Professor Elam

I think the worst advice any young person ever gets is

Never give up.

Ususally the person really means, perhaps you should re think the original goal in terms of recent information on the effort. 

But in many cases, giving up and going to the next gig is a better idea.  GM is a case in point.  No less than Ross Perot tried to get GM on point. On learning that it would take five years to produce a new model, Ross replied, gee we won WW II in four.  Another comment, there are a lot of nice people around here, too bad you can’t say that about the cars.  Roger Smith, CEO at the time, paid Ross $750 M, one fourth of GM’s cash at the time to leave.  He did and the market share continued to drop.  Kirk Kekorian is the latest to throw in the towel. He made $100 M on his multi billin investment, not much but he didn’t lose money.  He finally decided that trying to fix GM wasn’t worth the fight.  He has returned to investing in casinos where he made his original fortune.  His comment, diversifying is for people that don’t know what they were doing in the first place. 

I don’t agree that GM should throw in with Nisasn/Renault as Kirk claimed they should.  But I don’t agree with Rick Waggoneer that Nissan stood to benefit more than GM either.  This leaves GM as it was, saddled with legacy costs, slowing sales, and decreasing market share. Toyota continues to chalk up sales records.

And so a second try comes to an end.  GM  and Ford will end up much smaller companies than they were, never to dominate their industry again.  And Ross and Kirk will continue to make money. 

IN assessing which company to work for, or your own prospects, as many Ford and GM employees are deciding, it may be better to try something else.  Something else does not necessarily mean giving up on yourself, just facing facts and making a better plan. 

DLE