Mary Barra, CEO of GM Mary Barra is Chairman and chief executive officer of General Motors Company, the dual title she has held since January 2016. When she was the product global chief of General Motors Company, in 2014, Barra was named the new company CEO. She was the first woman to become CEO of a major vehicle manufacturer. Departing CEO Dan Akerson stated that he picked Barra to be his successor based on her ability to "make order out of chaos." In March 2014, Barra faced the chaos of the recall of 2.53 million cars for faulty switches, and 1.3 million vehicles for power steering problems. The company spent $2.9 billion on recalls related to the switches. GM was held legally re-sponsible for 124 deaths due to faulty ignition switches. The company has already paid $1.5 billion in penalties and set-tlements. After an internal probe conducted by a former U.S. attorney, Barra fired fifteen employees, and instituted a policy of "If you see something, say something." The policy encour-ages employees to report issues without the fear of retalia-tion. She also restructured engineering operations to facilitate quicker responses to potential safety violations. In response to a congressional investigation about elec-tronic problems, Barra said, "Today's GM will do the right thing. That begins with my sincere apologies to everyone who's been affected by the recall, especially the families and friends of those who lost their lives or were injured. I am deeply sorry." Barra then proceeded to lead GM through the crisis with its reputation intact. She gave priority to transpar-ency and accountability, and made sure that nothing similar would ever happen again. Under Barra's leadership, the company has focused on strengthening its core business of manufacturing cars, trucks, and crossover. At the same time, GM has strived to lead the transformation of personality mobility through advanced technologies such as connectivity, autonomous driving, and vehicle sharing. Barra intends for the company to be the first in introducing fully autonomous technology. In referring to changes in the automobile industry, Barra said, "In this era of rapid transformation, you have to have a cul-ture that's agile. We still have a lot of work to do." As the head of product development as well as global purchasing and supply chain, Mary Barra was already the highest-ranking woman in the global automobile and truck industry. She had started her career at GM at age 18. After graduating from college, Barra started as an electrical engi-neer. She was soon identified as a person with executive po-tential. She moved up the corporate ladder steadily in jobs in manufacturing, administration, and internal communica-tions. Previous to her appointment as head of product de-velopment, Barra spent four years as vice president, global human resources. As the CEO, Barra was expected to change the culture of a company for which she had worked her entire career. As a leader, Barra emphasizes that a company is not successful because of the buildings, factories, and labora-tories it owns. Instead, it is the people working in the or-ganization who create and innovate, produce high-quality products, and make positive customer connections. Barra believes strongly in empowering GM employees to make smart decisions, take prudent risks, and use their own judg-ment to get the job done. In one of her initiatives to change the culture, Barra has helped GM loosen the controls over engineers, allowing them more creative freedom with vehicles. She said her ap-proach is "empowering them to make the decisions, and I think you see it with some of the vehicles we just put out, whether it's the Chevrolet Impala or the Cadillac CTS or the Corvette." Another culture-changing initiative is for senior executives to participate in a year-long course in transfor-mational leadership. GM has been applauded for its focus on pay equal-ity between men and women. The 2018 Global Report on Gender Equality reported that GM is one of only two global businesses that have pay equality in top, middle, and bot-tom pay bands, as well no gender gap in pay across the company. Barra believes that her thrust for creative freedom and simplicity will strengthen GM in the long term. She is ada-mant about leading by persuasion rather than direct com-mands. Barra said that when employees say "I'm doing it because Mary told me to do it" is the day she loses. Barra recognizes that culture change only takes place when peo-ple change their behavior, such as taking more responsibility for problems. During her first month as CEO Barra revealed her goals to expand GM's profit margins in North America, while in-creasing its global market share. Part of her plan for attain-ing these goals was to strive for innovation on both business processes and product development. Several years later, she emphasized that the ultimate proof point of whether the changes she has introduced are working "will be when we deliver exceptional financial results." Barra's vision for GM is zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero traffic congestion. Despite Barra's many successes with the company, GM has not avoided all controversy, and she deals directly with problems that surface. In March 2021, seven owners of Black-owned media companies placed an ad in the Detroit Free Press calling Barra racist for not meeting with them and allocating more of GM's advertising dollars to Black-owned media. The Black-owned media group wanted GM to al-locate at least 5 percent of its ad budget to Black-owned media companies. (GM said it was already investing two percent of its advertising dollars in these media companies.) Barra responded by first sending Chief Marketing Office Deborah Wahl for a preliminary meeting with Byron Allen, the head of one of the media groups. The meeting was con-structive, and was followed up by Barra meeting with the media groups. Barra said that she wanted to be the most inclusive company in the world. Barra credits much of the success has achieved at GM so far to her focus on employees and the customers they serve. The focus involves winning the hearts and minds of people. Barra received a bachelor of science in electrical engi-neering (BSEE) from the General Motors Institute (now the Kettering University). Later she graduated with an MBA from Stanford University. She was raised in a GM family, with her father having been a die-maker in a Pontiac plant for thir-ty-nine years. Barra is regularly included high on lists as one of the world's most powerful women.

1-How do you think Barra should have responded to the newspaper ad that labeled her a racist for not meeting with them and not allocating more money for advertising in Black-owned media groups?

2-write a conclusion and a lesson learnt