GM – Driving Backward?

Ben Stiegler, CEO and Founder, Synertel

News reports today named Ed Whitacre Jr., the former chairman of AT&T Inc., as the new chairman of the “new GM.”

Ed ran AT&T from the time it was Southwestern Bell through the mergers to become SBC, gobbling up Pacific Telesis, Comcast Cellular (Cingular), SNET, Ameritech and AT&T whose moniker it took.

Under his watch, AT&T went through regular gyrations, slashing staff, cutting service levels, leading the industry with indecipherable contracts. Whitacre also was questioned by the Senate AntiTrust Committee in 2006 about leaking customer information to the National Security Agency.

But here’s the scary part: BusinessWeek, in an interview with Whitacre in 1999, reported that he did not use e-mail or have a computer in his office. I quote: “Whitacre doesn't have a computer in his office. He prefers to write notes by hand or have letters typed by his secretary. He said, ‘I'm not computer illiterate, but I'm close. If two people are sitting 20 feet from each other and sending each other e-mails, I think that's ridiculous.’”

Leadership comes in many forms. But choosing an exec who eschews modern communications technology to lead a company like GM, which has a history of building technology dinosaurs – well, it sends an interesting message.

For the sake of our economy, taxpayers and job creation – let’s hope Ed has changed his tune on being connected. Why? Because the folks with the new ideas we need to bring innovation to transportation sure aren’t having their secretaries write their blogs, create their PowerPoints or update their wikis.

Ben Stiegler is CEO and founder of Synertel, a provider of converged telephony services and equipment. He also is a member of the 2008-09 PHONE+ Channel Partners Advisory Board.