The video explores the dynamic leadership of Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, as she navigates the challenges and transformations within the company. Her tenure has been marked by significant shifts towards electric vehicles and Autonomous driving technologies, aiming to reshape GM into a more modern and tech-forward organization. Barra’s decisions reflect both a deep connection to GM’s historic roots and a commitment to its future.

Mary’s journey is highlighted by her drive to reform GM from its troubled past, including tackling a major recall and steering the company out of a financial crisis. Her strategic decisions, including transforming GM’s operational model and focusing on technological Innovation, showcase her vision amidst intense industry competition and market dynamics.

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. Autonomous [ɔːˈtɒnəməs] - (adj.) Acting independently or having the freedom to do so.

Tesla and Google changed the game with EV's and Autonomous driving technology.

2. Overconfidence [ˌoʊvərˈkɑːnfɪdəns] - (n.) Excessive confidence or assurance; audacity.

GM's dominant position as a big three automaker led to Overconfidence and stagnation.

3. Monopoly [məˈnɒpəli] - (n.) The exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.

In the 1960s, GM owned more than half of the American auto market.

4. Bankruptcy [ˈbæŋkrəptsi] - (n.) The state of being completely lacking in a particular quality or value.

GM had declared Bankruptcy in the wake of the financial crisis and got a government bailout.

5. Innovation [ˌɪnəˈveɪʃn] - (n.) A new method, idea, product, etc.

Barra’s decisions involve transforming GM’s operational model and focusing on technological Innovation.

6. Competitor [kəmˈpetɪtər] - (n.) A person, team, company, etc. that competes against others.

The union won historic concessions, including substantial pay raises, which union leaders said were long overdue.

7. Transformation [ˌtrænsfərˈmeɪʃn] - (n.) A thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.

Now you're trying to change culture again to being a tech-forward company that's focused on EV's and AV's.

8. Legacy [ˈleɡəsi] - (n.) An amount of money or property left to someone in a will, or something handed down by a predecessor.

Do you think Legacy American automakers will maintain their position?

9. Disruption [dɪsˈrʌpʃn] - (n.) Disturbance or problems which interrupt an event, activity, or process.

Vehicles like BYD Seagull, which sells for just $11,000 in China, could disrupt the US auto market.

10. Transparency [trænˈspærənsi] - (n.) The quality of being done in an open way without secrets.

You have to be transparent anytime.

Mary Barra's Journey Reviving An Icon And Shaping The Future

Hey, jump in. Let's go for a ride.

I love a ride. All right, so this is the famous Hummer. The famous Hummer. It's all electric, so you've got well over, like, 350 miles of range. So zero to 60 in 3 seconds. 3 seconds, yeah, but I can't do that here. Sorry.

I do hear you're a pretty good driver. Like, you race cars and stuff? Well, you know, I've learned how to drive fasten. Sarah has been CEO of General Motors for a decade, but her time at the company is going on more than 40 years. You basically grew up at GM. Yes. Your dad worked here. Yes. You started working here as an electrical engineer when you were 18 years old, right. Studying to be an electrical engineer at 18. I started first in a stamping plant. Then I worked on the assembly line. Actually, I was a quality inspector, and I've also been a plant manager.

Since becoming CEO, Barra has weathered political heat, labor disputes, and the biggest recall in the company's history. But she's also taken GM from financial ruin to profitability, reviving a company that some see as merely a relic of Detroit's golden age. Now she's going all in on electric vehicles and Autonomous driving technologies she thinks will be crucial for the next era of cars. But her plans have been hobbled by delays and crises, and it's not clear if the company can transform at the speed and scale Barra is asking for.

I'm here in Detroit to get a firsthand look at the future of an American icon and to get to know the architect of that future, who naturally drives an electric vehicle the size of a tank. I gotta say, you driving a Hummer is pretty badass. That's what I'm going for. Like badass soccer mom. Now, you were born and raised in the burbs? Detroit burbs, yes. I grew up with the industry. When my dad would be working, every now and then, he would get to bring a vehicle home and, like, the whole neighborhood would come over. So definitely it's a vehicle town. He and I together have over 80 years with the company.

So I heard you're a swiftie. I am. You like Taylor Swift? I really do. I've been to all of her stadium concerts except this one, which I plan to go this fall. She's such a positive role model for young women, and I love her music. You know what this means, right? I'm afraid.

Ha, ha. We have to sing. Play is gonna play, play, play and the hater's gonna hate, hate, hate I'm just gonna say, that was awesome. You did it. I cannot sing. I cannot sing. Taylor, I'm sorry, Taylor. I'm sorry, Taylor. Thank you. Thank you so much for that, Taylor.

General Motors has been around as long as the auto industry itself. In the 1960s, GM owned more than half of the American auto market. The company was a huge force in the post-war economic boom, contributing to the growth of a robust middle class. But GM's dominant position as a big three automaker led to Overconfidence and stagnation. Profits fluctuated in the 1980s and nineties as global competition came into play. And lately, GM's very existing has been challenged. Tesla and Google changed the game with EV's and Autonomous driving technology.

Vara is determined to catch up. That means turning GM into something resembling a tech company, complete with state-of-the-art facilities to design its next generation of cars. All right, so we are now at our new design center that has just been opening in phases this year. So you're one of the first people who's had the opportunity to see it and go in, and the goal is like a. Is it like a mid-century vibe? Yeah. Okay. Definitely. Like, I'm getting a little mad men ish, but also industrial.

Yeah. You're not just building the next generation of cars here. I mean, this is like, the next next Generation of cars. The next next, and also concept cars that are inspiration to, you know, what will be the theme of the brand. So there's a lot of Work that goes on here. Overseeing it all is GM's head of design, Michael Simcoe. The new design center is his baby. So, in the old studios, when they were created, people used to sketch on paper and vellum. The old studios were very small, appropriate back in 56, but didn't really work today. So we've architected the building and these studios to make everyone's life a little bit easier.

I didn't fully realize, but mid-century design originated in Detroit. Yeah, well, Eric Saren was the architect who created the background, which is mid-century modern. The older building, which GM design occupied in 56, was designed by him. It was his first commission, and it created the glass curtain walls and I guess that whole simple, new modern aesthetic that we see today as mid-century modern.

The technology to design and build cars has, of course, come a long way since the 1950s, but some of the old ways have stuck around, too. What's happening here? Okay, so we have full-size clay models. It's not solid clay. Underneath, there is a backbone, chassis, timber, and foam, and then the clay, which, when heated is soft and can be applied onto the surface. The sculptors can work it by hand, and you can see that happening here.

Many of our sculptors and our designers are artists in their own right. They do. I mean, they look like artists. This is where the love goes in, and you can see the difference between a vehicle that is released and executed totally in math versus the quality of surface, the quality of detail that our sculptors put into it.

No offense, but I don't think of this when I think GM. What do you think people think of GM? They probably think that GM, because it's been around for over 100 years, is a slow and it's a slower. I'm almost a dinosaur. You walk in here and you see the work we're doing. You see the products on the road now, and I don't think that you could justify that description anymore. Here in the design center, you can feel the optimistic vibe of the moment at GM.

But ten years ago, when Barra took over as CEO, it was a very different moment. GM had declared Bankruptcy in the wake of the financial crisis and got a government bailout, sparking public outrage. Barra took over in 2014 and was immediately faced with a big problem. An ignition switch malfunction tied to over 100 deaths. GM recalled more than 30 million cars. While I cannot turn back the clock, as soon as I learned about the problem, we acted without hesitation. We did so because whatever mistakes were made in the past, we will not shirk from our responsibilities now or in the future.

Three weeks after you became CEO, you had to testify before Congress. How did that moment test you? It was. It was tragic because people lost their lives. And it was a very trying time, because when you go through a situation like that, all of a sudden everything's bad. There's nothing good about General Motors.

And so, you know, testifying was probably one of the hardest things that I ever did. But I, a really wise person, said to me, Mary, you're talking to your employees. I really wanted all of our people to feel, okay, yes, this happened, and it was not good, and we can never let it happen again. But there's a lot of good at General Motors, and here's what we're going to do. My understanding is you worked really hard to change the culture, evolve the culture to a safety first culture.

And now every meeting starts with, like, a safety message. Right? And one of the things I said is, I never want to forget, because if you. I mean, when you feel how bad you feel, when, you know, the company made a mistake that cost people their life. Mm hmm. You want to make sure everybody feels the weight of that so it never, ever happens again. Barr's tenure started with a kind of public shaming, complete with getting skewered on SNL.

So you don't know when you knew. I am looking into knowing when I first knew about it. But she has managed to streamline this gigantic business. She took GM from Bankruptcy to printing money, thanks in part to a hard decision to scale back GM's operation outside the United States. I remember one pivotal meeting where the country leader and the region leader was like, well, it was a program approval. And I'm like, we can't approve this.

I said, you know, not only does it not make money, there's no plan to make money. Like, well, we have to have this product. I said, why? Why? Doing what you've always done, if it's not working is you can't keep doing it. And that was a sea change for the company as well, because all of a sudden, it was like, we have to earn our way. You know, every region, every country, every product has to earn its way.

General Motors, even though we've been here for 100 years, we do not have a right to exist. And we all should understand that from what happened in 2008. Now you're trying to change culture again to being a tech forward company that's focused on EV's and AV's. GM actually got into EV's pretty early. I mean, there was an EV, the EV one, in the late nineties. Now, decades later, governments are, you know, presumably on board. Lawmakers are on board, and yet it still seems so hard.

Like, where are we in the transition to EV's? We're still, as an industry, we're in the early days. I think what we're still seeing is battery chemistry. Battery technology is still expensive, and because the vehicle is already a very expensive purchase for consumers, you know, it's getting. Continuing to get costs down while we continue to improve the technology. It almost feels like hype is slowing down. Do you feel like you're battling that, like a sentiment shift as well?

I think it was overhyped, and now it's probably under hyped. And the truth is somewhere in the middle. But, you know, again, yes, growth has slowed, but it's still growing. You scaled back some of the EV targets, mainly because of the battery manufacturing issues. Like, why is that still such a challenge? We were making something new. I grew up in manufacturing, so I feel like we do have a lot of manufacturing expertise, but I think we took for granted some of the newer processes, and we will not do that again.

Yeah. Elon Musk has mocked traditional automakers for how long it took them to get into EV's. Was he right about that? You know, if I had a do over, I would have. Even though we were moving, I would have accelerated the pace. You know, hindsight's 2020. Tesla stock is up more than 1300 percent. In the last ten years. GM is up like 1213 percent. You have met or beat expectations 35 out of the last 36 quarters. So when you look at the stock, does it ever piss you off? Yeah, it does.

I mean, because. But again, I can get mad about it, and I can be upset and frustrated, and believe me, I have those moments, you know, at the end, it's our responsibility. You can't go home and have a pity party. So this is our pre-production operations. Okay. And right now, we're doing something very special. We're building the Cadillac Celestic. And the Cadillac Celestic is a hand-built electric vehicle. We haven't done a hand-built Cadillac since 1957.

With the Cadillac El Dorado. The Celestic is the most extravagant of GM's new electric vehicles, with a price tag to match. So this is like a $340,000 car. It's an expensive vehicle. Yes. This happens to be a celestic. That's pretty close to completion. So this is bot. Yes. Yes. This is a vehicle that a customer has spec'd. So it is. It's pretty exciting. Like electric blue. Exactly. The celestic and the Hummer EV are just the flashy tip of the iceberg.

Each of GM's brands is getting at least one new electric model. The goal, capacity to build a million EV's a year by 2025. But none of this will work unless GM can get customers interested in mid-market models like the Chevy Blazer and the revamped Chevy Bolt. How are you going to convince the middle class to buy EV's? Well, they've told us having the right range so, you know, 300 miles is a minimum.

It's got to be beautifully styled. It has to meet their functionality. They're not going to buy a sedan if they need a truck. So you need to have them across the right segments, and it's got to be affordable. And then after we get through those, they also want to make sure they don't get charge anxiety. When is everyone driving me be well. We're hoping by 2035 from a light-duty perspective, because heavy duty is going to take probably. And we have fuel cell technology as well.

We think that's going to be a little bit longer, but, you know, we're working on that. It's just a longer time frame. You know, I believe we can get there. While you've been building a new GM and investing in new EV plants, you've also been closing traditional plants. That means people have lost jobs. Like you've laid off a lot of workers. That hurts the people, that hurts the community. It hurts, you know, your reputation, depending on who you ask, how does that sit with you?

We have closed very few plants because I think when we look at this, we're looking at, and that really wasn't an EV-ICE EV transition. That was making the business more efficient. But you have laid off a lot of. We have, but we, a lot of those people had the opportunity to move to another one of our plants. It may not be the job where the job was, but there is a job for the most part. And so I think that's important because we also have to continue to make the business efficient.

Competition is fierce. If we don't make those decisions, we put everything at risk. Labor issues took the spotlight in 2023 during the contentious United Autoworker strike at GM, Ford, and Stellantis. There comes a point in time where you've been abused enough. You have to stand up for yourself. The union won historic concessions, including substantial pay raises, which union leaders said were long overdue. And Barra's relationship with her workers isn't the only challenge.

Chinese automakers like BYD are racing ahead when it comes to producing cheap EV's at scale vehicles like BYD Seagull, which sells for just $11,000 in China, could disrupt the US auto market if they became available here. What's a bigger threat, Tesla, or BYD? I take them both as significant threats. Do you think Legacy American automakers will maintain their position? I do. I do. I mean, again, we have to earn that right. I think we clearly have the capability to do it.

We've got to have great vehicles at the right price. The car customer is very rational. Another trouble spot, Autonomous vehicles. Last year, one of GM's cruise robotaxis was involved in an accident that severely injured a pedestrian. Cruise didn't immediately disclose the details of the incident to regulators, and the company's license to operate in California was suspended. This is actually my very first time without a human driver. I rode in a cruise vehicle just a few months before it shut down in San Francisco.

And it wasn't the smoothest ride. Oh, speed bump. But I could see the promise. I could see the perils broadly. What went wrong at Cruze, in your view? Well, I think the team there didn't recognize the need to build a relationship with the local regulators, the state regulators, as well as the first responders. I think they believed, hey, this technology is so great. It's got such great promise. We've already demonstrated it's safer than a human driver.

Well, get it out there and people will love it. Well, I don't think technology adoption happens that way that many times. So what's the plan to fix Cruze and get it back on track? I think our focus right now is we're working on what is the relaunch plan because we believe in the core technology and the team that's doing that. We plan to go to one city and really demonstrate building the relationships, engaging the community, and demonstrating the technology and the good that it provides, and then we'll go from there.

This company has been around 115 years. Where is it going to be in another century? You know what is really cool? We went back and I actually read the initial articles of incorporation for the company. And in that, they talked about electric vehicles, they talked about flying vehicles. And so who knows what our future holds? Inside the magic kingdom of GM's campus, it's easy to imagine Bara's vision of the future coming true.

But back in the real world, I thought it was time to step on the brakes for a moment. Hello. Hello. Bloomberg's David Welch is a veteran of the Detroit auto Bee. Welcome to Detroit. And just the kind of person to talk to for a reality check on GM's lofty goals. A million EV's by 2025. Are they going to deliver on that? So if I have to weigh down money on this table right now, I'd say no.

I think they figured they could do it because they've been building vehicles out of muscle memory for 100 years. But these vehicles were different. They've had all kinds of problems. Building batteries, getting the software that's so crucial, getting an electric vehicle to work. And consumers haven't really popped the clutch on this and decided, mass market consumers, that they're all in on electric vehicles. So I think they pushed so hard, it was just tough to get it all done without problems.

She's trying to push into all levels of the EV market. She's trying to make SUVs, sedans, everything compacts. This is critical to her growth plan. What she wanted to do was have an EV in every segment of the market before Tesla could get there, before Ford, Volkswagen, and Toyota could get there. That way she could reset the market share table in the United States. Remember, they used to have half the market. Now they've got 16, 17%. They would get those buyers and they would grow market share, and they would grow revenue faster than anybody else.

And look, honestly, I think she had the right vision, but I think the organization has just had a tough time getting it done, not just because it's GMDH. Everyone's having this problem. This switch is a lot harder than everyone thinks. Just like the switch to Autonomous vehicles has been for everybody.

You wrote a book about Mary. How would you compare Mary to other CEO's? Look, she's been really daring with GM, if you think about it. Closed down a lot of businesses that weren't working, made some really tough choices, and she had to go to war with the union and Donald Trump over this. She was a frequent target of Trump's because she was closing some of these plant. I was very tough. I spoke with her when I heard they were closing, and I said, you know, this country's done a lot for General Motors. You better get back in there soon. That's Ohio.

GM's also, though, nationally, sort of. This company people love to hate. I just. From the mail I get from people, it just is. It set the standard in business for a lot of things. They were more profitable than any company in history. They didn't Lose. And then this long period of decline that sort of had Americans looking at it like, our hometown team hasn't been good in decades, but they're gaining market share again. They make a lot of money. So there's been a lot of improvement in GM since she's Been CEO. And they're not all the way back to and nowhere near that sixties glory, but I think that's what drives her is getting Back to that.

All right, cheers. Cheers. To Detroit. To Detroit.

All right, so is this one of your favorite places? This is our favorite place in Detroit. My husband and I, when we are planning our anniversary, it's like we want to go to She Wolves. So we definitely love this place. Detroit has so much history and lore. You know, it has this stereotype of being a city in decline.

Like there are a lot of scars. And so I wonder, do you feel a responsibility to Detroit? Absolutely. You know, when you look at some of the cities that are struggling around the country, this is one of the cities where the state, the city and business came together. Detroit at one time was a powerhouse, and I think you can't take it for granted. So we're very supportive of what's happening in the city and feel a responsibility to help it be what it once was and, frankly, better than it once was.

I've spoken to people on your team who've said, you're often saying, tell me the truth. Like, even if it's hard, I want to hear the truth. Even if the truth is tough. Right? Why? Well, you know, I've learned through some of the challenges that General Motors had. When's the best time to solve a problem? I'll talk to the entire company. I'll say, when's the best time to solve a problem? And they kind of look at me and I'm like, the minute you know you have one. Because then it's usually smaller. As we all know, problems don't go away on their own. Very few go away on their own. You have to be transparent anytime. You know, I think a senior person thinks that, oh, I'm the only one who knows, so I can keep it quiet.

They're not being honest with themselves. Does your leadership philosophy at work apply to home and your family as well? I think my kids, you know, and my husband wanna make sure that they don't work for me. It's like, okay, you know, so, no. Do you ever rewatch the SNL skit? Like, was that a hard moment or a funny moment?

No, it was. It was kind of. You have to put it all in perspective. You know, I was worried about my children. And then I talked to my daughter, she goes, yeah, none of my friends really watch that, Mom. And I'm like, okay, it's gonna be okay. You know, I was worried about them. You know, I'm the one who signs up for this job. And, you know, you take the good with the bad and. But when it affects them, that's when you know that. Mom, fierceness kicks soon.

You were the first female CEO of a global automaker, and you still are. How do you reflect on that? I mean, like, does that surprise, even now, ten years later, you're still the only woman running a major auto company? Well, you know what I think one of the things, you know, when you think about how women's lists are celebrated, I mean, the real celebration is when we don't need a list of women CEO's or women entrepreneurs or women CFO's. So often when I first got this job, you know, they would say, you're the first woman to lead an auto company. I'm like, yes, that's correct.

You know, there was no question there. And it was like. And what I, what I took from it, though. What I finally and where I find I can add value is if I can motivate some little girl or, frankly, little boy who's in fourth grade or fifth grade to study math and to say, wow, if she can do it, I can do it, then I feel like that's beneficial. You know, my son, on his varsity jacket, he was an athlete. He still is. And on it was hard work beats talent. If talent doesn't work hard, I like that.

I'm gonna bring that one home to my kids. Yeah. And so I think that kind of mindset of hard work, and you can dream big. I hope every middle schooler, high schooler, that they have the ability to drip back.

Mary Barra, Automotive Industry, GM, Innovation, Leadership, Technology