Leadership Matters: Is Obama Really Looking for Change?

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "What you do speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you say." As anybody who has lived more than, say, 12 years, should know, it is not the espoused virtues or vision that determines what is important to a leader. It is the actions of the leader that reveals the true priorities.

For this reason, I am confused at the Obama administration's decision to name Ed Whitacre as the new chairman of General Motors(GM Quote). Much has been said about the need to change GM's culture if it is to survive in the future and recover quickly from bankruptcy to become the powerhouse that it once was.

I absolutely agree with that and believe in fact that if the leadership of GM focuses only on cost-cutting, productivity and product lines, they will be back in trouble sooner rather than later. Without changing the culture, it is only an act of dressing up a faulty system.

But now I'm beginning to wonder if any of this is the point. First, Fritz Henderson was named CEO. I'm sure Henderson is a great guy, but he has been a part of GM since 1984. As vice president of GM, he is as culpable as anybody for the creation of the insulated (and arrogant) culture that developed into a behemoth that slowly became obsolete.

I don't buy the argument that they were victims of the economy only considering the nature of the marketplace leading up to the tragedy that became General Motors. I think Henderson has a much greater understanding of the global context of business than Waggoner did, but other than that, he is an architect of the very culture he is trying to change.