Is General Motors an example of building for Future Value?

Short answer?  It appears so.

Mary Barra, the CEO, is leading GM as it seeks to fulfill a promise to make only electric vehicles by 2035. I don't know her but have been doing some background research and enjoyed her interview on the Freakonomics podcast.

This is what GM is saying officially:  "Under Barra’s leadership, GM envisions a world with zero crashes, to save lives; zero emissions, so future generations can inherit a healthier planet; and zero congestion, so customers get back a precious commodity – time."

Future generations. That sounds very much like what readers of this blog and listeners to the Third Turn Podcast are hearing:  for our grandchildren's grandchildren.

Let's dig down into this a little bit. 

FUTURE - certainly points to a time that is not now. Even more, it means that the NOW we are in is a time in which we are choosing to build toward that future.  Future also carries an implication that we might not be here. For leaders, this means what is being built will likely be carried on under someone else's leadership. GM's goal is to do this by 2035 - fourteen years from now.  I am the same age as Mary, which means being more than 70 years old by that time. Will she still be running GM then?  Maybe. Quite possibly not.

VALUE - In business, this tends to be money, whether income or assets.  The GM expression, though, is that the intended value in the money they make is lives saved, less pollution, and less time snarled in traffic.

All of us watching can know how real this is if GM puts as much energy into reporting on these measures as they did when announcing they have them. I hope that they will be exemplary in this regard and that other Maestro-level leaders guiding their companies will follow.

-mark l vincent

If you are an accomplished executive winding up for your third turn as an executive leader, I'd enjoy a conversation with you. You can reach me via www.maestrolevelleaders.com.