Car Guys vs. Bean Counters

The Battle for the Soul of American Business

By: Bob Lutz

Narrated by: Norman Dietz

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

In 2001, General Motors hired Bob Lutz out of retirement with a mandate to save the company by making great cars again. He launched a war against penny pinching, office politics, turf wars, and risk avoidance. After declaring bankruptcy during the recession of 2008, GM is back on track thanks to its embrace of Lutz's philosophy. When Lutz got into the auto business in the early sixties, CEOs knew that if you captured the public's imagination with great cars, the money would follow. The car guys held sway, and GM dominated with bold, creative leadership and iconic brands like Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, GMC, and Chevrolet. But then GM's leadership began to put their faith in analysis, determined to eliminate the "waste" and "personality worship" of the bygone creative leaders. Management got too smart for its own good. With the bean counters firmly in charge, carmakers (and much of American industry) lost their single-minded focus on product excellence. Decline followed. Lutz's commonsense lessons (with a generous helping of fascinating anecdotes) will inspire readers at any company facing the bean counter analysis-paralysis menace.

©2011 Bob Lutz (P)2011 Tantor

Should be required for all managers in auto indust

Where does Car Guys vs. Bean Counters rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of the best books I've listened to, especially because it focuses in on the auto industry and addresses many of the best and worst decisions ever made in Detroit.

What other book might you compare Car Guys vs. Bean Counters to and why?

I can't think of a book to compare this to, it is singular in its insight, focus and sheer honesty on how the big car manufacturers became their own worst enemies.

Which scene was your favorite?

I really enjoyed the explanation and insight as to why the US has always seemed behind foreign car companies in developing great, small, fuel efficient vehicles. It was great hearing someone else observations on how too many MBAs and Accountants can completely cripple a company's ability to create products that will sell.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I just really enjoyed it as it covered so much history and so many of the famous players in the US auto industry. Very colorful!

Any additional comments?

Yes, after listening to this book, I so wanted to send copies of it to many of the MBA wielding senior management people that have

Amazing man in the auto industry.

great book a lot of history about his career and GM. I loved the detail he went into.

it's a great book if you're a car person

although I don't agree with all of the guy's politics it's still a great read

Inside Perspective

very insightful well worth reading regardless of your political leanings. I highly recommend reading this book.

Reality Check

As a young automotive professional, listening to this book gave me an authentic & experience driven perspective on what it means to be in the car business. F the bean counters, and do what’s best for the customers!!!

Lutz Seems a Bit Full of Himself

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Anyone interested in the car industry

Any additional comments?

Lutz portrays GM as a company that just can't catch a break. He claims that they were first with many technologies and Toyota is the "darling" with the media. Bottom line, GM managed themselves into this position, if they don't like it fix it! Stop whining about not getting a fair shake and do something about it.

Opinionated and one-sided

I used to respect Bob Lutz as a "car guy" that was in a position to make a difference at some of the worlds largest automakers, and I agree with the idea that the company leader needs to come up through the engineering ranks, not accounting. So I was looking forward to a reasoned dissertation on the merits on producing the best product vs. the cheapest one. What I got was "my gut reaction is better that all those educated liberals". Bob should keep his politics out and stop quoting the conservative republican sound bytes about how all of our problems are caused by "liberals who love socialism" and denies the existence of global warming. By his own admission, GM was beset with a crushing bureaucracy that made very bad decisions and even worse cars, yet seems to blame the downfall of the '80s on "the liberal media" and Japan's manipulating the yen. He seems to revere the Harley Earl "excess to the extreme" style of car design and thinks that is the reason why GM was such an industrial giant of the '50s and '60s. He seems to conveniently forget that following WWII the US's automotive industry was at the top of their form, while the rest of the world's industry had just been bombed to rubble. His book is filled with contradictions and half-truths - and he is convinced that the American public is a bunch of stupid children that really want big, heavy, gas-guzzling monsters - they just have to look sexy. He keeps taking cheap shots at "liberals" yet by his own estimation says they make up 70% of the educated public. He claims that the need to supply health care to it's workers puts such a cost burden on GM that they become uncompetitive, yet can't quite bring himself to support "socialized" health care.
I'm not one of the "import loving - American hating liberals" he rants about. I drive a Corvette and own a Sierra Pickup, and my wife drives a PT Cruiser. They are all good vehicles and are excellent values in their class. Like the cars he loves, Bob is a relic of the '50s

Disappointment

I was only able to finish about 5 chapters - I just couldn't listen anymore. The book felt like it was written by the PR department at GM. The narration was the worst in any Audible book i've read. Maybe it gets better, but there are just too many enjoyable books to listen to one as disappointing as this.

Boring and self-involved.

This is a book about General Motors history and personal ramblings and self-promotion. In spite of the "sample" listen it is not about "policy" or the "bean counter vs. car guy," it is about Bob Lutz. I was expecting a good discussion of "the soul of Ameican Business" finance guys vs.design guy and the impact on US economics. This was breifly mentioned in but not sustained. If your totally into the political nuances of General Motors, (what this guy did vs. this guy), or GM car nostalgia, you will love it. But little on American Business Soul.

Wrong Title and a Book about Bob Lutz

I did not want to finish this book, but I did. This is one of the first times I felt condescended throughout the nine-plus hours.

I can't put my finger on it, but it seems like Lutz had an ax to grind, and I thought he completed missed many of the essential facts when GM was dealing with a serious liquidity crisis before the government stepped in as an equity owner.

If you want to learn more about this time period along with the automotive industry, then listen to American Icon where the focus is on Alan Mulally, someone far more humble who was able to achieve results through a cohesive team. And if you are impressed with the way Mulally got results, you'll want to follow it up with Working Together by James P. Lewis (but it's only in print).

After listening to American twice, I was expecting the Lutz book to be similar--it's not even close.