Feb 15, 2021
3:25 Wagner comes into me, he said, I need to move I need
somebody to go to Russia. And I said, Well, why are you talking to
me? He said, Russia is complex. And I need somebody who I can
trust.
4:20 I had the only white escalate in Russia. And why did I have a
white escalate? Because every one of the cops in Moscow, after two
months knew... that's the guy who's not gonna pay us a bribe.
5:08 Russians were very, very jealous of the Chinese in terms of
their industrial expansion, the size of their economy, etc.
13:11 The vice governor actually had the office that was Lennon's
and Putin's.
14:57 she said, "Mr. Brown Welcome to St. Petersburg. I just have
one question for you. Do you have the authority to negotiate the
deal for this plant?"15:24 I said, "Governor, I am General Motors
in Russia."
21:59How a bribe could be structured...
22:01 My name is Oleg Deripaska. And I want to build a car with
General Motors.
27:43 about two minutes into the chairman of Coke's opening, he
starts to coug and he's kind of choking and the cough is getting
worse. And the head of Pepsi, Russia is sitting right next to him.
He opens a can of Pepsi. And he hands it to Neville. And Neville
says, I'd rather die from choking.
28:06 You're moving to Switzerland.
31:35 I land in Zurich, and I don't have a job. I'm the "executive
director of new business development"... and screen door
repair.
34:40 I call the embassy in Moscow and said you need to hook me
with the charge the affairs and commercial attache in Ankara. I
need to go and find out who in Turkey's got money, land and who
would like to be a partner with General Motors.
35:31 This is but here's your guy right here. He's in Istanbul.
He's desperate to get into the car business and he's got money. And
we'll set the dinner up for you. I flew from Ankara to Istanbul. Do
you want to be in the car business? Well, without being too
personal, does $100 million dollars scare you?
40:29 So what am I gonna do? I'm gonna walk through the lobby every
morning with my golf clubs.
40:40 here's your assignment. We gave away the distribution for
Cadillac Corvette and Hummer in Europe to a distributor, that
distributor is going to go broke. And we need to get that
distribution contract back. Your job, fly to Amsterdam, and
negotiate back what we gave away, which was the distribution rights
for Corvette Cadillac and Hummer...all of Europe.
42:23 you could smoke all the marijuana you want in here. But we
don't allow cigar smoke in this place.
43:46 And me being directly involved in managing the cash, only to
find out good after I retired three months after I retired General
Motors went broke.
45:02 Bob Lutz, because I was in the room when it happened...we
presented to Jim a five year forecast that said General Motors was
going to be a 36% company before the mid 90s...market share at the
time 43.
45:48 Jeff: 1 point could cost shut down a plant,
46:19 Lexus wasn't here. Infinity wasn't here. Acura wasn't here
yet.
47:10 we told the GM, that the Japanese are going to build luxury
cars
52:24 I retired, I bought a 2009 Malibu out of California.
59:01 I don't even think Janet knows. I'm visiting my one of my
brothers grave for the first time. Something like both folks never
ever, ever talked about
1:01:29 being a better father at 69 than I was at 29 if I come
close to accomplishing that at all. That's enough of a bucket list
for me