[RCB268]

Dan Howes' interview of The Boss over at GM: "This is all about change," Akerson said in an interview this week with The Detroit News. "The minute you stop evolving, you're dead. We have to continually evolve. There was a certain degree of institutional arrogance at General Motors."

Read more at:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/...rogress?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

A 'real positive' to get rid of that "Government Motors" meme, I think...

 

[hvacman]

Go Dan! Entrenched upper management may resent losing some executive perks, but the line workers and engineers probably quietly cheer every [email protected] move he makes. Morale has to be high. Wonder if he would have any post-GM political aspirations?

 

[Noel Park]

Not unlike the mythical guy (Sisyphus?) who was condemned to roll a boulder up a mountain for all eternity. Every time he tried to stop and take a rest the [email protected]#$%^ thing rolled back on him.

Or Hercules cleaning out the Augean Stables, LOL.

 

[bonaire]

But please, no more blue-arch programs and forcing Chevy shops to rebuild their showroom. It has to be about the cars, not the shops. With Tesla, it's *all* about the car and really nothing about the virtual shop.

 

[hvacman]

Yes, Sisyphus. A flashback to a favorite book of mine, "The Existential Pleasures of Engineering". The author described Camus' essay on the Myth of Sisyphus as an existential statement on finding internal existential pleasure in completing sometimes-thankless and never-ending tasks. Discussing EV's, energy issues, or climate change with hardened denialists feels the same way sometimes. Cleaning out the stables of their minds is endless and thankless.

 

[bonaire]

hvacman - if you are interested in a great book about the climate denial wars, look into Michael Mann's book "The hockey stick and the climate wars". I met him at a book signing / presentation a month ago. The book basically outlines the late 1990s to present day climate-gate situation and exposes the climate deniers' roles.

http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i50/Michael-Manns-Hockey-Stick.html
http://www.realclimate.org

 

[AtomicPowered]

I read this story ten years ago (or maybe in college). A few words changed but still the same old story. These execs are smart enough to little to the press that would really give away any industrial secrets.
For example: Europe
Ford and GM are bleeding badly and have been for years. It is a developed market. Europeans fly everywhere, have great trains, are crammed into walkable cities, etc but still own 2 or more cars. They buy a luxury model fitting to their national background, like BMW, Mercedes or Audi, and then buy one or more micro-cars like a Daihatsu or other 3rd world cousins. They increasingly are not buying mass market middle of the road brands like Ford or GM. The unions and the politicians in tow are milking GM and Ford making it hard to succeed or to leave. Add in an anti-Americanism prevalent in Europe and it does not look good.
Changing a couple executive faces will not stem the losses. They probably should be going up market, bring in their micro-cars from elsewhere and be content with a lot less market share. Will the Euro-governments let them?
Would you hear this story in any mass media in the USA?

 

[hvacman]

Bonaire - Looks like a great book. It's interesting that GM selected "hockey sticks" to display power flow on the 2013 Volt DIC. Subliminal message?

Presenting the facts, though, isn't everything. Effective debunking requires understanding the mind of the denier.
Skepticalscience.com has a great free pdf handbook for those who dare to wade into those treacherous waters (or Augean Stables.

The Debunking Handbook

 

[petefoss]

Dan was at R&D a few weeks ago. It was a really great visit. He swelled our heads by calling us "rocket scientists" <grin>.

It's also scary that nobody could remember the last time the CEO of GM visited R&D. I remember Roger Smith visiting in the last 80's cause it was a circus. Helicopter from Detroit (all of 16 miles to drive), etc.