????1985年畢業時，芭拉拿到了電機工程學學位（同年與咨詢工程師托尼·芭拉結婚，他們現育有兩子），之后進入龐蒂克汽車的菲羅（Fiero）工廠，成為一名全職的高級工程師。她很快獲得了工廠經理蒂姆·李（現負責通用汽車的國際運營和全球生產業務）的注意。蒂姆·李說：“我早就知道她會干得很出色。她有決心、有信心、有激情，而且這些特質一直伴隨著她，激勵著她。”

????芭拉的才能很快被發掘出來，成為一個重點培養的管理人員。后來她獲得了通用汽車提供的獎學金，赴斯坦福商學院（Stanford Business School）進修，并以班級前10%的成績順利畢業。畢業后，她被任命為一名生產規劃經理，并且碰到了另一位在通用汽車冉冉升起的新星——馬克·羅伊斯。在通用汽車推出上一代凱迪拉克De Ville轎車時，二人曾一起共事過。羅斯伊說，在90年代高度政治化的通用汽車公司里，芭拉可以說是鶴立雞群。他說：“她知道怎樣搞好質量，她沒有廢話，沒有偏見，也不搞小派系。”

????1996年，芭拉的事業獲得了另一次突破。當時她被指派給CEO杰克·史密斯和副總裁哈里·皮爾斯，擔任三年的高級助理工作。在跟史密斯工作期間，通用的業務搬到中國，芭拉也獲得了開會坐在前排的機會。現在通用在中國的汽車銷量已經超過了北美。在史密斯和皮爾斯的推薦下，芭拉升任內部溝通部門的負責人。當年美國聯合汽車工會（UAW）發動了一次長達50天的大罷工，在那次罷工之后，這個有如一灘死水的部門變得異常重要。2003年，芭拉被任命為底特律-哈姆特拉米克裝配工廠的經理，重新回到了工廠。在她任職期間，工廠生產質量數次獲獎，工作環境變得更安全，而且成功地發布了兩款新車——凱迪拉克DTS和別克馬刀（LeSabre）。

????時任CEO的韓德勝在2009將芭拉提升為人力資源部門的負責人。這次提拔有些讓人摸不著頭腦。但通用當時剛剛宣布破產，在那段異常喧囂的日子，韓德勝想讓人力資源部門走數據導向型的路子，從而提高一些效率，同時重塑公司的文化。在通用汽車瘦身重組的過程中，芭拉埋首于員工薪資福利這種瑣碎的工作。同時她在通用汽車的常務委員會中也有了一個席位，由此進入了阿克森的視野。兩年后，阿克森把鮑伯·盧茨的繼任人調離產品研發部門，讓芭拉頂上了這個職位。

????在底特律時，芭拉平常每天早上6點或7點就開始工作，經常每天工作12個小時。她在底特律有兩個辦公室，她經常自己開著一輛凱迪拉克ATS到辦公室。今年8月，她的家搬到了底特律西邊更遠的地方，因此每天上班要花上近1個小時。今年，芭拉每個月都要花一星期時間待在德國，解決歐寶的問題。通用和歐寶的關系斬不斷、理還亂。2009年通用就想賣掉歐寶，后來又改變了主意——這主要是由于副總裁史蒂夫·吉斯基力爭保住歐寶，但后果就是歐寶的銷量一落千丈。吉斯基目前是歐寶的總裁，如果他能讓歐寶起死回生，那么將來在爭奪通用下一任CEO的寶座時，他將成為芭拉的強勁對手。不過芭拉并不認為存在什么競爭，她說：“歐寶不是我們的團隊搞出的問題，但它是我們需要解決的問題。”

????同樣的話也可以用在任何芭拉想解決的問題上。長期關注通用汽車的觀察家瑪麗安·凱勒說：“可以看出，她做的事也就是80年代末的成本、質量和競爭力問題。現在25年過去了，福特已經解決了這些問題，大眾也一樣，但通用汽車仍然需要一位高管來負責這些進程。”芭拉和她的前任的區別就是她的職位已經遠遠超過了她的預期，因此她已經無須證明什么，只需證明自己。“我是一個沒有耐心的人——這種迫切感刺激著我。”芭拉是否有能力將這種緊迫感傳遞給她的29,000名員工將決定她的事業下一步會迎來怎樣的輝煌。

????譯者：樸成奎

????Following graduation in 1985 with a degree in electrical engineering (and after meeting Tony Barra, a consulting engineer whom she married that year; they now have two teen-age children), Barra went to work fulltime as a senior engineer in the?Pontiac Fiero?plant. She quickly came to the attention of plant manager Tim Lee, now GM's head of international operations and global manufacturing. "I knew early on that she would do well," says Lee. "She was determined, confident and passionate, and these traits continue to define her and drive her."

????Quickly tabbed as a high-potential executive, Barra won a GM fellowship to attend Stanford Business School and graduated in the top 10% of her class. Out of school, she was made a manager of manufacturing planning and encountered another fast-rising young executive, Mark Reuss. Working together on the launch of what would be the last generation Cadillac De Ville, Reuss says Barra stood out in the highly politicized GM of the 1990s. Says he: "She knows how to do quality. She's no nonsense, plays no favorites, and has no cliques."

????Barra's career got another boost in 1996 when she began a three-year stint as executive assistant to CEO Jack Smith and vice chairman Harry Pearce. Working for Smith, she got a front row seat as?GM moved into China, where it now sells more cars than in North America. With their recommendation, she was sent to run internal communications, a corporate backwater that had turned critical following a nasty 50-day UAW strike. Barra hired, trained, and led a network of specialists to improve communications throughout the company, especially with union workers. In 2003, Barra went back to the factory floor as manager of the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, which had a history of troubled automation. She managed to win quality awards, make the workplace safer, and successfully launch two new vehicles, the Cadillac DTS and Buick LeSabre.

????Then-CEO Fritz Henderson?plucked Barra from engineering in 2009 to make her head of Human Resources. The move seemed a head-scratcher, but GM had just declared bankruptcy, and Henderson was trying to bring some data-oriented efficiency to HR and reshape the culture at a very tumultuous time. As GM downsized and restructured, Barra immersed herself in the minutiae of compensation and benefits. She also got a seat on GM's executive committee, which brought her to Akerson's attention. Two years later, he moved Bob Lutz's successor out of product development?and put Barra in.

????When in Detroit, Barra's workday starts at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. and runs a good 12 hours. She drives herself in a Cadillac ATS to one of her two offices -- a trip that takes nearly an hour since her family moved further west from Detroit in August. This year, she spent about one week a month in Germany trying to straighten out Opel. GM has had a tortured relationship with its European affiliate, arranging to sell it in 2009 and then reversing its decision -- largely at the urging of vice chairman Steve Girsky -- only to see sales collapse along with the European economy.?Girsky is now Opel's chairman?and Barra's likely competitor to succeed Akerson if he can turn Opel around, but Barra doesn't see any rivalry. "Opel is not a problem our team created, but it is ours to solve," she says.

????That same could be said about everything Barra is trying to solve. "The stuff she is supposed to be doing were revealed as cost, quality and competitive issues in the late 1980s," says longtime GM watcher Maryann Keller. "It's now 25 years later, and Ford has figured it out and so has VW, but GM still needs an executive in charge of processes." What sets Barra apart from her predecessors is that having risen far higher than she ever expected, she has nothing to prove -- except to herself. "I'm an impatient person -- it gnaws at me." Her ability to convey that same sense of urgency to all 29,000 of her employees will determine the nature of the next stage in her remarkable career.