THE STORY

Mary Barra started working at General Motors when she was just eighteen years old, checking fender panels and inspecting hoods to pay for her college tuition. Forty years later, she is Chairperson and CEO at the car manufacturer giant. These were her first words before the US Senate regarding fatalities and injuries which were caused by a faulty ignition switch in 2014:

"My sincere apologies to everyone who has been affected by this recall, especially the families and friends (of those) who lost their lives or were injured. I am deeply sorry". And when addressing all 180,000 employees, she adopted the simple mantra of “zero crashes, zero emissions” in order to help everybody understand, clearly and unequivocally, the main focus of the organisation. “Did you get what you needed from the meeting”, is the most common question she asks of her staff. By going out of her way to collect observations, listen to reactions and take action, she is able to drive engagement amongst the workforce and continually seek improvement. All the evidence shows that Barra is genuinely people-centric and that she cares about the world.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

We can learn three things from Mary Barra about conducting others:

Remain humble whether you are in front of the US Senate or talking to an employee on the factory floor. This helps you win both hearts and minds.

Simplify your message in all forms of communication. Remember that in today’s frantic media-packed world, people don’t have the time or patience to decipher complicated messaging. Make it easy for them.

Always take the opportunity to ask for feedback from people around you and be sure to act on it. You will then get more feedback and that is a good thing.

YOUR CHALLENGE

Take each of Mary Barra’s three leadership qualities - remaining humble, simplifying the message and soliciting feedback - and identify specific ways in which you can practice them in the week ahead, either at work or at home.