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Mary Barra became the first female leader of a major automaker when she was named CEO of General Motors in 2014. Since becoming the CEO, her leadership skills have been useful in overcoming challenges faced by the company. Follow along to learn more about Mary Barra's leadership style, her leadership qualities and strategies and leadership principles.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenMary Barra became the first female leader of a major automaker when she was named CEO of General Motors in 2014. Since becoming the CEO, her leadership skills have been useful in overcoming challenges faced by the company. Follow along to learn more about Mary Barra's leadership style, her leadership qualities and strategies and leadership principles.
Mary Barra started her career with General Motors working as a co-op student before proceeding to get a degree in electrical engineering at General Motors Institute. Sponsored by General Motors, she received her MBA from Stanford University.
On her way to being the CEO of General Motors, she gradually climbed through the ranks, taking on the roles of:
Plant manager
Executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain
Vice president of global manufacturing engineering
Vice president of global human resources
Executive director of vehicle manufacturing engineering
Senior vice president
Fig. 1 - May Barra became the CEO of General Motors in 2014
During her time in these roles, she and her teams were tasked with the quality design of vehicles and engineering.
Mary Barra's success story is one filled with dedication, hard work and leadership know-how. She knows how to navigate through different challenges and pursue both her and her organization's goals. This has earned her accolades and recognition across the auto industry and from leaders in other industries.
She has also been named on Forbes list as one of the most powerful women in the world and made the cover of Times Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
During Mary Barra's first year as CEO at General Motors, she displayed her leadership, problem-solving skills and in-depth knowledge of the organization by leading her organization out of a public relations crisis in which defective ignition switches were linked to 12 deaths, and kept from the public for more than a decade. She redefined the organization goal from being the biggest automaker to being the best by redirecting the organisation focus to
Organisational excellence
Customer and
Relationship management
A few years later, she was named the organization's Chairman, a role she held together with the role of CEO.
Her inclusive and transformational leadership style was particularly helpful in achieving these feats.
The inclusive leadership style , also called the participative leadership style , is a leadership style where leaders intentionally seek and consider inputs from different groups or races of people, without biases, to make better decisions while still putting their own perspectives into consideration. Inclusive leaders inspire their employees to perform and drive organizational growth by making them feel valued for their opinions.
Upon becoming the CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra pushed for the recruitment process in the organization to be more inclusive. This move led to General Motors recruiting competent employees from diverse backgrounds, bringing in different perspectives and ideas.
She is also known to favor a collaborative approach to decision making by conducting meetings with teams to ask for their opinions on certain projects. She has been quoted to favor the consensus approach but has no fear to make the final decision when a consensus cannot be reached.
This approach can be seen from her quote to the Los Angeles Times,
At the end of the day, a decision has to be reached. If we can't get a consensus, then I have no problem in making the decision.
Going on, she said
I want a constructive tension-filled environment, to make sure all options are evaluated from all angles.
When Mary Barra became CEO of General Motors in 2014, her handling of the situation the organization found itself in was spot on. She further went ahead to transform the organization and remodel its values , using her influence in empowering and motivating the employees towards innovation with a goal of putting General Motors as an auto leader for safe and environmental-friendly automobiles.
The transformational leadership style is a leadership style where leaders look to cause a change in their teams both organizationally and socially. This leadership style looks to motivate and empower the teams towards improving their performances, and also looks to align the team goals with the organization interest.
This is particularly visible in General Motors 'goals under Mary Barra, who had a vision to create a world with zero car crashes in order to save lives, zero congestion to save customers' time and zero car emissions to leave a cleaner planet for the coming generations.
Mary Barra is also a believer in empowerment, she is quoted saying:
I'm a big believer in education. I believe if everyone can get a great education, they will be on their way to becoming their best self.
Mary Barra's leadership principles are centred on:
Inclusiveness,
Empowerment,
Determination,
Putting employees and customers' needs first by achieving company goals,
Result orientation,
Understanding the business.
In a move to take General Motors out of a threatening situation, Mary Barra showed her integrity and what she stood for by publicly admitting to the death of hundreds of workers caused by an ignition issue.
Mary Barra is a driven, passionate and result-oriented person. She possesses the confidence to make quick decisions, take risks and use unconventional methods in solving problems. A particular example of determination was when she became CEO and the company was in a threatening situation, she took initiative and was determined to keep the company afloat.
By showing genuine interest in her employees' lives through her interaction with them, Mary Barra showed how social she is. She emphasizes inclusivity, making everyone feel valued and heard in order to improve team performances.
Together, these qualities help Mary Barra pursue both her inclusive and transformational leadership style.
Mary Barra became the first female CEO of one of the big automakers when she was appointed CEO by General Motors in 2014.
Inclusiveness,
Empowerment,
Determination,
Put employees and customers need first by achieving company goals,
Result orientation,
Understand your business.
References:
https://www.capitalism.com/mary-barra/
https://infogalactic.com/info/Mary_Barra
https://companyleaders.org/2020/11/04/the-success-story-of-mary-barra-the-ceo-of-general-motors/
https://www.iedp.com/articles/leadership-journeys-mary-barra/
https://www.forbes.com/profile/mary-barra/?sh=7150043710ad
https://financhill.com/blog/investing/mary-barra-leadership-style
https://www.google.com/amp/s/hbr.org/amp/2020/03/the-key-to-inclusive-leadership
Mary Barra has an inclusive and transformational leadership style.
Mary Barra's leadership principles are:
Inclusiveness,
Empowerment,
Determination,
Putting employees and customers' needs first by achieving company goals,
Result orientation,
Understanding the business.
Mary Barra's business strategies revolve around
Organisational excellence
Customer and
Relationship management
Also, she pushed for the recruitment process in the organization to be more inclusive and She is also known to favour a collaborative approach to decision making.
The following leadership qualities make Mary Barra successful.
Mary Barra practices an inclusive and transformational leadership style. The inclusive leadership style, also called participative leadership, is a leadership style where leaders intentionally seek and consider inputs from different groups or races of people, without biases, to make better decisions while putting their own perspectives into consideration.
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SIGNUP SIGNUPFlashcards in Mary Barra Leadership Style23
Start learningChoose the correct answer
Mary Barra practices the transformational leadership style only
Mary Barra practices the transformational and participative leadership style
Mary Barra practices the participative and inclusive leadership style
Mary Barra practices the inclusive leadership style only
B. Mary Barra practices the transformational and participative leadership style
Choose the correct answer
Mary Barra is the most influential woman in the world
Mary Barra was appointed chief executive officer and chairman in 2014
Mary Barra participative leadership style is also be referred to as the inclusive leadership style
Mary Barra inherited General Motors
C. Mary Barra participative leadership style is also be referred to as the inclusive leadership style
Another name for the inclusive leadership style is
Transformational leadership style
Autocratic leadership style
Participative leadership style
Hands-free leadership style
C. Participative leadership style
The inclusive leadership style
Values inputs from across all team before making a decision
Does not take inputs from teams before making a decision
Is a master-slave relationship
Takes a hands-free approach during decision making
A. Values inputs from across all team before making a decision
Is Mary Barra a transformational leader
Yes
No
Not sure
A. Yes
Another name for the transformational leadership style is
Inclusive leadership style
Participative leadership style
Authoritative leadership style
None of the above
D.None of the above
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