Do you think the leader is successful and why? Where are areas he/she can improve and why?

General Motors is a world famous automobile manufacturing company headquartered in the United States. One of the world's largest automakers, it was the largest automaker in the United States by sales in 2022 and was the world's No. 1 for 77 years before losing the top spot in 2008. So GM has a rich history and a strong market position. The company manufactures and sells various automobile brands, such as Chevrolet, Buick, Citroen, Cadillac, etc.

Mary Barra is the chief executive officer (CEO) of General Motors. She became the first female CEO in the company's history when she took over in 2014. She is not only the first female CEO of General Motors, but also the first woman to hold this position at a major international automaker. Mary Barra, who was born in 1961 and raised in Michigan. Barra earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Christopher Goves College and an MBA from Stanford University. Her educational background laid a solid foundation for her success in the automotive industry. Barra has extensive experience in the automotive industry. She joined GM in 1980 and has held a number of senior management positions for more than 30 years, spanning production, purchasing and human resources. Her leadership has attracted much attention and she is considered one of the most influential and successful women in contemporary business.

Under Barra's leadership, GM has gone through a major transformation and challenges, including dealing with the effects of the global financial crisis, product quality issues and competitive pressures in the industry. With her strong decision making, strategic insight and leadership skills, she has led GM through significant transformation and recovery. Barra is focused on driving innovation, improving product quality and efficiency, and is committed to promoting sustainability and the development of electric vehicle technology.

As an outstanding leader, Mary Barra's leadership has won widespread praise and recognition in the industry. Her decision-making and leadership style has positively impacted GM's growth and performance, and provided valuable experience and inspiration for other leaders. Assessing the defining characteristics of Barra's leadership success provides insight into her leadership style and GM's accomplishments under her leadership.

The aim and objective of this study is to assess the defining characteristics and qualities of Mary Barra's success in leadership.

Proposed by Goleman (2000), under the framework of emotional intelligence (EI), the six leadership styles, which are coercive, authoritative, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and coaching, has been widely used to identify a leader’s competence and leadership styles. Generally speaking, a leader can show more than one styles in operation with positive or negative impact. As far as Mary Barra is concerned, I think the most outstanding leadership style is her authoritative leadership style.

Authoritative leadership, also known as visionary leadership, is the most strongly positive leadership in sixaccording to Goleman’s assessment. Such leadership is generated from strong self-confidence and clear judgement of future. By applying it strategically, a leader can aligning people to moving toward the goals that are break-through or revolutionary.

Since Mary held the CEO position, we can see that under her leadership, GM set the vision of zero emission by increasing investment on researching and developing electric and autonomous vehicles. And to realize that, GM had invested more than 20B before 2020, and after the pandemic, the investment would reach to 35B and by 2035, GM will stop the production of petrol vehicle(CNN, 2018 & ABC, 2021).

Such revolution is not easy for a traditional petrol vehicle company, while Mary knows how to motive employees, how to align and motive people with her to make GM’s future. Starting as an front-line engineer, Mary clearly knows how the underlying things of how vehicle manufacturing works, and thus make practical and revolutionary decisions on the development of ev and av. We know that with the rise of what Tesla represent, those ev company, traditional vehicle industry had been facing significant challenges. While during her period, the company still keeps making stable profit and the fluctuation of the stock price and dividends also are subtle enough to satisfy shareholders because of her farsightedness and proper direction setting for the company.

Next, we will analyze the specific information about Mary Barra and provide relevant evidence.

Firstly, one of Barra's leadership styles is a customer-centric approach that emphasizes the importance of prioritizing customer needs, expectations, and experiences to drive organizational success. It indicates that leaders who adopt a customer-centric mindset can create competitive advantages and establish long-term customer loyalty. The specific theory closely related to the customer-centric leadership approach is the servant leadership theory. The servant leadership theory proposed by Robert K. Greenleaf emphasizes the primary role of leaders as servants of others, including customers, employees, and the community. It indicates that leaders who prioritize the needs and well-being of others will ultimately succeed in the organization. In terms of Mary Barra's customer-centric leadership style, she demonstrated key aspects of servant leadership, such as:

Listening and empathy (Barra actively listens to customers, seeks feedback, and empathizes with their needs and expectations); Customer centric decision-making: Barra consistently considers the impact of her decisions on customers. She combines the company's strategy and initiatives with customer needs, placing customer interests at the forefront of the decision-making process; Support and empower employees: Servant leaders prioritize employee growth and development to better serve customers; Moral responsibility: Servant leaders like Barra are responsible for their own behavior and give priority to moral behavior.

Evidence: 1. Investing in electric and autonomous vehicle: Barra realizes that customers' demand for environmentally friendly and technologically advanced vehicles is growing. GM's investment in the development of electric and autonomous vehicle is consistent with this customer-centric approach.

2. Improving product quality and reliability: Bara emphasized the importance of manufacturing high-quality cars that meet customer expectations. General Motors has made improvements in product design, manufacturing processes, and quality control to deliver vehicles that exceed customer standards.

3. Customer Service Program: Bara prioritizes customer satisfaction and loyalty through programs such as the "My GM Rewards" program, which provides personalized benefits and rewards to customers. These measures aim to enhance the overall customer experience and promote long-term customer relationships.