Perceptions

I have had many discussions regarding perception and reality, but when it comes down to it, perception is reality. Regardless of what the facts are, if you can't overcome or change people's perception, then their perception is the reality you have to deal with.

A teacher once taught me that everyone's beliefs are tied to an experience that that individual has had along the way. How true that is! Think about it for a second. Why do you have certain opinions? I bet you can tie it back to some kind of experience you had that shaped that opinion or belief.

That's the issue that GM is facing right now. We are building safe, quality vehicles, but people don't believe that. Many people (including some members of my family) have had bad experiences with the quality of past GM vehicles and believe that the quality of GM vehicles is inferior to that of the foreign automakers. The fact is that GM has made leaps and bounds to improve quality to the point of meeting and surpassing many of the foreign cars. Despite this, however, people still perceive GM as having less than reliable vehicles and thus, this is the "reality" we now face. We need to work to create experiences for these consumers that will show (not just tell) them that we do have great quality cars and trucks.

As I constantly deal with helping to overcome people's incorrect perceptions, I have become aware that I sometimes may have incorrect perceptions as well. I have learned to not make blanket statements, but try to evaluate every issue, company and individual from an objective point of view. I can't change others' perceptions if I am guilty of holding on to unfounded perceptions myself.