American Turnaround

Reinventing AT&T and GM and the Way We Do Business in the USA

By Edward Whitacre (Hardcover Book, 2013)

Ed Whitacre is credited with taking over the corporate reins at General Motors (GM) when the automotive manufacturer was on the brink of bankruptcy during 2009 and turned the company around in magnificent fashion. In this business memoir, the native Texan explores his unique management style, business acumen and patriotism.

It was President Obama who reached out to Ed Whitacre to come out of retirement and take over GM in 2009. A down-to-earth, no-nonsense Texas native with a distinctive Texas twang in his voice, Whitacre was reluctant to come out of retirement to work at GM.

But Whitacre is that rare CEO with great charisma and extraordinary management instincts. And when he got to Detroit, he started to whittle down the corporate bureaucracy right away - and got GM back on track in record time

Before being pulled out of retirement to run GM by Obama, Ed Whitacre had spent his entire corporate career in the telecom business, where he ultimately ended up running AT&T.

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- Format: Hardcover Book
- Price: $28.99 US/$31.99 CAN
- ISBN-13: 9781455513017
- On Sale Date: 02/05/2013
- Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
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Formats Available: Hardcover Book, Trade Paperback, Electronic Book, Audiobook, Audiobook
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Audiobook Excerpt

Ed Whitacre is the former chairman and CEO of two major American corporations: General Motors and AT&T. At GM he set a clear vision and mandate - "Design, Build and Sell the World's Best Vehicles" - that continues to this day. As the chief executive of AT&T, Whitacre applied a set of management principles and disciplined growth strategy that would turn the company, originally known as Southwestern Bell, into the largest telecom in the world.
Born and raised in Ennis, Texas, Whitacre attended Texas Tech, earning a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering. He began his career with the phone company in 1963, as a student engineer in Dallas. In 1990 he was named CEO, and he remained in that leadership position for 17 years. In 2009, the White House appointed him chairman of GM, and he became CEO later that year.
Whitacre is actively involved in a number of organizations, including Boy Scouts of America, the United Way and Texas Tech. He is a current or past member of several boards, including Exxon Mobil, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Anheuser-Busch. He is married to Linda Whitacre and they have two daughters, four grandchildren and a really great dog, Lucille.

Ed is a strong leader with intelligence, a big heart, common sense and without fear. He is also an exceptional human being-always concerned about people. His mind is clear with a long-term vision and mission.

(Carlos Slim
).
This straight-talking Texan and former CEO of two of America's best known corporations provides a candid, insider's view of how a committed business leader can make a difference. More importantly, his book offers a prescription for the kind of leadership that can turn America around and get the country moving again.

--Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison

( ).