Good morning! Levi Strauss CEO Michelle Gass shares how a Beyoncé song led to an ad campaign, FTC with president Lina Khan makes it easier to cancel memberships, and GM’s Mary Barra discusses The automaker’s past and future. Have a wonderful Thursday!
– Barra doesn’t have it. During her decade at the helm of General Motors, Mary Barra was tasked with modernizing a century-old auto company while also righting the ship after bankruptcy and Ignition switch scandal threatens the historic automaker’s future.
This is not an easy role and Barra has experienced countless successes and failures. She was interviewed remotely on Wednesday by editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell at LuckThe Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, California.
Barra is Number 1 in Fortune’s Most Powerful Women ranking This year, it’s a position she has held three times since becoming the first female CEO of a global automaker. Her decade-long tenure is more than double the average tenure of female Fortune 500 CEOs and nearly three years longer than the average tenure of male CEOs. She says part of that longevity comes from having a team around her, all with the same mission—and changing the company culture to reflect the shared values of its employees.
“It’s easy to live by your values and make a company mission statement when things are going well, but when you’re really challenged, that’s when people really pay attention,” Barra said, noting that doing so allowed the company to recover when the ignition scandal occurred. is opening. “We also said, look, we’re going to do everything in our power to help customers during this period. We will be transparent and then we will do everything we can to make sure something like this never happens again.”
GM has come a long way since Barra became CEO. In fact, last year the company brought in $171.8 billion, its best performance in 17 years. That is the lasting result of the structural changes Barra began implementing early in his term.
It is also the result of listening to customers and giving them more of what they want. And as Barra and GM look to the future, that includes doubling the number of affordable electric vehicles.
“We must continue to have affordable vehicles that people want to own and drive, that are well-designed, and charging infrastructure needs to continue to improve,” she said. “We will be flexible according to where the customer is and really be driven by the customer.”
When asked for advice for other leaders, Barra said it’s important to do the right thing and invest in the right people.
“Another thing I always tell people is when is the best time to solve a problem? And they looked at me confused,” she said. “That’s the moment you know you have it, because the problem is rarely smaller.”
MPW 2024 is over, but you can find it More of our news of the week here. And Emma will be back tomorrow with more reflections from the conference.
Alicia Adamczyk
[email protected]
The daily newsletter of the most powerful women is Luck’is a daily briefing about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition is curated by Nina Ajemian. Order This.
ALSO IN THE TITLE
– I’ll let you make my Levi’s jeans. “Beyoncé naming a song after your brand is like a dream come true,” Levi Strauss CEO Michelle Gass told MPW Summit. Gass discusses how the company is taking advantage of the moment, launching a campaign starring the singer. Luck
– Shifting retail direction. Also at MPW, Valvoline CEO Lori Flees described the company’s decision to focus on retail services and sell its products business as transforming the automotive services company’s performance. 150 year old bowl. Fles will certainly celebrate the workers leaving “[b]because they were part of the journey that brought the company to where it is now.” Luck
– Cancel that. The FTC, with chair Lina Khan, has implemented a “click to cancel” rule to make it easier to cancel memberships, as well as Businesses are required to make cancellation as easy as signing up. Now, businesses cannot require customers to use a different cancellation method than the one they used to sign up for their service. The Verge
– What did the fox say? Donald Trump attended a town hall hosted by Fox News with an audience of only women. He called himself “father of IVF” and called some states’ abortion restrictions “too harsh.” Additionally, Vice President Kamala Harris gave her first interview on Fox News yesterday, telling viewers: “My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.” Interview primarily focused on immigration and border security. New York Times
MOVING MACHINERY AND SHAKING MACHINE
Invest in Other Charities, a nonprofit that helps the financial services community support charitable causes, named Nicole Morgan development director. Most recently, she was director of development at the Columbia Museum of Art.
FIS, a financial technology solutions provider, is appointed Nicole Anasenes to its board of directors. She was previously SVP and CFO at ANSYS.
Huddle Up, a provider of student mental health support, is appointed Tyra Mariani to its board of directors. She is the founder and principal of UP Advisors.
NYBC Ventures, an investment fund focused on blood and cell technology, made the appointment Jung Choi And Cristina Csimma to its management. Choi is currently an entrepreneur in residence at Third Rock Ventures and a director of Annexon Biosciences and Marea Therapeutics. Csimma is a director of Syncona and president of Sardona Therapeutics.
ON MY RADAR
Afghan women have been transported back to the past Atlantic
How Elsa Peretti transformed Tiffany & Co. into a great image of yourself W Magazine
The 20-year-old founder’s color-changing lip oil is making waves on TikTok Luck
FAREWELL WORDS
“It’s women’s time…Women’s awakening, when you invest in women, is much more powerful than just the individual.”
— Fannie Mae CEO and president Priscilla Almodovar above There are more single women than men who own homes
