????“通用汽車(chē)不僅在踐行最佳做法，而且還為汽車(chē)業(yè)未來(lái)的召回事件樹(shù)立了一個(gè)更高的行業(yè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，實(shí)際上，他們正在撰寫(xiě)一部全新的危機(jī)應(yīng)對(duì)手冊(cè)，”利維克危機(jī)管理公司(Levick)副總裁菲利普?埃爾伍德這樣說(shuō)道。

????埃爾伍德指出，通用汽車(chē)一直在積極致力于清除導(dǎo)致點(diǎn)火開(kāi)關(guān)故障的體制問(wèn)題——解雇了15位員工，重組訴訟業(yè)務(wù)流程，并開(kāi)創(chuàng)了一個(gè)名為“為安全發(fā)聲(Speaking Up for Safety)”的項(xiàng)目。他認(rèn)為后者相當(dāng)于“一種內(nèi)部舉報(bào)人保護(hù)法”。

????巴拉一直處于所有這些行動(dòng)的中心。它們并沒(méi)有移交給其他高管來(lái)處理，也不是在某個(gè)周五下午通過(guò)新聞通稿對(duì)外發(fā)布的。巴拉站在舞臺(tái)上，對(duì)媒體和公眾詳細(xì)解釋她認(rèn)為通用汽車(chē)是如何失敗的，該公司將采取哪些改進(jìn)措施等問(wèn)題。她的行動(dòng)看上去毫無(wú)矯飾，也顯示出她為此感到痛心：這家她供職了幾十年的公司竟然允許這種事情發(fā)生。

????讓我們比照一下過(guò)去十年中另一場(chǎng)重大的公關(guān)危機(jī)：2010年英國(guó)石油公司(BP)墨西哥灣漏油事件。該公司時(shí)任CEO唐熙華最初打算降低這起事件的嚴(yán)重程度，聲稱(chēng)這不是什么大不了的事。當(dāng)然，他最著名的失態(tài)之舉是對(duì)一位記者說(shuō)，他想“重回過(guò)去的生活”。海沃德隨后遭受鋪天蓋地的指責(zé)聲，沒(méi)過(guò)幾個(gè)月就黯然辭職。

????埃爾伍德還表示，巴拉在這場(chǎng)危機(jī)襲來(lái)之前已經(jīng)積聚的高人氣，可能對(duì)她也很有助益。

????“瑪麗?巴拉在今年1月15日被任命為新任CEO的消息的確令人振奮，”他說(shuō)?！八纱顺蔀橐患颐绹?guó)汽車(chē)巨頭的首位女性首席執(zhí)行官，懸掛在女性高管頭頂?shù)牟Ａ旎ò灞磺娜环鬯椤：翢o(wú)疑問(wèn)，此舉給通用汽車(chē)打了一劑防疫針。”

????通用汽車(chē)的危機(jī)還遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)沒(méi)有結(jié)束。但如果巴拉延續(xù)她的應(yīng)對(duì)策略，她就很有可能被載入史冊(cè)，成為一位CEO如何挽狂瀾于既倒，扶大廈之將傾的典型例證。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：葉寒

????“GM is not only following best practices, they’re also effectively writing a new book by setting higher industry standards for future recalls by automakers,” said Philip Elwood, a vice-president at crisis management firm Levick.

????Elwood noted that GM has been proactive in working to eliminate the institutional issues that led to the ignition switch issues — firing 15 people, reorganizing the litigation practice and creating the “Speaking Up for Safety” program, which he calls “a sort of internal whistleblower protection act.”

????Barra has been at the center of all of these actions. They weren’t handed off to other executives. They weren’t announced in press releases on a Friday afternoon. Barra got on stage in front of the press and the public and explained exactly how she believes the company failed, and what it was going to do to get better. Her actions never seemed fake, and it was difficult to say she wasn’t legitimately upset that the automaker she has worked at for several decades allowed this to happen.

????Compare that to one of the other big public relations crises of the past decade: the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Then-CEO Tony Hayward started by minimizing the incident, saying it wasn’t a big deal. Of course, his most famous gaffe was saying to a reporter that he would like his “l(fā)ife back.” Hayward was massively criticized, and was out of the company within a matter of months.

????Elwood also said that the popularity Barra had before the crisis hit has probably helped her.

????“The announcement of Mary Barra as the new CEO on Jan. 15 of this year was done in spectacular fashion,” he said. “The unspoken shattering of the glass ceiling, as the first female CEO of a U.S. auto giant, surely gave GM some preemptive inoculation.”

????The crisis at GM is far from over. But if Barra keeps playing her cards the way she has so far, she could be held up for years as a textbook example of how a CEO should handle a potentially fatal crisis.