An Open Letter to GM CEO Fritz Henderson
Good morning Mr. Henderson --
Big day for you, no question. My best wishes go out to you on Day One running the new General Motors. Clean slate, pretty much, except for those legacy issues that might hold you back. A culture of poor vision, poor design, poor assembly, poor service. That's a lot to change all at once, but you'll need to do it. At your press conference you said the new GM would be bringing to the market, among other things, great design. That really struck me. I wondered what your process would be for inspiring, creating and recognizing great design. And how could a passion for great design be inculcated into the culture on a permanent basis?
Your passenger vehicle sales are now one-fifth of what they were at their peak. You've lost sales to all those well-designed and well built Japanese, European and even American cars. I can't imagine that without great design you will be able to get people like me out of their Audis and Hondas.
And that's what worries me. I really wonder if General Motors can suddenly start to make stuff that's well-designed, from both the engineering side, as well as the interior and exterior. Can an organization that has made so much truly ugly stuff suddenly start making great design?
I went to your new website, gmreinvention.com, and perused the portraits of the top team, just to get some clues about the design sense there. I see mostly corporate-type guys, in ties and suits, and the one thing that doesn't leap out is, "Wow -- great design sense." What leaps out is, "Older white guys wearing suits to the office in Detroit, except for one woman and one black guy." And while we're all looking at this new website together for clues about the new GM, does it worry any of you that the portfolio of the woman, Susan E. Doherty, is described as: "North America VP, Buick-Pontiac-GMC"? Didn't anyone tell the web designer that Pontiac was buried several weeks ago?
The first clue that I will be looking for that will indicate whether you might be getting it will be how you go about changing the old GM logo and branding. Will you step up to the world-class level of your competition, or will we have more lipstick-on-a-pig level efforts? The truth is, if your new logo and design efforts are synthesized for you by an outside agency working with your marketing people, chances are the new look of GM will be as disconnected from your aspirations as the current worn-out GM blue and white letters over a thick bar.
What should your process be to discover your new image? A significant number of top team people from a broad spectrum of leadership is going to need to get together and decide what the new GM really stands for. If you don't get this critical first step done right, the chances that anything else you do will be able to accurately express your aspirations for the new GM will be zero. If you don't know who you are and can't articulate it, a whole bunch of people throughout the organization are going to be making up their version of what the new GM is, and it's going to be way, way too much like the old GM.
Once you have those retreats to figure out who you are, then you'll be able to talk to designers about that new logo. You will be able to tell them what you want to convey, instead of the other way around. And when they get it right, you'll be the ones who know.
In the meantime, the whole world is watching. And we'll know, too, when we see that new "GM" for the first time, what your future is.
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Seriously.....take a test drive of the new Camaro, the Chevy Malibu, and the Cadillac CTS.
I've driven Hondas and Toyotas for years - uncomfortable seats, but otherwise o.k.......after tiring of the 1995 Geo Prism (not great design, but the price was right at the time).....then I tried the Malibu and I love it.
As far as the employee photos on the GM Fastlane site.....they don't accurately represent the GM design team. Design is made up of talented people from the world over - and they're all ages. Mostly guys, although more women are getting into car design. If you look at any large company's website that posts photos of their higher ups, I think you'll notice that they're mostly middle-aged to older white males. Such is the culture of big business.
Mr. Sindel,
It is obvious from your comments that you know absolutely nothing about the auto industry. I agree that GM (as well as Ford & Chrysler) have made huge missteps over the past several decades. However, GM now makes some truly world class cars, many of which have already been mentioned in previous comments (CTS, G8, Enclave, Camaro, etc.). They also have some great new cars and crossovers in the pipeline (SRX, LaCrosse, Equinox, Volt)
Design is not the problem with American car makers anymore, it is the the penny-pinching accountants who try to squeeze every dime out of cars at the expense of quality and attractiveness. You should aim some of your ignorance at them. My current fear is not product design, but that GM has now been taken over by an administration that seems intent on forcing automakers to build cars for which there is no demand. How about you comment on that?
BTW - The "one black guy" in the picture is GM's VP of Global Design Ed Wellburn. Did you even bother to figure that out?
It's almost impossible to communicate to individuals or a large entity that they are not as talented as they imagine, especially when they are surrounded by people who are not critical thinkers. I see this as the armature around which the problems at GM will continue to exist and perhaps doom the company to failure. I don't see GM reaching out to the world's best thinkers and designers; a Marc Newson, a Bruce Mau or an IDEO to name a popular few. They would have to "get it" to do something so smart. Even a cursory review of their "reinvention" website shows that these people are not up to the task. A telling sign; those who claim to "reinvent" themselves most likely are not.
Mr Sindell,
If you really think that the very first thing GM needs to do is expend time and resources to rework it's LOGO, then, you sir, rank right up there with Bob Nardelli with knowing how to absolutely waste time and resources.
You really should take Mr. Welburn up on his offer to tour the GM Design Center.
Perhaps then your misguided stereotypes can be redefined.
For example...they wear suits for a PHOTOSHOOT...it may be the only time the rest of the year they wear suits.
And if you really and honestly think a new logo is going to sell cars, well...I don't even know where to go with that one...
Mr. Sindell,
Your recent book proposes to help people analyze ideas and set those ideas up for success. If your methods of work are reflected in this article, I'd say you should recall every printed copy and offer refunds to everyone who has purchased your book.
Your analysis of GM's current state was to visit a web site and look at the pictures of the leaders. Your measure of success will be to evaluate a new logo. Not only are your ideas superficial, they don't offer any real probative value when assessing GM's current problems, strengths and prospects for success
Writing an open letter that focuses so much on design and not addressing that letter to the head of design at GM is an example of muddled thinking. In the course of a short open letter, you've demonstrated that you are not capable of developing an idea nor of thinking through an issue, both things your recent book claims to help people to do.
Any fool can claim to be an expert and write a book. In your case, one has.
Wow, it's like you wrote this without even bothering to check out the 2009-2010 GM lineup or read the automotive press' reviews of the same. Cadillacs beating BMWs in head-to-head comparisons and so on. I've owned Audis and Hondas in addition to other makes both foreign and domestic; GM is definitely designing at - or in some cases, exceeding - the level of quality exhibited by their tier-one competition. Buick is the number one make for dependability according to JD Power; Cadillac is rated 6th for overall performance and design - ahead of Audi (8th) and Honda (21st).
And why are you hung up on their logo? I'd rather they not worry about the "lipstick" and instead keep their creative energies focused on product.
Oh, and was there actually a point to your article aside from accusing GM design of tokenism?
So let me get this straight - you want GM designers and executives to stop wearing suits? And you want GM to spend time and money solely on designing their new logo? But hold up a minute. In this same breathe, you speak about them not having well-designed cars... yet you want them to throw themselves all behind designing a new logo. See where I'm going here? You're talking out of both sides of your mouth, Mr. Sindell. That is a complete and utter waste of GM's time and money, time and money that could be spent designing those new well-built and -designed vehicles. And that brings me to my next point, while you have had your head stuck under the seats of your "Audis and Hondas", GM has been building well-built and -designed cars. Have you even looked at their recent cars before instantly blasting them? The apparent answer is no. They are built just as good or better than the competition and many look much better - both on the outside and inside - than what many of the European and Japanese (especially) automakers are producing these days.
BTW, Pontiac is not gone yet. GM simply announced it would be phased out. Anybody with any kind of business sense would know that someone needs to manage the brand while it is still here and even for a while after it has dropped from the market.
I am no fan of GM. I have owned the Audi's and Honda's you mention in your article and don't plan on trading those out anytime soon. However, GM has made real efforts in terms of design and quality in the last half decade. Sure, it may be too little, too late, but your article misses that completely. This is not the same GM of the 90's. The new Malibu is a fantastic car design and a huge step in the right direction. The Cadillac CTS is a world class car, that easily competes with the likes of premium Euro brands. The Pontiac G8 GT, while not a big seller, was also a very impressive effort besting the BMW 5 series from a performance standpoint, which it had in it's sights from the get go.
I'm a car guy, and to me, these ARE representative of who GM is, and where it's going. I'm frankly excited about it. GM IS missing desirable cars that are fuel efficient, it needs to get something in the pipeline for this market segment.
Who you really need to worry about is Chrysler. The are dead as a doornail as far as I'm concerned.
Mr. Sinell -
Please see Ed Welburn, GM VP of Global Design's response to your blog post on GM's Fastlane blog
http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/archives/2009/06/an_open_letter_to_gerald_sindell_of_the_huffington_post.html
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