Lutz Isn’t Leaving

But he’s not going to just be GM’s mascot, vice chairman says.


Reports of Bob Lutz’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.  Just ask the septuagenarian General Motors vice chairman.
It’s been a chaotic month at GM, with a CEO fired, a new Buick boss quitting after just eight days, and enough other personnel changes to require a scorecard to keep up.  When Vice Chairman Bob Lutz was stripped of his duties as marketing czar, two weeks ago, many observers were ready to bet that the former Marine pilot would be the next out the dooR. They would have bet wrong, said Lutz, who turned out for a Wednesday night preview of new Chevrolet products.  “I’m happy as a clam,” the 77-year-old Swiss-born Lutz proclaimed while leaning against the next-generation Chevy Malibu.

“If left to me, as long as I have the energy, as long as I have my health, as long as I have my drive and ability to contribute,” he asserted, “I’ll stay.  If not, I’ll retire.”  Of course, Lutz quickly added, “I serve at the will of the Board,” and, in particular, the will of GM’s determined new Chairman and Acting CEO Ed Whitacre, Jr.

Whitacre seems determined to reshape GM, even if it means completely changing the corporate management team.  In fact, Lutz noted, he’s just about “the last man standing.” In the eight years since he joined the automaker, he noted, only two of the top 50 executives at the company remain – himself and Tom Stephens, who earlier this year took over Lutz’s formal role as GM’s product development boss.
If he’s no longer product czar and no longer overseeing marketing, what exactly is Lutz doing?  “I’m doing everything Ed Whitacre isn’t,” he explained, serving as a sort of “coordination person.”  Whitacre, GM insiders reveal, isn’t the traditional top-down manager.  While he sets tough performance standards, he prefers to empower his management team and then set them off to deliver results.  In many ways, Lutz is
the man in-between.

“Ed Whitacre and the Board expect me to make sure that the philosophy of building the world’s best cars is not diluted,” said Lutz.
Another duty, suggested Mark Reuss, GM’s new president of North American operations, is serving as the company’s repository of institutional knowledge.  In a career that has spanned nearly half a century, Lutz has worked for some of the giants of the industry, including not only General Motors, but BMW, Ford and, during its better days, Chrysler.
“I talk with him for two hours every week about everything,” said Reuss.  “I’m lucky to have that kind of knowledge coming to me.”
One reason why Lutz seems ready and willing to stay is that he and Whitacre appear to have a similar approach to management.  The GM chairman, Lutz explains, “is a very intuitive manager, and so am I.  Give us two sheets of paper and a few numbers or you’re wasting our time.”

Whether Lutz will continue to find his new role rewarding enough remains to be seen.  He’s not the type to be comfortable showing up when the media wants a good quote, then settling back to watch others run things.  “I have never been a very good mascot,” Lutz said with a grin and a soft chuckle as a horde of reporters descended upon him to ask about his new role.

VIA: 

Mark, Susan...What Do You Say About Ed Whitacre?

Top GM Executives Share Their Opinions Of New/Interim CEO (And Chairman) Ed Whitacre

Dec. 14, 2009

A recent conference call with Mark Reuss (newly-appointed president of GM North America) and Susan Docherty (vice president of Sales, Service and Marketing) provided some more information about chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre – particularly his management style, personality, and goals for the company. Whitacre, who retired as chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T in 2007, was appointed chairman of the “new GM” on June 9 (2009). On December 1st, after the sudden resignation of Fritz Henderson, Whitacre also added CEO to his title. Since not much information was provided about Henderson’s departure, it has been speculated that Whitacre and Henderson bumped heads on many issues and that Fritz was ultimately shown the door. As such, many wondered whether Whitacre was going on a plain-old power grab – hoarding as much power to himself as possible. Reuss’ and Docherty’s comments during the conference call have revealed that the “power grab” rumor couldn’t be further from the truth.

Both executives spoke highly of Whitacre and said that he is very goal-oriented, genuine, and has high expectations for everyone at GM. Instead of a summary, here is the transcribed text from Mark and Susan:

Mark:

What I don’t want on my comments is to look like just because I just got promoted, that I’m in love with the new CEO…. this guy is one of the most honest, genuine people that I’ve met. And forget about whether it’s in the auto industry or anything else he is a terrific person and so that’s really important to me… and the integrity and the honesty and the straightforwardness is something that I personally value a lot… and I’ll leave it at that.

Susan:

… over the last 60 days in my role as VP of sales, I’ve had a chance to interact with him while he was the chairman of the board of directors… he’s obviously now added CEO to his title… my observations would be that he digs very deep into the organization and wants to unleash talent within the organization which I think is positive… I think that even though he does not consider himself an auto expert he asks great questions and from a personal standpoint I would say that he’s pretty clear that he expects people to perform… he wants positive business results and if he sees something that’s off track he’s gonna hold me in particular and I’m sure all executives accountable.. I happen to have a product right now that has a pretty ___-day supply and there isn’t a time that he doesn’t ask me about what it is that myself and the team are doing to go and resolve it and to be quite frank with you – I like being accountable for that… he’s not telling me how to solve the problem but he’s pretty clear with me that he expects me to solve it… and as a leader, there isn’t anything more that I could ask from him than to support me in that effort but I certainly know where I stand in terms of where his expectations are of me.

When asked whether they had any idea about Whitacre’s plan to remain as CEO and Chairman (emphasis on the CEO part), both Reuss and Docherty replied that they didn’t know.

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Dearly hope they ALL will succeed.../MT

Will Bob Lutz be GM's Next Chief Executive Officer?

Bob Lutz at 2009 LA Auto Show

Will Bob Lutz be GM's Next Chief Executive Officer?

Posted Today 08:00 PM by Todd Lassa -Motor Trend Blog

DETROIT - It's not as outrageous as it sounds. Lutz, who has worked for General Motors, Ford, BMW, Chrysler and GM again will be 78 years old in February. As Chairman Ed Whitacre's right-hand-man, Lutz will help make sure Whitacre will pick the right man or woman to be GM's next CEO. If Whitacre is smart -- and he is -- there will be no more chairman/CEO, like Rick Wagoner, or CEO/president, like Fritz Henderson.

Mark Reuss' quick ascendancy at age 46 is a great, inspired choice. While Reuss is a second-generation GM lifer, he's a dyed-in-the-driving gloves car guy, and one who already is shaking up the traditional notions of how America's biggest automaker should be run.

Reuss easily could be CEO some day. Meanwhile, Whitacre has made it clear he wants quick changes, the type Alan Mulally has made at Ford Motor Company. While Mulally came from another type of manufacturing background with Boeing, he didn't understand how long product development takes in the auto industry. More importantly, Mulally changed the corporate culture at Ford, inspiring mid- and lower-level management to speak up at meetings, and to keep meetings short and to the point.

While he has been entrenched in the auto industry for most of the past 46 years, Lutz, too, is known for open, free-wheeling meetings in which car guys and other management get a chance to exchange ideas, rather than kiss up to the boss. Certainly, Whitacre has encountered that in his five months at GM.

At GM, Henderson, yet another in a long line of powerpoint addicts, is gone.

You'll remember that Wagoner asked Lutz, who was then heading up Exide batteries, to help find him a "car guy" to be his right-hand man. Lutz had just turned 70 when he recruited himself to the job, and the rest is history.

He has made many mistakes at GM, but they're the good kind. Yes, the Kappa platform probably cost GM far more money than it made, but it was GM's first attempt at a low-cost two-seat, four-cylinder sports car since before the Mazda Miata launch. Zeta and the Pontiac GTO predecessor fell short, as well, but I suspect both Lutz and Reuss see a North American-produced RWD Chevy Caprice and Buick Electra as viable, relatively low-volume products for the future, so long as GM can extract some mass out of the Zeta platform.

The good news is that GM has good, high-volume product that should offset the costs of Kappa and Zeta, and Lutz also deserves credit for seeing to it that cars like the Chevy Malibu, Buick LaCrosse and Cadillac CTS are world class.

So will Lutz become GM's next CEO? He's helping Whitacre on an "international search," but they're bound by salary restrictions so long as they've been propped up by U.S. Treasury funds. Lutz doesn't want to work for "peanuts" either. However, he's living quite comfortably already, and he's always been just a step below the top job, having been shut out by lesser minds at Chrysler in the '90s. He might have to sell another jet.

One advantage for GM is that at Lutz's age, being CEO should automatically be an "interim" position, one that would presumably bridge the company to an IPO and put it in a better position for an international search. And it would give Whitacre time to see whether guys like Reuss are truly capable of the kind of change he wants.

On the other hand, Lutz has displayed no signs of slowing down since he re-joined GM. As CEO, he could be in charge for another seven years.

Crazy idea maybe, but given how he recruited himself in 2002, I wouldn't bet against it.

Source: Motor Trend Blog 

riskyinstinct  : (Today 08:33 PM) 

It doesn't sound outrageous one single bit. BUT I think Lutz' s been, on purpose(of some sort I believe) staying away from such an assignment.

One Hell of a guy in PR & Product. He has been doing very good with BOLD messages as a new advertising theme and pointing his index finger towards more and more products to build up the core brands' product line. GM owes him and is corporate followers a gr8 deal for the 'inflection points' he has created for GM's post-bankruptcy sales and brands' public awareness. He wouldn't be willing to deal with the 'dull' finance issues and would never be a 'D.C.'s good boy' at GM. Lutz needs to breathe thru his own nose, if u will, and keep launching new products, organise challenges(the CTS-V challenge) that raises gr8 publicity over the net, get the media across- but never too far away- frequently to hear him out. He has to be in the kitchen with Ed Welburn and his team instead of board meetings... 

Conclusively, I think WE would lose him if he ever got to become the CEO. He tastes as good as ever at where he is.../MT

GM Announces Leadership Changes

2009-12-04 DETROIT – To improve accountability and responsibility for market performance in North America and around the world, several key leadership changes were announced today by GM Chairman and CEO, Ed Whitacre.

“I want to give people more responsibility and authority deeper in the organization and then hold them accountable,” Whitacre said.  “We’ve realigned our leadership duties and responsibilities to help us meet our mission to design, build and sell the world’s best vehicles.”

Senior Leadership Group:

Susan E. Docherty-Vice President, U.S. Sales

Timothy E. Lee-Group Vice President, Global Manufacturing and Labor

Robert A. Lutz-Vice Chairman, Marketing and Communications

J. Christopher Preuss-Vice President, Communications

David N. Reilly-Executive Vice President and President, International Operations

Mark Reuss-Vice President, Global Vehicle Engineering

John F. Smith-Group Vice President, Corporate Planning and Alliances

Robert E. Socia-Vice President, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain

Thomas G. Stephens-Vice Chairman, Global Product Development

Diana D. Tremblay-Vice President, North America Labor Relations

Edward E. Whitacre, Jr.-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

SOURCE: