CEO Mary Barra – A Leadership Breakthrough

Mary Barra has been named the new CEO of General Motors, (effective January 15, 2014); she’s the first female chief executive officer in a major automotive company. Quite the break through!

Joining GM at 18 as a co-op student, Ms. Barra continually climbed the corporate ladder during her 33 year career at GM. She has held a variety of engineering and administrative positions, including Vice President of Global Human Resources where her responsibilities included overseeing and restructuring GM’s cultural change due to bankruptcy.

Ms. Barra is both an outstanding technician, and a well respected leader. As an engineer, she had responsibility for GM’s 11 worldwide brands for their design, program management, and quality improvement efforts. She is known for her approachability and effectiveness, and for her vision.

Current CEO Akerson said why Ms. Barra was selected:

Because of the breadth of her experience, her management record, her people skills and her understanding of GM’s operations.

Her breadth and depth of experience and her interpersonal and people skills are repeatedly mentioned as key strengths, and it was also stated that she “brought order to chaos” in the global product development process.

She shares her vision, she knows where she wants to take the company, she reacts well to change, and helps lead others through it. An industry analyst attributes her strong leadership style to be “more of a coach than a traditional top-down executive.” In 2012, Forbes Magazine recognized Barra as the 41st most powerful woman in the world, where she was praised for both her automotive business knowledge, and her leadership style.

Barra’s Tips for Success

  • Pursue a career with passion and hard work; talent alone is not enough to be a success.
  • Address challenges head-on; get all those involved together right away to address the situation.
  • Change the world; rethink outdated assumptions and make a real difference; protect the things that don’t need to change.
  • Give something back; find a cause, join a charity, help a neighbor.
  • Remember your friends, family, and faith. They help celebrate good times and cope with bad times. Faith doesn’t always make things easy, but it can make all things possible.

Ms. Barra is yet another leader that exemplifies courageous leadership, and is proof that all things are possible!

Are You Strategic?

As leaders we make decisions daily that are critical to the success of our organization. We continually seek ways to grow revenue, reduce costs, and build bench-strength.

We make decisions that link and support initiatives across the organization, and we spread levels of awareness for understanding how behaviors and processes link with our strategy, our vision, and our goals.

Strategic planning is worthless – unless there is first a strategic vision.
–John Naisbitt

How to Start Thinking Strategically

Many of us do not excel at thinking strategically, or at identifying and cultivating future leaders that have the capacity to think strategically. Here is an action guide to get you going:

  • Define the business you are in and stay on top of the trends within our industry.
  • Know who your customers are and their needs and wants.
  • Identify what services you provide. Could additions/deletions add value? What are our differentiators?
  • Determine what you want your organization to be known for.
  • Analyze pursuing strategic alliances; create a plan to make it real.
  • Engage your high performers!

The intent is to align staff to collaborate and support the attainment of desired short and long term results, and provide new ideas and fresh thinking for growth opportunities.

  • Conduct brain-storming workshops. Determine how to categorize ideas as good, great, “later,” or not actionable.
  • What value will the new idea provide?
  • How will the new idea(s) impact your organization (negatively and positively)?

Fortune magazine named Elon Musk the 2013 Business Person Of The Year. Why? Because of his multi-dimensional thinking, his obsession for design perfection, his passion, his clarity, and his conviction.

What plans to you have in place to drive exceptional business results, infuse innovation and creativity, adapt a growth mindset, and influence others to remain motivated, inspired and renewed?

Are You Keeping Up?

What got you to where you are today will more than likely NOT take you to your desired next level of achievement.

Leadership development is not a onetime event. Learning to be an effective leader takes time, care, and attention.

Part of our tool kit now includes QwikCoach, a 24X7 coaching support tool that provides access to hundreds of tips, techniques, and practice exercises that leaders find invaluable.

It’s a great tool for development planning and for conducting one on one feedback sessions.

QwikCoach has been incorporated into the Leadership Journey I and Journey II programs. It’s also available for those that have not yet taken the Leadership Journey  (a resource for specific needs), and a refresher for those that have graduated.

QwikCoach is one more way to provide your staff with development opportunities.

Contact us to learn more or for a complimentary overview session.