Righty Lutz

About six weeks ago, I wrote a post entitled "Lefty Lutz."  That piece referred to a piece GM Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz wrote in which he primarily used "performance facts" for the Pontiac  G6 to convince readers of the car's impending success.  In my comment I wrote:

But we know that cars are a big-time right brain purchase.  This guy has made a fortune converting archetypes into product features for cars like the PT Cruiser; can't get much more right-brained (or reptilian) than that!

And we know that if there's anybody in the auto industry who knows how to sell the right-brain "sizzle" along with the left-brain "steak," it's Bob Lutz.  If you read this post, you'll come across this line that pretty much says it all:

This industry builds dreams...dreams fueled by excitement, fun, inspiration and passion...

So, what Bob's doing now is working both sides.  This car, he's saying, is fun and exciting, and as a result, these kinds of people are buying them at these rates for these prices.  He knows some folks don't like the car, but he's willing to engage in a conversation about it.  Cite facts and talk emotion, too.

Well, today Bob's right-brain guns are blazin'! 

He begins by boldly addressing the cultural changes in the product development organization that will be necessary to bring about a new approach to designing great cars.

This is interesting.  Instead of telling us what GM's going to do, Bob begins by telling us how it's going to get done.  The new "how" (a result, he says, of achieving a Gladwellian tipping point within the organization) will be what I'll call "intuitively guided design" rather than "data-driven design." 

In data-driven design, quantitative studies of market characteristics determine product features.  It sometimes comes out sounding a little like a visit to a fortune teller: "all signs indicate a need for many cup holders."

In intuitively-guided design, master designers (see Gary Klein's seminal work on the meaning of expertise in this kind of domain) use their deep experience in their discipline to help them put customer-experience information into useful design characteristics, characteristics that will excite and delight customers; maybe even provide moments of joy.  Because joy is what we experience when confronted with a great design that reflect a deep understanding of our way of living in the world.

We won't get there, Bob tells us, through left brain methods.

Today, we’re operating on a much more emotional, creative level and our designers have been empowered to express themselves. Our winning products will not be determined by careful analysis; they will captivate and enthrall through imaginative design and flawless execution.

And, furthermore, what this design is aimed at is not, "good enough" quality (which is simply the ante in today's global auto poker game), but to, "target to be the best."  Which, by the way, will require another major culture shift.

All that change is enough to give an organizational consultant like me the bends!  But it's all clearly the right stuff.

Finally, he just comes right out and says it:

What we are re-learning as a company is that we are not simply in the transportation business; we’re in the art and entertainment business. So, what we’ve got at GM now, is a general comprehension that you can’t run this business by the left intellectual, analytical side of your brain alone, you have to have a lot of right side creative input. We’re putting a huge new emphasis on world class trendsetting design.

Distinctive design is GM's only real chance to turn around the customer's perception of its products.  That doesn't mean big fins, of course.  It means profound understanding of the customer's life elegantly translated into sheet metal, leather, and experiences.

Certainly easier said than done, but impossible to do without having first been said. 

There's more hard work ahead, but Bob's vision is certainly set on the "right" target.

UPDATE: Saturday 6/11, 3:58 PM - This article appeared today on Yahoo News.  GM's past design problems, exemplified by the stupendously grotesque Aztec are cited as a key source of the company's problems.

Relevant quotes:

GM chairman and chief executive G. Richard Wagoner Jr. signaled earlier this week that the company's top management was coming to grips with the severity of GM's position. That will mean reducing production, focusing on profit and perhaps even coming to terms with the once unthinkable: Toyota Motor Corp., already the world's most profitable automaker, may soon overtake GM as its largest.

Many GM executives are loath to admit that out loud, but one executive pointed to the comments of Mark R. LaNeve, GM's sales and marketing vice president, in a Detroit News column last month: "The chapter is over," LaNeve told columnist Daniel Howes. "Japan Inc. passed us up. It's old news. Our mindset is -- we've got to fight back."

"There's no convincing the pundits," the GM official shrugged. "Until the vehicles go out there and are accepted by the market, we're just going to have to bite our lip."

Comments

[Jim Wilde]

Hey Tom,

Dam good post! Thanks for sharing your insights. As a small business owner, I am always struggling with identity problems. Are we a software business or purely a service business. We do we draw the line on services since our product reaches deeply in every area of an organization?

Thanks

Jim
http://www.advancinginsights.com/mybiz/blog

[Tom]

Thanks, Jim. I think your dilemma is the one all businesses, large or small, have to face today. Who are we? The temptation to define yourself in functional terms (e.g., we're a software business) is great, but the fact is, customers don't buy "software," they buy "something that helps me be successful." That's a lot more than just lines of code; it's an attitude of concern about how the customer uses what you make. Establishing relationships based on that attitude makes you much more important to your customers, and much less likely to be replaced by the next hot thin. Bob Lutz saying GM is in the art and entertainment business may freak out a few technical analysts, but most customers know what he means, if only intuitively.

[Cap'n Bill]

A super presentation. Maybe strong enough to have me buy some GM stock. No doubt, one part of the organization understands the new goals!

Now just to save some total time, start a similar upgrading of vision and design and attitude in your dealer organization. The showroom floor needs help.

"'way to Go".