玛丽•芭拉：从工读生到通用汽车女掌门

    玛丽•芭拉从未想过自己会是《财富》杂志评选活动中拥有重要角色的那一类管理者，更别提登上《财富》杂志“全球最具影响力的50位商界女性”排行榜榜首了。玛丽•芭拉是家里第一个上大学的人，以庞蒂亚克工厂一名工程实习生的身份半工半读念完了通用汽车学院【现更名为凯特林大学Kettering University）】。而她的父亲在39年的模型工生涯中制作的也一直是庞蒂亚克品牌的模型。通过努力，她得以加入一个快速培训项目，拿到了通用汽车的奖学金进入斯坦福大学（Stanford）学习（于1990年获得MBA学位）。在此之后，凭借谦逊的行事作风和改变现状的勇气，玛丽•芭拉陆续接管过很多不同的职位——从公司首席执行官杰克•史密斯的助理，到装配车间经理、全球制造工程副总裁，再到人力资源总裁，以及全球产品开发及全球采购和供应链执行副总裁。2009年，通用汽车公司提交破产申请后，她作为人力资源主管，简化了公司员工守则，把长达10页的着装要求简化成了四个字：“穿着得体”。作为产品主管，她参与了欧宝品牌在欧洲市场的重组，同时推动通用汽车利用更少的平台生产出更优质的汽车。

    “我希望玛丽•芭拉成为21世纪的阿尔费雷德•斯隆”，沃伦•巴菲特说。他所说的阿尔费雷德•斯隆是通用汽车史上最伟大的CEO。沃伦•巴菲特的伯克希尔•哈撒韦公司（Berkshire Hathaway）拥有通用汽车约4000万股的股票。“就目前看来，她具备这个能力。”如今通用汽车在《财富》世界500强企业名单中排名第22位，是世界最二大汽车制造商，仅次于日本丰田汽车公司（Toyota ）。通用汽车公司目前已经重新实现了盈利，也已还清了欠美国政府的债务。然而在美国，通用汽车的市场份额已跌到了最近的17.5%，而1994年这一数字是33%。最近，芭拉接受了《财富》杂志的专访，跟我们谈到了她那个充满挑战的世界、汽车行业的未来，以及她在1月15日开始接手的新职位——通用汽车史上首位女性CEO。

    你的目标之一是不是使通用汽车成为全球最赚钱的汽车厂商？

    我们的目标是使通用汽车成为最具价值的汽车公司。这一点显然会带来持续的盈利能力，也会为公司股东带来巨大的回报。

    身为CEO，你认为你即将做的哪件事情最为关键？

    我全力关注的事务有好几项，其中之一是我们要继续设计、制造和销售在我们选择竞争的行业领域里最好的汽车。我认为，在持续打造我们的品牌并巩固卡迪拉克（Cadillac）和雪佛兰（Chevrolet）这两个世界品牌的地位上，我们有着非常好的机遇。这两个品牌目前正受到一些区域性品牌的夹击，这些区域性品牌也十分重要——比如欧洲的欧宝。我们显然要保证在每一个竞争市场都能盈利，同时坚守资产负债表的“堡垒”，因为汽车是一个周期性的业务。

    担任人力资源总裁时，你简化了政策和规定；领导全球产品开发时，你又削减了管理层级和生产平台数量。如今作为CEO，你计划在哪些方面进行简化？

    只要有机会，就要不断降低复杂性。我希望能真正使所有团队具备创新能力。在某些方面我们已经具备出色的创新能力，沃蓝达就是一个例子。然而我希望公司在所有方面都具备创新能力，我对“创新能力”的定义是能为客户提供价值。

    Mary Barra is not the type of boss who ever thought she'd be featured in Fortune, let alone sit atop the magazine's inaugural Most Powerful Women in global business ranking. The first woman in her family to go to college, she worked her way through General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) as an engineering intern at a Pontiac factory -- the same brand of car that her dad had worked on during his 39 years as a diemaker. She made it into a fast-track training program, got a GM fellowship to Stanford (MBA, '90), and went on to master diverse jobs -- assistant to CEO Jack Smith; assembly plant manager; vice president of global manufacturing engineering; HR chief; head of global product development, purchasing, and supply chain -- with low-ego finesse and the courage to shake things up. As HR boss after GM's bankruptcy filing in 2009, Barra simplified employee rules and boiled the company's 10-page dress code down to two words: "Dress appropriately." As product chief, she got involved in restructuring Opel in Europe, and she pushed GM (GM, Fortune 500) to build better vehicles on fewer platforms.

    "I hope that Mary Barra turns out to be the Alfred Sloan of the 21st century," says Warren Buffett, referring to the carmaker's most renowned CEO. His Berkshire Hathaway(BRKA, Fortune 500) owns some 40 million shares of GM. "From what I've seen, she's got the goods." Today the company ranks No. 22 on Fortune's Global 500 list and is the world's second-largest automaker, behind Toyota (TM). GM is back to profitability and no longer in debt to the U.S. government. But its share in the U.S. market is running flat at a recent 17.5%, vs. 33% in 1994. Barra recently spoke with Fortune about her world of challenges, the future of cars, and her new gig, effective Jan. 15, as General Motors' first female CEO.

    Is one of your goals to make GM the world's most profitable automaker?

    Our goal is to make General Motors the most valuable automotive company. Clearly, that is having sustainable profitability and driving great returns for our shareholders.

    What's the most critical thing that you will do as CEO?

    There are several things that I'm focused on. One is that we continue to design, build, and sell the best vehicles for every segment [in which] we choose to compete. I think we have great opportunity to continue to build our brands and strengthen Cadillac and Chevrolet, our two global brands. They're flanked by some very important regional brands -- for instance, Opel in Europe. We clearly have to make sure that in every market we choose to compete in, we operate profitably and we maintain our fortress balance sheet, because this is a cyclical business.

    Mary, as head of HR, you reduced rules and policies. As head of global product development, you reduced executive layers and production platforms. As CEO, what do you plan to reduce?

    There's an opportunity to continually reduce complexity. I want to really empower the teams to be innovative. We have great innovation in pockets -- the Volt being one example. But I want to make sure that we're being innovative across the board. My definition of "innovative" is providing value to the customer.