Mr. Lutz Is In

Bob Lutz stays in the blogosphere for real with his latest post.  In it, he responds to questions about whether or not he'll continue to write about the difficulties facing GM, given his new responsibilities.

What began as an experiment has become an important means of communication for GM. It has given me, personally, an opportunity to get much closer with you, the public. Often, I find your comments insightful and compelling. At times your criticism is harsh. But the fact that you have remained interested and continue to have faith in our efforts to develop great products is a worthy motivator.

Questions have been raised as to whether I will continue to be involved in FastLane given my re-focused responsibilities. The answer is an unequivocal "yes." From its inception this blog has been a forum for GM's leadership to discuss important issues with a spotlight on product... product plans, product virtues and truths. In fact, I hope to see more GM leaders begin to engage in this conversation on the FastLane over the coming weeks.We hear your words loud and clear. We're redoubling our efforts to build great cars and trucks and we'll continue to talk about them, right here.

So, not only does Bob intend to keep blogging, he's going to encourage other executives to do the same. 

Now, if blogging's such a "pet rock" kind of thing, why are senior execs at GM even thinking about it at this critical time in the company's history?

I'll take a shot at that.

Because they're seeing what happens when you connect directly with people who care about your product.  With people who sometimes aren't kind, but who are engaged.  Just like these guys said.  Connections.  Conversations.  How many hits do you suppose this blog is getting every day?  How much attention is the blog bringing to the struggle going on to keep GM solvent?  How much more do you think people care whether GM survives or not because of this one simple attempt at humanizing a giant corporation?  Whether you think it's a story, or think it's a lie, Bob's marketing GM to us in a way it hasn't been marketed before.

Is blogging going to save GM?  Nah.  But Bob Lutz is showing he's going to do everything possible to do so, even if it means doing something stupid like blogging.

Comments

[David Bogataj]

Mr. Lutz
I am a Drafting/Cad instructor of 30 years. I was pleased by your comments reguarding the comparison of GM and Asian engineers. The training of the US educated engineers is sad, but true. I have always pleaded with my fellow educators that the basic skills needed for success in manufacturing have not changed over the years, just the technology. Kids today do not know how things work, how they are produced, assemblied and designed. They (the kids) do not play with machines, assemble toys, do puzzles, and develop and true understanding of manufacturing. Education is producing general educated students and are asking industry to train them for their use. GM and other industries cannot afford to do this primary educating. You stated that GM will spend 3 years training their engineers in the skills of drafting. What a cost,(I could assemble a group of old fashion "shop teachers" that would do an outstand job and have fun doing it), I hope GM is using people from industry and not some out of touch consulting firm. The next move would be that GM demand its new hires to have these skills. List these skills and have education react. The high schools across the nation must revisit their goals and see that the skills aquired in machine shop, electronics, drafting/cad, mechanics, welding..... and on are important to ALL students. The quality of production would be better if all workers understand how the process works. A student that has an interest in engineering could explore these areas without fear of not being admitted to college. Colleges now drop these classes for admission purposes. How sad, we have students being admitted to the colleges of engineering who speak two or more languages, but think a pair of pliers is two different tools of some form. I am sure that other areas in business world also feel this effect. Students going into business and not exposed to accounting to see if this is for them. We as educators and you as a leader in industry have to work together to restructure the system to once again produce a workforce that is as wonderful and the one that made the industry from scratch. Each worker with the skills and knowledge to stand alone atop the manufacturing world. I am willing to work with you in this goal. You will win this battle and I along with many others like me will be battling with you. Thanks again for the encouagement and spark to keep the fire burning.

Dave Bogataj