and leadership. When GM allowed an "acceptable number of defects" in its cars rather than be obsessive about quality, once again we have a lack of leadership. Like so many companies in America, GM was the victim of its own lack of management and courage. I always think of the cup holder and the ashtray when I think of GM. For years every GM car had an ashtray, but heaven help you if there was a cup holder or a trash container in the car. Clearly the old men at GM had forgotten to observe its customers or it would have seen 35 years ago that they had unmet needs and would abandon GM if it ignored them too long. And ultimately, they did!