E16 - Back to Detroit, Joining GM's Asia Pacific Staff

Rick Brown Story

After almost three years, my assignment at CAMI in Canada came to an end. And it was time for me to move on. Among the few choices presented, I opted to go back to Detroit to be part of GM's Asia Pacific Division. My job description was Business Planning Manager, and the new boss, Tom McDaniel, tasked me to keep him abreast of the monthly performance of each business unit in the region. In addition, he also gave me a special assignment: go talk to Isuzu; gauge their sentiment on how GM and Isuzu could work more effectively; seek their feedback on GM's deisre to be more directly involved in the management of the company. I stayed with Tom only briefly, covering just a little over one year, but this Isuzu assignment, which focused on a business relationship, turned out to be the highlight of my return to Detroit, and an experience which helped me in future alliance-related job assignments. Then one day, I get a call from Tom LaSorda which results in an unexpected career projectory.