Unless the Board shows him the door - or his health fails, Lutz has no plans to retire soon. Just don't call the 77-year old GM's mascot.
Reports of Bob Lutz’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Just ask the septuagenarian General Motors vice chairman.
It’s been a chaotic month at GM, with a CEO fired, a new Buick boss quitting after just eight days, and enough other personnel changes to require a scorecard to keep up. When Vice Chairman Bob Lutz was stripped of his duties as marketing czar, two weeks ago, many observers were ready to bet that the former Marine pilot would be the next out the door.
They would have bet wrong, said Lutz, who turned out for a Wednesday night preview of new Chevrolet products.
“I’m happy as a clam,” the 77-year-old Swiss-born Lutz proclaimed while leaning against the next-generation Chevy Malibu.
“If left to me, as long as I have the energy, as long as I have my health, as long as I have my the drive and ability to contribute,” he asserted, “I’ll stay. If not, I’ll retire.” Of course, Lutz quickly added, “I serve at the will of the Board,” and, in particular, the will of GM’s determined new Chairman and Acting CEO Ed Whitacre, Jr.
Mano-a-mano? Bob Lutz says he's found a kindred "intuitive manager" in GM's new Chairman and Acting CEO Ed Whitacre.
Whitacre seems determined to reshape GM, even if it means completely changing the corporate management team. In fact, Lutz noted, he’s just about “the last man standing.” In the eight years since he joined the automaker, he noted, only two of the top 50 executives at the company remain – himself and Tom Stephens, who earlier this year took over Lutz’s formal role as GM’s product development boss.
If he’s no longer product czar and no longer overseeing marketing, what exactly is Lutz doing?
“I’m doing everything Ed Whitacre isn’t,” he explained, serving as a sort of “coordination person.”
Whitacre, GM insiders reveal, isn’t the traditional top-down manager. While he sets tough performance standards, he prefers to empower his management team and then set them off to deliver results. In many ways, Lutz is the man in-between.
“Ed Whitacre and the Board expect me to make sure that the philosophy of building the world’s best cars is not diluted,” said Lutz.
Another duty, suggested Mark Reuss, GM’s new president of North American operations, is serving as the company’s repository of institutional knowledge. In a career that has spanned nearly half a century, Lutz has worked for some of the giants of the industry, including not only General Motors, but BMW, Ford and, during its better days, Chrysler.
“I talk with him for two hours every week about everything,” said Reuss. “I’m lucky to have that kind of knowledge coming to me.”
One reason why Lutz seems ready and willing to stay is that he and Whitacre appear to have a similar approach to management. The GM chairman, Lutz explains, “is a very intuitive manager, and so am I. Give us two sheets of paper and a few numbers or you’re wasting our time.”
Whether Lutz will continue to find his new role rewarding enough remains to be seen. He’s not the type to be comfortable showing up when the media wants a good quote, then settling back to watch others run things.
“I have never been a very good mascot,” Lutz said with a grin and a soft chuckle as a horde of reporters descended upon him to ask about his new role.