Readers know I've been following the GM Fastlane Blog since its launch. I've commented about Bob Lutz's posts and the role of blogging in leading organizational change.
But today's GM Fastlane post is very different.
In it, Joe Katona, Director of Vehicle Architecture in GM Product Engineering writes about a recent event that changed his life: his 17 year-old son becoming paralyzed from the shoulders down after an April auto accident. In his post, Katona writes of exploring the transportation requirements his family now had, and of questions from other families in similar circumstances. His words say it best:
Nearly all of it was new to me. I knew that being a GM engineer gave me an advantage, but I still felt overwhelmed with the many aspects of dealing with disability, including those associated with mobility. It seems there are reams of information, but no way to evaluate how credible and accurate the information is. There are no reliable, third party resources for my family and others like ours – all facing these important decisions, which will affect how well we get around to shop, visit the doctor or see family and friends.
Fortunately, I was able to reach out to a team at GM working on products and services for people with special transportation needs. You can see much of their work at www.gmmobility.com. I am trying to get as much information as I can from GM’s mobility team, but they also want to learn from me and others facing similar family issues. They want to know what we think and what we need.
The GM Mobility team and I want to learn what has worked for you. Please post your thoughts and experiences. I'll do the same through periodic updates on this site as I learn more about GM’s offerings and gather additional information.
I look forward to hearing from you.
This tragic story illustrates the enormous power of simple stories told in simple human terms. Here's a family whose life has been inalterably changed. As a father and an engineer, Katona is using his special professional resources to address a problem that is both personal and social: helping create adaptive equipment to address the transportation needs of disabled people. One of those is his son.
As a company, GM is reaching out to people with special needs and inviting them to participate in creating vehicles that meet those needs.
What kind of responses do you think this story will bring? How much attention will it call to this serious problem?
My guess is, we'll see plenty of action coming from Katona's simple call for others to tell their story after he so simply and movingly told his.
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