Steven J. Harris
Vice President -- Global Communications
General Motors Corporation
September 17, 2007

"My Mother Never Did Know What I Did..."

To download a printable version of this speech, click here.

Thank you, Roger, for that very wonderful and generous introduction. If my Mother had been here today to hear it, she would have wondered who in the hell you were talking about.

I've received more than my fair share of recognition over the last 40 years, much of which should have been lavished on those that worked around me, but obviously this is the ultimate honor for anyone that calls himself a "communicator."

And while many people in this situation would say this is special because it comes from their peers, I have more reason than most to say that because, in fact, I have worked with, hired or partnered with more than 20 people in the room. And if I were to count those I've served on boards or committees with I'm sure the number would be three or four times that. So thank you for this very, very special recognition.

It's also an honor to share this occasion with fellow award winner Don Wright. No one has done more to build our profession, train our future leaders or help guide our leading organizations. Congratulations, Don.

My Mom lived to the very good age of 93 before passing away a couple of years ago and she was witness to almost all of my years in communications and there was one thing that never changed - she could never figure out what exactly I did. She knew what it was called, just not what I actually did.

It wasn't her fault. I've spent four decades doing whatever it is I do and I have tough time describing exactly what it is. Heck, as profession we can't even agree on what to call what we do. Is it PR, Communications or Public Affairs or any one of handful of others?

The first thing you do when you get word that you've been selected for the Page Hall of Fame is look up everyone that has preceded you and then read what they had to say at their induction. For those you that will follow me, I don't recommend doing that.

First of all, it's very intimidating. The list of true pioneers and corporate and agency superstars in the Hall of Fame is pretty sobering. Second, you quickly realize when it comes to acceptance remarks there is very little that has not already been said.

Past recipients have talked about the history of Page, on the nature of Public Relations, the Page Principles, the impact of communications in a modern society, the future of communications, the role of communications in world affairs and emerging communications technology tactics. You don't come away feeling like there is a lot left to say of value.

A lot of people talked about how they got into this profession and some of their early lessons. All I can say is everyone that preceded me is an amateur.

I'm quite confident I'm the only one whose early career-defining move was to lie to his counselor in junior high school and tell him I had meant to sign up for a journalism class instead of print shop. That was because on the first day of class in print shop - a class I had signed up for - the teacher took a very large, metal paddle which he proceeded to use on an innocent and unsuspecting classmate and told all of us that was what he did to people who didn't follow his rules.

I quickly decided the allure of free note pads and business cards (I never did know what someone in junior high school did with a business card) was not a big enough incentive for me to stay in that class. So, I got transferred to a journalism class in the 7th grade and never looked back.

In college, just up the 405 Freeway from here, at the University of Southern California, I was hung in effigy by the marching band because I ran an expose in the school newspaper on lip synching in the band.

They didn't have enough instrument playing members to fill out the formations so they used people who were pretending to play an instrument. I foolishly thought that a light-hearted story on this situation would help recruit real instrument playing band members. The story was picked up by the AP and ran nationally. Obviously, the AP thought the story was clever, but the band obviously saw the story and my role in it differently.

When I was editor of paper, the Chancellor of university, Norman Topping, called me into his office because I had run a headline over a photo of the newly completed tower within the Rufus B. VonKleinSmid Center for International Public Affairs. That headline read, "Rufus' Last Erection". My fellow Daily Trojan staffers and I thought it quite clever. Alas, Norman - and a number of alumni contributors - did not.

Some people have suggested I've made a difference at some of the places I have worked and I'd like to think you could call me an impact player.

However, I doubt that many of you in this room have been introduced three years in a row as a new employee at your company? The legendary General Motors V.P. of Public Relations, Tony DeLorenzo, bestowed that honor on me at the annual GM holiday parties in 1967, 1968 and 1969.

And I've tried to be an innovator as well. To save some time for our media guests, I outfitted a bus with a kitchen so we could cook breakfast on the way to a test track for the launch and first drive of a new car.

Brilliant idea, I thought, until the smell of eggs and bacon cooking in a closed space caused the passengers to vomit out of the windows. You can't make this stuff up.

I had great tactical skills as well. We once had the idea to cover an all-new, never seen before Jeep vehicle in ice in February with the thought that it would slowly defrost over several weeks and be revealed. Who could have known that we would have record high temperatures that February and we couldn't keep ice on the vehicle despite a crew throwing it at the Jeep 24 hours a day.

I could go on like this for quite some time but by now I'm sure you are questioning the due diligence of the Hall of Fame nomination committee - and rightfully so.

I've spent all but two years of my career working in the U.S. auto industry and it's been the ride of a lifetime. I started at General Motors right out of college, and then moved on to American Motors, the smallest of what was then called the Big Four. Renault purchased American Motors and then sold it a few years later to Chrysler, so I wound up there.

Then Chrysler and Daimler-Benz merged in what was termed a "marriage made in heaven". Right.

From there it was back to GM after being gone for 20 years. I spent five years at GM before retiring at the end of 2003 and entered the world of consulting. But in early 2006, Rick Wagoner, the best boss and CEO I ever worked with, asked if I would come back for a short period of time.

I had only been gone a little of two years before returning but for anyone who considers doing something similar you should consider it carefully.

In the 25 months I had been gone someone had turned up the pace considerably and created problems in the U.S. auto industry that I had never even heard of in my prior 36 years. Worst of all, every day at 3:00 p.m. for six months I had this uncontrollable urge to take a nap.

The most often asked questions I get since coming back is, "Are you having fun? Are you enjoying yourself?" I'm not always sure that I would answer that it's fun but I do feel like I'm doing something important. I feel like I'm playing a small role in helping restore a corporate icon to health.

I love working with the GM Communications team, more than 500 strong around the world, and one of the most creative and hardworking groups you will ever find. I also love working with Rick Wagoner who I think is leading one of the greatest and largest corporate turnaround in U.S. corporate history. But most of all I love telling the GM story and changing people's minds about what kind of company it is and the kind of products we offer today.

There are a lot of us in this room that work for companies that have been around a long time.

GM will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2008. And there are a lot of us here that worked for companies that had long proud traditions, made great products and contributed to the wealth of America and Americans that are no longer answering the roll call.

The theme of this conference is Managing for Tomorrow: Corporate Communications in a Changing World. And we're going to spend a good deal of time reviewing and discussing a great white paper and some fascinating CEO research done by the Page Society.

It looks at the future of the chief communications officer and what leadership skills he or she must have in the future. It contains some incredibly valuable insights and more importantly, I believe it is a roadmap to success for communications leaders in the future.

The group that put the white paper together, led by Jon Iwata at IBM and Valerie DeMaria of Willis Group Holdings, provide a lot of information on the forces impacting communications today and what we as communications leaders must do to adapt, adjust and lead going forward.

It makes a great case for why communicators are uniquely positioned to
become experts on the new art and science of organizational trust and why you, today's communications leaders, are best equipped to lead in the all important areas of trust and reputation.

It goes on to say that, in a word, authenticity will be the coin of the realm for successful corporations and for those who lead them.

We're all being buffeted by a rapidly changing landscape. They are all familiar subjects of previous Page and other communications conferences:

• Emergence of a new digital commons
• New and vastly more empowered stakeholders
• A truly global economy

The paper goes on to say that in such an environment, the corporation that wants to establish a distinctive brand and achieve long-term success must, more than ever before, be grounded in a sure sense of what defines it -- why it exists, what it stands for and what differentiates it in a marketplace of customers, investors and workers. Those definitions - whether they are called values, principles, beliefs, mission, purpose or value proposition - must dictate consistent behavior and actions.

But for those corporations that remain public and that aspire to build trusted brands, sustainable marketplace success and community reputation, the imperative of authenticity will inevitably grow in importance.

Now I could have never stated it as eloquently as Jon Iwata did when he drafted this white paper but he nailed why I thought it was important to come back to GM. American corporations matter and not just because they are American. I don't believe wrapping yourself in the U.S. flag is enough of a reason for people to buy your products or services.

But when you're confronted with a cover of Fortune Magazine as we were in February 2006 that was headlined, "The Tragedy of General Motors" and said "...the evidence points, with increasing certitude, to bankruptcy.", or when you have the President of United States admonish you that you need to build products that are more relevant to consumers or have three-time Pulitzer prize winner Thomas Friedman say a the New York Times column:

"Is there a company more dangerous to America's future than General Motors? Surely, the sooner this company gets taken over by Toyota, the better off our country will be." That's when you know that you have a reputation problem, a trust problem, an authenticity problem.

And so we are rebuilding our reputation at GM and giving people reasons to trust us. We started by getting everyone to understand that no one was going to tell our story for us and that Rick Wagoner was our most effective spokesperson.

We let people know what our plan was and how they could measure our progress against that plan.

We didn't ignore the big cities or the major media but we went distinctly grassroots and we created a group made up of people inside of GM Communications and outsiders with expertise that combined the best of a political campaign and a newsroom. And we focused all of our resources on telling the turnaround story that was going on at GM.

And we had a great story of tough actions and decisions to tell. We had an historic health care agreement with the UAW, accomplished without a strike and during a contract. We sold interests in Subaru, Suzuki, Isuzu and GMAC. We closed plants and had an accelerated attrition program that had more than 34,000 hourly employees leaving years earlier than planned. We capped salaried retiree health care and pensions. We reduced our dividend and our senior officers' compensation.

We realigned our marketing divisions and made their product lineups more distinct. We pulled ahead major product programs. We announced a major improvement in our warranty coverage. We've improved quality. We are competing - and winning - in the top 11 emerging car and truck markets in the world.

We announced plans for the largest test of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles ever. And with the introduction of the all-electric Chevy Volt concept along with our production plans to introduce a new hybrid vehicle every three months for the next four years, including plug-in hybrids, we have signaled that we are no longer satisfied to be an also-ran in the technology and environment race.

I know you didn't come here for a GM commercial so I'll stop there but believe me, we're coming back and we'll be heard from for a long time to come.

And if you're interested in learning more, just let me know, or better yet come to Detroit and we'll take you into our design studios, our engineering and research labs and out on our proving grounds to show you what the new GM will look like - not five years from now, but beginning right now.

As I mentioned earlier, this year's Page Conference is all about change. Changes in media and technology. Changes in stakeholders. Changes in the playing field we all compete on.

Those and other changes we are experiencing are worthy of the kind of focus this conference will give them. But if you'll allow me I'd like to spend my last few minutes on what won't change for us as chief communications officers.

We must and should embrace the future and change but there is much in our past - like the Page Principles - that are worth preserving and cherishing and are every bit as relevant today as they were 75 years ago.

I'm sure each of us has their own list, but the Harris "Time Will Never Change These" List includes:

• Personal integrity
• Building trust - internally and externally
• Judgment and the guts to speak up
• Willingness to take risks and learn from them when they do work and when they don't
• Creativity - but only with great execution -- always win
• Ability to look into confusing situations and make tough calls
• A sense of timing and an understanding that time itself is precious
• An understanding and appreciation for the entire business and an awareness that communications is not the business
• Building an inclusive, collaborative and inquisitive culture
• Relationships, relationships, relationships
• Treating people equally, with dignity and respect, and letting them be themselves and giving them autonomy
• Making whatever you're doing fun and engaging
• And finally, you need a great support system - a family you love and cherish and who love you despite all the times your career gets in the way. I have had that kind of support from my wife Roddie, daughter Lisa and favorite son-in-law Mark, all of whom are here today.

Let me conclude with one final thought. A lot of people in our profession tend to look backwards and tell young people you should have been doing PR five years ago, ten years ago, 20 years ago, etc. It was more exciting then, more important, more fun.

That's bunk! This is the "golden age" of communications. We've plopped down at the seat at the table we sought for so long and guess what, they don't just want us there because we know communications, they want us there and involved in every aspect of our companies and their businesses.

That scares a lot of people. It shouldn't. We know just as much - and often more - than anyone else at the table.

I truly believe great communications can lift an entire organization. It can make it reach for levels of execution and accomplishment it didn't think it was capable of. It can motivate. It can change the way an organization thinks and acts. Great leaders know that. Even my Mother knew that.

I honestly wish I was just getting started instead of starting to look at the finish line of my career.

Thank you again for this honor and thanks for allowing me to spend some time thinking about a life that has brought me so much joy, sense of achievement and satisfaction.

Thank you.