Challenge Legacy To Curate Excellence

Insight 49

Legacy. What is a Legacy if not seeds planted in a garden we will never get to see?

- Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton the Musical.

A few weeks ago, I had the distinct honor to visit General Motors (GM) company headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, where our University team met with members of the Vehicle Engineering Center, as well as members of its Vice Presidential suite. 

With a current market capitalization of $46.57 billion USD, making it the 457th most valuable company in the world and earning it a spot in the S&P 500 basket of stocks, I made sure to take notes. 

We talked through a variety of topics, including tariffs, benchmarking, complexity reduction, and balancing healthy leadership with an intentional lifestyle, but my most important takeaway was simple: 

Challenge Legacy To Curate Excellence

Here’s a look inside the mind of General Motors, a company that's been around for a long time (founded in 1908, over 115 years ago) and one aiming to stay around for quite a bit longer (switching all its vehicles to be solely battery powered by 2035)

With a much needed cup of coffee in hand after the long bus ride over, the GM staff took our team behind the scenes to the Teardown Lab, within its Vehicle Engineering Center, where is reverse engineers competitors vehicles to learn and progress with their own inventions (sadly I was not allowed to film here due to “legal reasons”)

But I can share what I saw, and a lot of it wasn't what I was expecting.

From eBay orders to duct tape, it was clear that the engineers working behind the scenes knew how to get the job done and properly reverse-engineer to understand what other market leaders around the world were putting into their vehicle creations to achieve success. Their motto back there?

“Tear down not to copy but to be inspired and have new ideas.”

This was my first revelation of the day. General Motors has been around for over 115 years, but they haven't let it go to their heads; they realize that just because something “has always been done a certain way,” it doesn't make it dogma. 

The Tear Down Lab's fundamental role was to challenge the company's own legacy, not be bound by what they had always done, and instead generate new ways of thinking. It's a reframing of the tired platitude “Think outside the box.” Well, they certainly do, but in a new way, by putting themselves in the box of other competitors to comprehend their processes and innovation, to then further progress their own.

While Legacy can be a guideline, it is not always the law. Yes, you must first have some form of legacy that will act as a reference and foundation, but even the greatest of man-made structures experience constant refortifying and check-ups to ensure they don't rot or become obsolete. The car industry has remained the same for a long time; it's been profitable and stable, which is all good, but has that led to conformity?

This reminded me of something my mama taught me when I was young, “Dani, just cause the others do it, doesn't mean you have to too.” Taking it one step further, just because “you” have always done something one way doesn't mean you have to be held to it either.

Yes, we should be consistent, trustworthy, and loyal, but we are subject to change (it's necessary); life has seasons; it's only God who stays the same.

If you’ve worked in one field your entire life, but suddenly are feeling called to another? Take the step of faith and confront your fears. If your parents were doctors, that doesn't mean you have to be one too. If your friends are going out, you can stay in. We don’t have to be bound by what has always been done. 

Being exceptional is about being okay being the exception. Copycats never make it. They don’t leave a legacy.

After a few more behind-the-scenes looks into their all-electric mission by 2035, the afternoon looked different. Our team was given the incredible opportunity to meet with  Kurt McNeil, Vice President of Sales, and Michelle Anderson, the Vice President of Strategy.

The two speakers took turns running us through their story, and a pattern of intentionality arose. 

They highlighted the importance of winning, but specifically winning with integrity, balancing leadership in a healthy manner that prioritizes time spent with friends and family, and the importance of implementing good habits now so that thirty years down the line, you are still a well-oiled machine. Still, through all this, at the end of our time together, my takeaway was the same: a healthy challenge to Legacy is crucial to success.

Notice the use of the word healthy. This is not a challenge for the sake of fighting but a checkup to ensure longevity and innovation. It's the opening of a door to risk discoveries that may lead to something incredible. It takes purpose, curiosity, and the goodwill to do it in faith with the hope of improvement for a better and sustainable future. 

At all levels of the company, their mission has aligned, and they have become bolder in innovation. How did this start? By not conforming to how it's always been. Both in their company and in the industry standard.

Sometimes industry standards make the industry just that, standard, not exceptional.

While they serve well in setting a bar, do not be afraid to raise it higher once again when needed.

— 

General Motors is doing a commendable job of living out this concept with its mission to transition its entire suite of vehicles to all-electric by 2035. The company is also taking some innovative risks in new and emerging markets, as evidenced by its recent announcement to join the F1 circuit with Cadillac next year.

Point blank, Legacy is being challenged and set at a new precedent.

We would all benefit from conducting a Legacy Analysis within our own lives as well, by backing our “normal” into a corner and honestly questioning it to determine whether we are settling for mediocrity and complacency or holding off the common to pursue the extraordinary.

Challenging Legacy is the first step to curating excellence.

While you may never know the outcome of this work, know that in pursuing the best, the best will be given in return.

Legacy. What is a Legacy if not seeds planted in a garden we will never get to see?

- Making The Most Of Being Curious

Daniel J. Cuesta

Sources:

Steward Legacy (Do Not Just Accept It As It Is):  “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children…” - Proverbs 13:22 

A Call To Renewal: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

-  Isaiah 43:19 

2035 GM Mission: Link

GM Heritage and Founding: Link.

GM Market Capitalization: Link

List of S&P 500 Stocks: Link