General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner may have played basketball for the Duke University Blue Devils from 1971 to 1975, but clearly he didn't learn much about pep talks from Coaches Neill McGeachy and Bill Foster based on recent media comments. Take for example Wagoner's remarks about the prospects of Toyota overtaking GM as the world's largest automaker from Friday's New York Times:
“If, as a result of that, we get passed, well it won’t be a happy day for me, but I’ve lost basketball games before in my life,” said Mr. Wagoner, who played basketball for Duke University. “You get ready, you learn and you go back and play the next day.”
Of course, his four years at Duke were a low-point for the Blue Devils, so maybe he didn't have the best role models for inspirational speaking. —Matthew Wurtzel
See story from The New York Times
See earlier post from Dealscape
See GM Dealwatch
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