????瑪麗?芭拉從未想過自己會是《財富》雜志評選活動中擁有重要角色的那一類管理者，更別提登上《財富》雜志“全球最具影響力的50位商界女性”排行榜榜首了。瑪麗?芭拉是家里第一個上大學的人，以龐蒂亞克工廠一名工程實習生的身份半工半讀念完了通用汽車學院【現更名為凱特林大學Kettering University）】。而她的父親在39年的模型工生涯中制作的也一直是龐蒂亞克品牌的模型。通過努力，她得以加入一個快速培訓項目，拿到了通用汽車的獎學金進入斯坦福大學（Stanford）學習（于1990年獲得MBA學位）。在此之后，憑借謙遜的行事作風和改變現狀的勇氣，瑪麗?芭拉陸續接管過很多不同的職位——從公司首席執行官杰克?史密斯的助理，到裝配車間經理、全球制造工程副總裁，再到人力資源總裁，以及全球產品開發及全球采購和供應鏈執行副總裁。2009年，通用汽車公司提交破產申請后，她作為人力資源主管，簡化了公司員工守則，把長達10頁的著裝要求簡化成了四個字：“穿著得體”。作為產品主管，她參與了歐寶品牌在歐洲市場的重組，同時推動通用汽車利用更少的平臺生產出更優質的汽車。

????“我希望瑪麗?芭拉成為21世紀的阿爾費雷德?斯隆”，沃倫?巴菲特說。他所說的阿爾費雷德?斯隆是通用汽車史上最偉大的CEO。沃倫?巴菲特的伯克希爾?哈撒韋公司（Berkshire Hathaway）擁有通用汽車約4000萬股的股票。“就目前看來，她具備這個能力。”如今通用汽車在《財富》世界500強企業名單中排名第22位，是世界最二大汽車制造商，僅次于日本豐田汽車公司（Toyota ）。通用汽車公司目前已經重新實現了盈利，也已還清了欠美國政府的債務。然而在美國，通用汽車的市場份額已跌到了最近的17.5%，而1994年這一數字是33%。最近，芭拉接受了《財富》雜志的專訪，跟我們談到了她那個充滿挑戰的世界、汽車行業的未來，以及她在1月15日開始接手的新職位——通用汽車史上首位女性CEO。

????你的目標之一是不是使通用汽車成為全球最賺錢的汽車廠商？

????我們的目標是使通用汽車成為最具價值的汽車公司。這一點顯然會帶來持續的盈利能力，也會為公司股東帶來巨大的回報。

????身為CEO，你認為你即將做的哪件事情最為關鍵？

????我全力關注的事務有好幾項，其中之一是我們要繼續設計、制造和銷售在我們選擇競爭的行業領域里最好的汽車。我認為，在持續打造我們的品牌并鞏固卡迪拉克（Cadillac）和雪佛蘭（Chevrolet）這兩個世界品牌的地位上，我們有著非常好的機遇。這兩個品牌目前正受到一些區域性品牌的夾擊，這些區域性品牌也十分重要——比如歐洲的歐寶。我們顯然要保證在每一個競爭市場都能盈利，同時堅守資產負債表的“堡壘”，因為汽車是一個周期性的業務。

????擔任人力資源總裁時，你簡化了政策和規定；領導全球產品開發時，你又削減了管理層級和生產平臺數量。如今作為CEO，你計劃在哪些方面進行簡化？

????只要有機會，就要不斷降低復雜性。我希望能真正使所有團隊具備創新能力。在某些方面我們已經具備出色的創新能力，沃藍達就是一個例子。然而我希望公司在所有方面都具備創新能力，我對“創新能力”的定義是能為客戶提供價值。

????Mary Barra is not the type of boss who ever thought she'd be featured in Fortune, let alone sit atop the magazine's inaugural Most Powerful Women in global business ranking. The first woman in her family to go to college, she worked her way through General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) as an engineering intern at a Pontiac factory -- the same brand of car that her dad had worked on during his 39 years as a diemaker. She made it into a fast-track training program, got a GM fellowship to Stanford (MBA, '90), and went on to master diverse jobs -- assistant to CEO Jack Smith; assembly plant manager; vice president of global manufacturing engineering; HR chief; head of global product development, purchasing, and supply chain -- with low-ego finesse and the courage to shake things up. As HR boss after GM's bankruptcy filing in 2009, Barra simplified employee rules and boiled the company's 10-page dress code down to two words: "Dress appropriately." As product chief, she got involved in restructuring Opel in Europe, and she pushed GM (GM, Fortune 500) to build better vehicles on fewer platforms.

????"I hope that Mary Barra turns out to be the Alfred Sloan of the 21st century," says Warren Buffett, referring to the carmaker's most renowned CEO. His Berkshire Hathaway(BRKA, Fortune 500) owns some 40 million shares of GM. "From what I've seen, she's got the goods." Today the company ranks No. 22 on Fortune's Global 500 list and is the world's second-largest automaker, behind Toyota (TM). GM is back to profitability and no longer in debt to the U.S. government. But its share in the U.S. market is running flat at a recent 17.5%, vs. 33% in 1994. Barra recently spoke with Fortune about her world of challenges, the future of cars, and her new gig, effective Jan. 15, as General Motors' first female CEO.

????Is one of your goals to make GM the world's most profitable automaker?

????Our goal is to make General Motors the most valuable automotive company. Clearly, that is having sustainable profitability and driving great returns for our shareholders.

????What's the most critical thing that you will do as CEO?

????There are several things that I'm focused on. One is that we continue to design, build, and sell the best vehicles for every segment [in which] we choose to compete. I think we have great opportunity to continue to build our brands and strengthen Cadillac and Chevrolet, our two global brands. They're flanked by some very important regional brands -- for instance, Opel in Europe. We clearly have to make sure that in every market we choose to compete in, we operate profitably and we maintain our fortress balance sheet, because this is a cyclical business.

????Mary, as head of HR, you reduced rules and policies. As head of global product development, you reduced executive layers and production platforms. As CEO, what do you plan to reduce?

????There's an opportunity to continually reduce complexity. I want to really empower the teams to be innovative. We have great innovation in pockets -- the Volt being one example. But I want to make sure that we're being innovative across the board. My definition of "innovative" is providing value to the customer.