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01-24-2013, 01:05 PM
Filed under: Etc. (http://www.autoblog.com/category/etc/), GM (http://www.autoblog.com/category/gm/)
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2013/01/ed-whitacre-american-turnaround-book.jpg (http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/23/ed-whitacre-american-turnaround/)It is probably best just to play this down the middle and let you read the excerpt from American Turnaround: Reinventing AT&T and GM and the Way We Do Business in the USA by Ed Whitacre. The author, you'll remember, was the former AT&T CEO who came out of retirement to take the position of chairman (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/09/former-atandt-chief-edward-whitacre-jr-named-chairman-of-new-gm/) at General Motors (http://autoblog.com/gm/) in June of 2009. Six months later, he took the role of CEO (http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/25/breaking-ed-whitacre-named-permanent-ceo-at-gm/), and on September 1, 2010 he was replaced (http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/12/gm-ceo-swap-dan-akerson-to-replace-ed-whitacre/) by current CEO Dan Akerson (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/dan/akerson/) and gave up the chairmanship at the end of that year.
To read the excerpt, you're going to have to get past the Fortune headline "How Ed Whitacre brought GM back from the brink." Now, Whitacre didn't choose that headline, and since we're playing this down the middle, we can't say that the headline isn't the only eyebrow-raising line in the piece - but we won't charge it to Whitacre's account. However, when it takes five years to develop a single car, and redesigning a taillight for a midcycle refresh might take a year, we're not sure how anyone can reinvent a global automaker in just nine-months as CEO. Perhaps we should ask Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/) boss Alan Mullaly (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/alan+mulally/) about that timeframe.
To the point, the book will be out on February 12 - you can pre-order it on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/American-Turnaround-Reinventing-Way-Business/dp/1455513016/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359041743&sr=1-1) now - and Whitacre's explanation of how Fritz Henderson was let go, how he got the CEO position and how Akerson came to follow will be sure to get enthusiasts intrigued in what else the complete tome might say. All you've got to do is follow the link (http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/23/ed-whitacre-american-turnaround/) to read it.Read an excerpt from Whitacre's book about how he fired Henderson and why Akerson got the job (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/24/read-an-excerpt-from-ed-whitacres-book-about-how-he-fired-fritz/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Permalink (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/24/read-an-excerpt-from-ed-whitacres-book-about-how-he-fired-fritz/) | Email this (http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20436474/) | Comments (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/24/read-an-excerpt-from-ed-whitacres-book-about-how-he-fired-fritz/#comments)
More... (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/24/read-an-excerpt-from-ed-whitacres-book-about-how-he-fired-fritz/)
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2013/01/ed-whitacre-american-turnaround-book.jpg (http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/23/ed-whitacre-american-turnaround/)It is probably best just to play this down the middle and let you read the excerpt from American Turnaround: Reinventing AT&T and GM and the Way We Do Business in the USA by Ed Whitacre. The author, you'll remember, was the former AT&T CEO who came out of retirement to take the position of chairman (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/09/former-atandt-chief-edward-whitacre-jr-named-chairman-of-new-gm/) at General Motors (http://autoblog.com/gm/) in June of 2009. Six months later, he took the role of CEO (http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/25/breaking-ed-whitacre-named-permanent-ceo-at-gm/), and on September 1, 2010 he was replaced (http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/12/gm-ceo-swap-dan-akerson-to-replace-ed-whitacre/) by current CEO Dan Akerson (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/dan/akerson/) and gave up the chairmanship at the end of that year.
To read the excerpt, you're going to have to get past the Fortune headline "How Ed Whitacre brought GM back from the brink." Now, Whitacre didn't choose that headline, and since we're playing this down the middle, we can't say that the headline isn't the only eyebrow-raising line in the piece - but we won't charge it to Whitacre's account. However, when it takes five years to develop a single car, and redesigning a taillight for a midcycle refresh might take a year, we're not sure how anyone can reinvent a global automaker in just nine-months as CEO. Perhaps we should ask Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/) boss Alan Mullaly (http://www.autoblog.com/tag/alan+mulally/) about that timeframe.
To the point, the book will be out on February 12 - you can pre-order it on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/American-Turnaround-Reinventing-Way-Business/dp/1455513016/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359041743&sr=1-1) now - and Whitacre's explanation of how Fritz Henderson was let go, how he got the CEO position and how Akerson came to follow will be sure to get enthusiasts intrigued in what else the complete tome might say. All you've got to do is follow the link (http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/23/ed-whitacre-american-turnaround/) to read it.Read an excerpt from Whitacre's book about how he fired Henderson and why Akerson got the job (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/24/read-an-excerpt-from-ed-whitacres-book-about-how-he-fired-fritz/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Permalink (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/24/read-an-excerpt-from-ed-whitacres-book-about-how-he-fired-fritz/) | Email this (http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20436474/) | Comments (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/24/read-an-excerpt-from-ed-whitacres-book-about-how-he-fired-fritz/#comments)
More... (http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/24/read-an-excerpt-from-ed-whitacres-book-about-how-he-fired-fritz/)