With ‘Tell Fritz,’ GM reinvents its communications

CEO Henderson test-driving an interactive Q&A model as the automaker sheds its bankruptcy status

Last time we spoke with communicators at General Motors, they were in the midst of communicating a bankruptcy. Nearly two months later, the automaker is out of bankruptcy, and communicators are getting a bit of a break—the CEO is actually communicating for them.

“Tell Fritz,” an online suggestion box on the company’s GM Reinvention site invites consumers to share their ideas, thoughts, and suggestions in 255 characters or fewer and send them to CEO Fritz Henderson, who will respond to selected posts beginning today, July 22.

“I’ll answer what I can,” Henderson pledges in a video posted on the Reinvention site. “When we start to get thousands of questions, I won’t be able to do them all, but my pledge is each day I’ll take some and answer them and I’ll look for those that have some common threads.”