The writer, a Los Angeles freelancer and former Detroit News business reporter, writes a blog, Starkman Approved.
By Eric Starkman
Eric Savitz (LinkedIn photo)
Veteran Silicon Valley journalist Eric Savitz just learned what so many before him have discovered the hard way: hitching your career to GM CEO Mary Barra increasingly doesn’t end well.
A year ago, GM scored a major coup, poaching Savitz from Barron’s to oversee its in-house news site highlighting company innovations and leadership. As is typical for high-profile hires at GM, Savitz paid homage to Barra’s supposed vision.
“I’m a big believer in GM CEO Mary Barra’s vision for “zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion,” and there will be a lot to discuss on those topics in the months and years ahead,” Savitz wrote in his introductory column. “As I wrote on LinkedIn when I started here, there are many amazing untold stories at GM, and I can’t wait to start telling them.”
On Wednesday, Savitz shared a much more familiar GM story.
“Last week, I experienced a career first!
“I was laid off. Sacked. Canned. Downsized. Dismissed. Pink-slipped. Let go. Kicked to the curb. Handed my walking papers. Relieved of duty. Given the boot. Tossed overboard. GM, it seems, has decided to go in another direction.”
It boggles the mind that GM would throw Savitz to the curb. A former CEO client of mine once taught me the importance of fostering goodwill ambassadors — people who leave your company still speaking highly of it. Whenever an employee departed, he was always gracious.
“I don’t want anyone bad-mouthing my company,” he said.
Savitz is a heavyweight. He’s a veteran of Barron’s, Forbes, and served as executive editor of The Industry Standard, a once-formidable tech publication that folded after the dot-com crash. The response to his LinkedIn post was immediate and overwhelming — more than 650 messages of support, most from respected journalists and PR professionals.
Widely Regarded
One supporter declared Savitz a “legend” and it’s clear from the posted comments he’s widely regarded as the consummate mensch. Firing Savitz was unquestionably another blow to GM and Barra’s reputation.
Some representative comments:
William Babicz, former GM Manager for Program and Progress: “Sorry to hear… Can’t wait for Mary and (GM President) Mark (Reuss) to get their walking papers!!!”
Michael Kanellos, Director of Influencer Relations and Content at Marvel Technology who graduated from Cornell and holds a law degree: “GM. The only thing they lead in is layoffs.”
John Kimelman, former Barron’s writer: “Your experience with GM reminds me why I haven’t owned a GM car since the 70s: it was a Chevy Vega and it was an oil-leaking mess of a car after just five years.”
The only comparable show of social media empathy I’ve seen on LinkedIn was when longtime GM executive Adam Bernard posted that he’d been let go via a 5:07 a.m. email after 38 years at the company.
Barra likes to fashion GM as a tech company. When she opened an office in Silicon Valley’s Mountain View last year, she declared it was where “the best people” in technology resided. One might expect that Barra would want a steady stream of goodwill ambassadors in the Bay area promoting GM as a great place to work.
That’s decidedly not the case.
Sterling Anderson (GM photo)
Last week’s GM casualty was Dave Richardson, a 12-year Apple veteran who joined GM two years ago to oversee software development. Just two weeks after sharing the stage with Barra at an investor and media event, GM confirmed last Friday that Richardson resigned following a restructuring that boosted the power of Sterling Anderson — Barra’s current executive flavor of the month.
Anderson, a former Tesla executive, joined GM in May to oversee product development. Both he and Richardson are based in the Bay Area.
Then there was JP Clausen, a former Tesla and Google executive, who left GM in May after one year on the job, posting on LinkedIn it was best for his family. Another tech star, Kyle Vogt — co-founder and twice CEO of GM’s autonomous taxi arm, Cruise — also didn’t end well.
After years of Barra promising Wall Street that Cruise would generate $50 billion in annual revenue by decade’s end, she abruptly shuttered the business last December.
Vogt’s post-departure assessment of GM was blunt:
“In case it was unclear before, it is clear now: GM are a bunch of dummies.”
Vogt quickly raised $150 million for a new robotics venture, then another $150 million soon after — evidence of the talent GM can’t seem to keep.
Another casualty was Dan Ammann, whom Barra bested for the CEO job but who stayed on as GM’s president and was instrumental in GM acquiring Cruise. After scaling the business as CEO to a $30 billion valuation, Barra reportedly fired Ammann when he pushed to make Cruise more independent.
Another Casualty
Cruise’s chief operating officer, Gil West, was another Barra casualty who quickly landed on his feet — as CEO of Hertz.
Anderson, to his credit, boasts impressive credentials: co-founder of an autonomous trucking company, lead of Tesla’s Model X program, and a Ph.D. in robotics from MIT. That’s a serious pedigree. But he has zero experience with gas-powered vehicles — the very segment Barra recently reassured Wall Street would again be GM’s main focus.
Even more problematic, Anderson now must recruit top Silicon Valley engineers at a time when GM is viewed as hostile to California’s clean-energy agenda. According to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Barra was at the forefront of lobbying for successful Congressional legislation denying California's right to mandate no new gas engine vehicle sales by 2035.
“GM sold us out. Mary Barra sold us out,” Newsom said. “Eliminating Ronald Reagan’s work, eliminating the progress we’ve made under the California Air Resources Board of 1967 where we began regulating tailpipe emissions. The Republicans rolled that back this year under Donald Trump’s leadership. But the American automobile manufacturers allowed that to happen — GM led that effort.”
For Barra’s sake, let’s hope Anderson sticks around. As for Eric Savitz, he’ll be fine. With his impressive résumé and reputation, he’ll quickly land another opportunity — hopefully one where leadership actually values what he brings to the table.
Quite frankly, getting fired or resigning from Mary Barra’s GM has become a badge of honor.
More Starkman on GM:
►Recent post on Lin-Hua Wu, GM’s CMO and communications chief, can be found here.
►His commentary alleging Mary Barra’s betrayal of California and Canada can be found here.
Follow Starkman on LinkedIn for regular insights about GM and Ford. His blog, starkmanapproved.com, opines on a wide range of issues.
Starkman is interested in speaking with current and former GM employees for insights about the company’s HR practices, its recall of V8 engines, and other issues.
He can be reached at eric@starkmanapproved.com Anonymity assured and protected.
