The collapse of General Motors captured headlines in early 2009, but as Alex Taylor III writes in this in-depth dissection of the automaker’s undoing, GM’s was a meltdown forty years in the making. Drawing on more than thirty years of experience and insight as an automotive industry reporter, as well as personal relationships with many of the leading players, Taylor reveals the many missteps of GM and its competitors: a refusal to follow market cues and consumer trends; a lack of follow-through on major initiatives; and a history of hesitance, inaction, and failure to learn from mistakes. In the process, he provides lasting lessons for every executive who confronts the challenges of a changing marketplace and global competition. Yet Taylor resists condemning GM’s leadership from the privileged view of hindsight. Instead, his account enables the reader to see GM’s decline through the eyes of an insider, with the understanding that corporate decision-making at a company as large as General Motors isn’t as simple as it may seem. Taylor’s book serves as a marvelous case study of one of the United States’ premier companies, of which every American quite literally now holds a share. (20100524)
Sixty to Zero
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“A cogent kick-the-tires account of a disaster that was 40 years in the making. A gifted writer, Taylor is also refreshingly candid about himself as well as GM. . . . His book is informative—and fun to read.”—Glenn C. Altschuler, NPR''s Books We Like
“Sixty to Zero is a melodrama for the ages and one that continues to unfold today. A must-read for everyone in the auto industry and for anyone else interested in what happens at the intersection of corporate culture and human frailty.”—John Krafcik, president and CEO, Hyundai Motor America and major contributor to The Machine That Changed the World
“Sixty to Zero is a penetrating and compelling account of how the icon of 20th century American business went bust within a decade of the new century. We witness close-up how General Motors’ leaders stalled decisions, resisted ideas, flubbed execution, and otherwise repeated startling acts of ''driver error.'' For learning from one of the greatest unforced corporate failures of modern times, this is a vivid and definitive account.”—Michael Useem, Professor of Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Leadership Moment and co-author of The India Way
“Taylor understands that the domestic car makers’ troubles didn''t begin a few years ago. To identify the seeds of their destruction, you have to go back decades and that''s exactly what he has done. This is a smart, lively, and personal account of Detroit’s crack-up.”—Csaba Csere, Former editor-in-chief of Car and Driver
(Csaba Csere )"A terrific job — well written and very informative. I don''t know of another journalist besides Alex Taylor who could have done as well."—David E. Cole, Chairman, Center for Automotive Research
(David E. Cole ) “Insights into the journalistic mindset, as well as keen observations about GM itself, are what make Sixty to Zero an enlightening and engaging read.”--Paul Ingrassia, Wall Street Journal
"Having covered the auto industry for Fortune magazine for years, Taylor knows his subject well. . . . Taylor''s book is a concise, up-to-date telling of what happened [to GM] and why."—Larry Printz, Virginian-Pilot
(Larry Printz Virginian-Pilot )"Sixty to Zero offers a thorough look, warts and all, at what has happened to the American auto industry during the past 20 years."—Henry Holtzman, Inland Empire Business Journal
(Henry Holtzman Inland Empire Business Journal )
About the Author
Alex Taylor III is a senior editor at Fortune magazine. He is a member of the International Motor Press Association and is on the jury for the North America Car of the Year Awards. Mike Jackson is the chairman and chief executive officer of AutoNation. Previously, he served as president and chief executive officer of Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well reported, but a little shy on perspective,
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This review is from: Sixty to Zero: An Inside Look at the Collapse of General Motors--and the Detroit Auto Industry (Hardcover)
I have known Alex Taylor III for many years and have long admired his work for Fortune. I also work for one of the companies he writes about, General Motors, in the news relations department. So I can hardly argue that I am free of bias.
That said, I think Sixty to Zero has some obvious strengths, and some equally obvious shortcomings. The strengths lie in its sketches of the larger-than-life characters who ran the U.S. auto industry from the 1960s through the end of 2009. Taylor has done a great job of bringing these people to life, complete with their sometimes tragic flaws. I also admire Taylor's honesty about the challenges he faced in covering these leaders and their companies. It is sobering to be reminded that even a reporter as experienced as Taylor and a publication with the resources of Fortune sometimes struggle to find the right balance for an important news story. What's missing is a discussion of the outside forces that set creative destruction in motion in the U.S. auto industry in the late 1960s. For more than half a century, the U.S. auto industry enjoyed a closed market with stable energy supplies and minimal government regulation. Companies and cultures came into being to maximize performance in that market, and these companies were incredibly successful -- they were like the Google and Microsoft of their era. When the industry was hit in quick succession with new government regulations, new competitors from Europe and Japan, and wild swings in gas prices, these companies and their leaders found it difficult to change what had been so successful for so long, and they struggled to adapt. A bit of Schumpeter could add some much needed perspective to Taylor's history. The companies that are emerging from this period are smaller, leaner and more global. Many challenges still lie ahead, as the auto industry deals with the rise of new markets and competitors such as China and India. But I personally believe that the new GM has a great future ahead of it. Eventually, all industries come face to face with the kind of seismic shifts that hit the auto industry starting in the 1960s. The magazine and book industries are now entering a similar period of creative destruction. Perhaps in another 20 years, someone like Taylor will write their story.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Just OK,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Sixty to Zero: An Inside Look at the Collapse of General Motors--and the Detroit Auto Industry (Hardcover)
Sixty to Zero was a quick read. I felt that it only scratched the surface of the topic, compared to "Crash Course" by Paul Ingrassia.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not Much Here -,
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This review is from: Sixty to Zero: An Inside Look at the Collapse of General Motors--and the Detroit Auto Industry (Hardcover)
G.M.'s meltdown was some 40-years in the making, claims Taylor. It had served as a model of efficiency and organization that hundreds of others copied. It's decline was caused by bad management, combined with ego, and covered up by the ineptness of its domestic competitors and its once huge market share - 56% in 1962. The wide spaces between lines and letters in each word suggest the author doesn't have much to say, and that's true. His closeness to the industry led Taylor to write, as late as 2008, optimistically about G.M.'s coming turnaround. The book is almost entirely narrative/anecdotal, and lacks quantitative analyses - eg. why G.M. (and others) retreated into large cars, or caved in to the UAW. Just not much here -
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