I'm a pretty average guy and want to keep a low profile. I don't want the world necessarily to know about me.

So long as TARP money is wrapped up in GM, the company will never shake its 'Government Motors' image. That label, as competitors and GM employees are keenly aware, is code for one thing: 'GM is a failure'.

I find people to be people everywhere. Everyone wants the same thing - be successful.

No partnership between two independent companies, no matter how well run, can match the speed, effectiveness, responsiveness and efficiency of a solely owned company.

I don't know anything about cars. A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars. I'm not that old, and I think the business principles are the same.

TARP is funded by taxpayers, so there are many rules about how that money can and can't be used. The result: GM spends an awful lot of time checking in with the people who administer TARP over everything from hiring to executive compensation and management. For a global company, that adds up to a lot of distraction.

When I went into GM there was a lack of morale. The company had gone bankrupt and the people who worked there were embarrassed. Underneath all of, though, there was a will to show what they were capable of, but nobody knew exactly what to do.