Ed Whitacre is credited with taking over the corporate reins at General Motors (GM) when the automotive manufacturer was on the brink of bankruptcy during 2008 and turned the company around in magnificent fashion. In this business memoir, the native Texan explores his unique management style, business acumen and patriotism.
Edward Whitacre is the former CEO of General Motors. With a background in telecommunications, running AT&T, but came out of retirement to save GM.
An inspiring memoir from the laconic CEO and chairman of AT&T and GM. Whitacre spent 44 years at AT&T, starting as a student engineer in the early 1960s at what was then Southwestern Bell and eventually leading the company. His time there was rewarding, exciting, and beneficial for the company: he oversaw the original iPhone contract, implemented budget-saving, cost-cutting measures, and did away with executive privilege. He also made good but less popular decisions such as moving Southwestern Bell from St. Louis to his native Texas. After spending just two years getting accustomed to retirement, Whitacre was asked by the White House to take over the sinking GM. He agreed, intending to be quickly in and out, but instead ended up shepherding the company through the launch of the Volt and a highly successful IPO. The Obama administration approved of his success, and he finally stepped down, handing GM over to a new CEO. Whitacre characterizes himself as a "private man by nature," but wrote the book to "thank and publicly acknowledge" the people who helped him throughout his career. In what is basically a vanity project, albeit a sweet one, Whitacre describes his philosophy, management style, and business principles, all of which are interesting, but not particularly novel. Agent: Joe Veltri, Gersh Agency. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Whitacre, former chairman and CEO of AT&T and General Motors, tells his story of building AT&T and then rescuing GM from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and overseeing its reorganization. Whitacre had been retired from AT&T for two years when President Obama's "car czar," Steve Rattner, asked him to become chairman of GM. In this easy read, Whitacre describes his management style of employee empowerment and accountability, yet he also admits that "companies are not democracies; you can't run management by consensus." Famous for his "walkarounds" in which he talked to employees, he stresses the importance of individuals and their access to management, advising, "People are the number one asset of any business." Whitacre further argues that GM emerged from bankruptcy in 16 months because of its employees. While good management helped, nothing management did "would have made a shred of difference if the men and women of GM had not been willing to put their shoulders to the wall and push." VERDICT A down-to-earth explanation of GM's resurrection and an interesting look at Whitacre's life.- Joanne Conrad, Geneseo, NY (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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