Mary Barra’s first yr on the job as the primary girl ever to steer a world automaker was about as tough as a CEO’s first yr may be. Barra, a Common Motors lifer, took the helm at GM in January 2014. Just some weeks into the gig, she discovered herself navigating a catastrophic recall of tens of millions of GM-made vehicles attributable to defective ignition switches, a few of which had induced deadly accidents. Barra spent a lot of her debut yr on Capitol Hill, testifying in entrance of lawmakers who grilled her about why the defects had gone unfixed for thus lengthy.
It was the sort of expertise which may make you wish to stop earlier than yr two—however this January, Barra celebrated yr 10. Main the corporate by way of the recall disaster gave her momentum to reform GM’s tradition and reorganize it to organize for an electric-vehicle revolution; it additionally helped her earn the No. 1 place on our MPW checklist from 2015 by way of 2017. Since then, she’s led GM to its strongest monetary place since its 2009 chapter, when the federal government was compelled to supply the automaker a monetary lifeline. And this yr, she reclaims our prime spot.
Alongside the way in which, Barra joined an elite group. Hitting the last decade mark is a rarity for any public firm CEO, and much more so for feminine leaders: The common tenure of a Fortune 500 CEO is 7.2 years for males and simply 4.5 years for ladies. Among the many 55 girls who presently lead Fortune 500 corporations, Barra is certainly one of solely 9 who’ve been CEO for a decade or extra.
To earn longevity, after all, you must ship outcomes. GM introduced in $171.8 billion final yr, an almost 10% enhance yr over yr, and its finest efficiency in 17 years. Late final yr it reached an settlement with the United Auto Employees that ended contentious contract negotiations and a expensive, historic strike. Even with the strike’s drag on productiveness, GM raked in earnings of $10.1 billion, and its inventory is up practically 35% to this point in 2024—a testomony to Barra’s management.
That stated, Barra’s greatest mark on the corporate stays, properly, a query mark. The CEO has dedicated GM to the formidable objective of going all-electric by 2035—and its efforts have sputtered a little bit of late. (The corporate not too long ago backed away from a earlier goal of getting the capability to supply 1 million EVs in North America by 2025; it delivered solely 38,355 EVs within the area within the first half of 2024.) GM has additionally run into challenges in autonomous automobile growth, one other precedence of Barra’s. Its self-driving subsidiary, Cruise, needed to pause operations after certainly one of its automobiles was concerned in a critical accident with a pedestrian in San Francisco in late 2023; Cruise solely not too long ago resumed its robo-taxi efforts.
However as Barra says herself, transformation is just not a straight line. The CEO stays dedicated to her acknowledged objective of zero crashes, zero emissions, and 0 congestion. It simply would possibly take some time to get there. Fortune caught up with Barra—interviewing her whereas she was in a automotive, naturally—to ask in regards to the final 10 years, at present’s challenges, and the highway forward.
What’s the key to your longevity?
A part of it’s having an awesome workforce. But in addition it’s being agile and persevering with to grasp how the setting is altering, not ready and letting issues occur to you, however being proactive. You realize, after I took this function, we had been nonetheless an organization in transition and shifting towards turning into a contemporary firm in an business that was remodeling, and albeit, that transformation has solely accelerated over this 10-year interval. I’d additionally say that I’ve a very great board, and I leverage my board and actually get their finest considering.
You got here into the CEO function at a troublesome time within the firm’s trajectory. How did that first yr inform your management?
[The crisis] was a possibility to exhibit that we’re going to do the correct factor for our prospects, be clear, and do all the pieces in our energy to verify this doesn’t occur once more. We lived the values. We put insurance policies in place saying we would like individuals to talk up—if you happen to see a difficulty, you’ll want to say one thing. I all the time say to workers that one of the best time to resolve an issue is the minute you understand you will have one. As a result of issues don’t often get smaller, they get larger.
One of many stuff you stated again then is that you just didn’t need the corporate to neglect, to place the previous behind it. How do you try this at present, particularly with newer workers?
It’s attention-grabbing that we’re speaking this week, as a result of that is our International Security Week, which we now have every year. And sometimes I say we by no means wish to neglect as a result of 40% of our technical expertise and most of our salaried workers have solely been with the corporate for 5 years or much less. So we’d like to verify they perceive the significance of and dedication to security. It’s not simply every year and executed, however every year we actually deliver it to a head.
Your first yr is fairly simple to outline: You needed to give attention to righting the ship. How do you concentrate on your subsequent years as CEO, going into this present period?
Nicely, after we acquired to 2015 it was very clear to us that the business was altering. It was altering in the way in which automobiles had been propelled, and the knowledge within the automobile—the truth that on the coronary heart of the automobile, there’s a lot software program and there’s a lot you are able to do with it. And naturally autonomy. As a management workforce, along with our board, we determined we’re not going to attend to be disrupted. We’re going to remodel.
So, in 2018 we began engaged on a world EV manufacturing platform that may enable us to do one thing as small as an Equinox all the way in which as much as a supertruck like a Hummer or a supply van just like the Chevrolet BrightDrop. We bought Cruise, but in addition began intense efforts in engaged on our autonomous software program, which continues to be heralded as among the finest driver-assistance applied sciences. Then yearly we simply proceed to regulate the technique and take a look at: How will we undergo this transformation?
Internally, how do you talk about and consider the present slowdown
within the progress of demand for EVs?
Nicely, we by no means thought this might be a straight line, a linear transformation. There’s 283 million automobiles within the U.S. alone, so it’s going to take some time to vary them out. I’m very pleased with all of our work getting extra reasonably priced automobiles on the market.
The most effective time to resolve an issue is the minute you understand you will have one. As a result of issues don’t often get smaller.
As soon as individuals really feel like they will afford the automobile, they usually don’t have vary anxiousness, the following factor is [charging-station] anxiousness, and so we’ve been engaged on charging. Frankly, I feel [progress with] charging has occurred a bit sluggish, however each quarter it will get higher.
I’ve all the time stated that the shopper is extraordinarily rational. It is a very costly buy. It’s additionally a little bit of a vogue assertion. Why do individuals decide their vehicles? It’s an integral a part of their lives. A lot of our prospects nonetheless identify their automobiles. So they need it to be there for them after they want it.
Is it simpler to remodel throughout a time of disaster or certainly one of consolation?
The foundational factor, I feel, is our behaviors. Early on, when individuals had been writing about Common Motors’ tradition, and the way it’s an issue, I requested myself, “What is a culture?” It’s a group of tales of the way in which individuals really feel daily. Do they arrive residence daily and say, “I had a great day working on this; I’m really excited and getting the resources I need”? Or do they are saying, “I’m completely frustrated. I’m trying to do this really cool thing, and I can’t get it done for all kinds of other reasons?”
Specializing in behaviors is one thing that we persistently pushed for, and we proceed to work on: How do we actually exhibit behaviors which are going to permit our individuals to do their finest work and really feel valued? I feel that’s a typical aspect.
One final query for you: What are you driving today?
That’s among the finest components of my job, as a result of I drive so many various issues, however proper now I’ve a Hummer SUV [electric version]. I really like the four-wheel steer of the automobile; I really like sitting up excessive. I’ve additionally acquired an internal-combustion engine Blazer that I spend time in. However the Hummer SUV is the principle one I’m driving now. I feel it’s fairly cool.
Can I assume what coloration it’s?
It’s black.
This text seems within the October/November 2024 challenge of Fortune with the headline, “Marry Barra: The CEO of General Motors accelerates into our top spot.”
