5-5-2015
Chris Wyatt
MGT 1600
1st Period
Business Management Term Paper
Two Leaders
By: Chris Wyatt
5-5-2015
Chris Wyatt
MGT 1600
1st Period
Abstract
I am doing my writing assignment on the CEO of General Motors (GM), Daniel
Akerson, the CEO of Toyota, Akio Toyoda. I chose Akio Toyoda because his company
was rated one of the best in leadership areas and I felt this would be a good
company to research. I chose Daniel Akerson because his company is one of the top
competitors of Toyota and I was wondering how they work to compete with a great
company. I am going to read and find out about these two leaders styles and the way
they conduct business.
First I am going to tell about the CEO of General Motors, Daniel Akerson.
Akerson has a bachelor’s degree of science in engineering from The United States
Naval Academy. He also holds a master’s degree of science in economics from The
London School of Economics. In 1983, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer
(CFO) for MCI (Microwave Communications Incorporation). For the ten years of
working there he worked as the President and the Chief Operation Officer of MCI. In
1993 he resigned from MCI to become the Chief Executive Officer of General
Instrument (specialized in TV equipment and semi-conductors). He left General
Instrument Three years later and became the CEO of Nextel (specialized in wireless
communication; merged with Sprint Corporation); Nextel’s revenues grew from
171.1 million to 3.3 billion dollars. From 1999 to 2009 Akerson was CEO for
Nextlink Communications and the managing director for The Carlyle Group
(specializes in private equity). In 2009 Akerson was accepted in the board of
5-5-2015
Chris Wyatt
MGT 1600
1st Period
directors of GM and later became CEO in September 2010. In his first year of
management, GM hit a record profit of $7.6 billion. Even though Akerson isn’t the
typical “car guy” you might think the CEO of GM would be it seems Akerson has
learned a lot in his thirty years of management. He clearly knows what he’s doing,
but I don’t think he makes a personal connection with his businesses.
Now I’m going to tell about the CEO of Toyota. Akio Toyota has a master’s
degree in business administration from Babson College and a bachelor’s degree in
arts and science from Keio University. When he was twenty-eight Akio started
working for Toyota. In 2000, he was promoted to the board of directors. Then five
years later he was upgraded to executive vice president; in 2009, he gained is
current position as CEO of Toyota. His first year of Chief Executive Officer, Akio had
to deal with man-made and natural disasters. First, Toyotas reputation of fine
quality had been going over the past years and car recalls had been increasing (over
eight million) more and more over the years; to make things worse, the Japanese
earthquake and tsunami of 2009 damaged the supply of over five hundred parts.
Akio assembled teams to find new supply routes and just a couple months
decreased the five hundred to thirty. He began working on rebuilding consumer’s
trust in his product. Personally, he put out a video of him apologizing for the bad
quality of Toyota’s vehicles and that he will look at customers for ideas on how to
make his cars more user friendly. Akio started meeting with lower management
weekly to ensure things were running smooth. He asked them for ideas and
5-5-2015
Chris Wyatt
MGT 1600
1st Period
suggestions on how to make things better. Akio spends his time as a manager testing
out new cars and seeking feedback from customers and lower management.
If I decided to work with either Toyota or GM, I would likely choose Toyota. I
chose Toyota because I like the way Akio Toyoda tries to get his employees’
feedback on some major decisions in the company. I also thought it was cool how
Akio was able to pull his company out of the hole after the all recalls his company
had. I wouldn’t go with Akerson because he changes his position so often. He doesn’t
seem to connect with his companies nearly as well as Toyoda does.
5-5-2015
Chris Wyatt
MGT 1600
1st Period
References:
http://www.gm.com/company/corporate-officers/daniel-akerson
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/09/toyota-akio-toyoda-comeback/
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21569721-dan-akerson-gm-doesntdo-hugs-bad-three-outsiders-three-styles
http://www.forbes.com/profile/akio-toyoda/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OItBnWHjlFM
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/08/05/breakingthrough-gm-ceo-akerson-leadership/2581041/
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014240527487044078045754258606
23946030
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIHgB6GHTwQ