There she stood, GM’s new CEO “LIVE” on CNN this morning admitting to a “pattern of incompetence and neglect”. Here are the highlights or shall we say “low” points from the early release of GM’s internal probe:
2.6 million vehicles recalled to date. 15 GM employees fired after the probe; 5 others disciplined and a promise from the GM to “do the right thing for the victims”. GM says the number of people who died in their poorly manufactured cars is-13- all front impact crashes. Victim families say that number is much larger.
The company still faces wrongful death lawsuits from victims’ families. GM has already faced two days of grueling Congressional hearings in April and agreed to a $35 million fine from safety regulators. GM is the subject of a criminal probe while Congress and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration are continuing their investigations.
GM’s media move today is simple: an attempt to control the message; set the narrative, control the escalating cost and keep a few GM employees out of prison.
While we always coach clients to tell the truth. We often have to remind folks the truth doesn’t come in percentages–like half the truth or 3/4th of the facts. While it might feel like a new day of transparency at GM, any good journalist or jury member can see their victim count remains a bit fuzzy. In GM’s 13, they don’t include any passengers who might have been in the vehicles and died as a result of the accident caused by the faulty ignition switch. How can that be?
While publicly stepping out, taking actions (such as terminating those who were incompetent and neglected the problem), the timing here is key. GM will forever have a black eye because engineers knew about this problem back in 2004. Imagine, if the GM CEO back then took today’s approach and came forward to take responsibility for the problem, do the right thing..and WARN their customers. What kind of difference do we think the victim count might reflect?
