Whitacre's Book Reveals Secret Of Unseasoned GM CEOs

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

GM’s North American president, Mark Reuss, was in the running as CEO in 2010, but was passed-over for an alleged “lack of seasoning,” says Reuters after reading an upcoming book by GM’s former CEO, Ed Whitacre. Instead of Reuss, who had shown that he knows what he is doing, a completely unseasoned Dan Akerson was put at the helm of GM.

According to the book, Whitacre recommended Reuss as his replacement when Whitacre stepped down after the bailout. Whitacre writes:


“Mark had zoomed up the executive chain in record time; he went from midlevel engineer to the No. 2 person in the company in the space of a year, more or less. The plus was that Mark was showing a lot of poise and management potential. The downside was that he hadn’t been in the job long enough to prove himself as a CEO.”

“One thing everybody agreed on: Mark had a lot of potential. The only concern was his short time in the job. If we asked him to step into the CEO’s job, and it didn’t work out, that would be a disaster for Mark – and an even bigger disaster for GM. The company needed stability. The revolving door in the CEO’s suite had to stop. At this point Dan Akerson volunteered to do the job.”

Akerson likes to promote the storyline that he had been drafted into running GM, and that it was “a call to service.” Just the opposite is true, writes Whitacre:

“Akerson wanted to be chairman and CEO from day one. When Dan put his hand up, that took care of the problem. Not very elegant, I will admit. But that’s how it played out.”


64 year old Akerson does not want to talk about retirement. Many hope, some demand that he would.

Along with Reuss, Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann, global product development chief Mary Barra, and, god help GM, Vice Chairman Steve Girsky are being discussed as possible replacements.

Running a car company is a highly complex matter, it probably is one of the most demanding jobs on earth. Successful CEOs, such as Akio Toyoda, Carlos Ghosn, or Ferdinand Piech all know what it takes to build a car and how to run a car company. Akerson is still learning, and GM does not need an apprentice on top.

Whitacre’s book, “American Turnaround: Reinventing AT&T and GM and the Way We Do Business in the USA,” will be published Feb. 5 by Business Plus books.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • NormSV650 NormSV650 on Jan 24, 2013

    Whitacre says, “We don’t like this label of Government Motors. We know it turns off customers. It turns us off.” Obama said your all but done.

  • NN NN on Jan 24, 2013

    Mulally deserves every bit of a mention alongside Ghosn, Piech, Toyoda. Yes, they made the right moves in the past to put their company's where they are today. Mulally had to make the big moves and decisions much more recently, and the fruit is only starting to bare (Focus best selling car in China, US profitability, maximizing platform investment worldwide, competent products, severe European cuts that should also right-size their organization there). Yes Europe today is still a black eye and so is Lincoln, but both are being worked on now. Regarding Akerson; he cooked his own goose when he introduced the half-assed Malibu eco 6 months before the standard Malibu and thought the market wouldn't punish him for it. That's a massive financial mistake...it ensured the public would see the car as incompetent until the next redesign. If the Malibu eco were actually a real hybrid that started at $26k and got 40+mpg (i.e. Fusion/Camry hybrids) then the story would be different, it would probably be successful.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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