I was driving around this afternoon when I heard that a news conference was about to take place in which Fritz Henderson was to resigning from General Motors. Since then, The New York Times has labeled the move as surprising, but I was anything but surprised. After the Opel deal became muddled, now Saab is also in a confused state, reflective of tensions within GM. Seemingly, Henderson the once brilliant rising star -- was not in full agreement with others including Edward Whitacre. Changing the culture of a comp-any that has been operating on a multidivisional consensus/committee management system that has been in place for eight decades may be impossible. Perhaps the best route was to declare bankruptcy without the bailout, and allow the company to break up into smaller fragments that would be overly aggressive in attempting to survive. Many consumers do not want to support this Obama initiative, including former GM employees who feel abandoned. Government interference does not seem to be a part of this story. So now along with Rick Wagoner, Henderson is also no longer on the 14th floor, and who knows what will follow. GM still has a tough road ahead, as its products are not as attractive to consumers as those produced by Toyota, Honda, and Ford.
But whatever the state of things, GM is a hell of lot better off than Chrysler, a firm limping along on a reserve tank that is about to go empty. Selling 55,000 units a month and waiting for the Italians to play the role of a savior seems to be hopeless. Americans deserved better, but their leaders in business and government haven't done us any favors lately. "Everything rises and falls on leadership."
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