Word: donners
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...could not be better. Exults one G.M. director, Morgan Guaranty Trust Chairman Henry Clay Alexander: "There's no sense of jealousy, never a question as to who goes through the door first or who sits at the head of the table." In the Detroit board room, in fact, Donner and Gordon sit side by side at the head of the table-with Donner presiding...
...Little Betters. Even critics of the System acknowledge that General Motors is performing at its best under Donner's orchestrated leadership. Admits one Big Three executive, who hotly denies that G.M. has any monopoly on automotive brains: "Year in and year out over the last decade, General Motors has been a little better than the rest of us in some of the major areas-in distribution or product, in management or styling. This happens to be the year when all the 'little betters' coincided...
...major reason for the coincidence of all the "little betters" this year is that G.M.'s committees simply did not make as many wrong decisions as their rivals did. Donner crows a bit over Ford's last-minute cancellation of U.S. production of the Cardinal after plowing $11 million into development of the much-rumored "compact compact." He implies that G.M.'s insistence on careful evaluation of mountains of fact made clear to him and his colleagues that there was no great demand for such a car. Says he: "We have not found a way to make...
Positive & Strong. In his drive to make the little betters a little better each year, Donner drives himself and everyone around him hard. He expects full dedication from even the outside members on G.M.'s board. Says one director: "Fred always does his homework and so do we. He won't tolerate anybody who doesn't." Sometimes a director's "homework" for the monthly board meeting amounts to as much as 7 lbs. of reports...
Firm as he is with directors, Donner is most forceful when he assumes his hat as chairman of the finance committee. "He's not arbitrary," says a fellow committee member, "but he is positive and strong. He can be reversed, but you have to have damn good reason for reversing him." At finance committee meetings, there is no small talk-just "important gossip about such things as the economic atmosphere." Periodically, to support a thesis or answer a question, Donner whips out of his inside jacket pocket a handy little argument settler. Most auto executives have modest ones...