I am honored to be able to serve GM at this critical juncture and take part in its reinvention.

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.

My goal in coming to General Motors was to help restore profitability, build a strong market position and position this iconic company for success. We are clearly on that path.

If someone wants to transmit a high-quality service with no interruptions and 'guaranteed this, guaranteed that,' they should be willing to pay for that.

If China's expansion into Africa and Russia's into Latin America and the former Soviet Union are any indication, Silicon Valley's ability to expand globally will be severely limited, if only because Beijing and Moscow have no qualms about blending politics and business.

No leader will fight for values, for principles, if their government is a value-free vacuum. Moral relativism is morally wrong.

Yes, negotiating is about money and the bottom line, but a lot of times, it's much more emotional and complex than that. Realizing that the economic outcome may not be the other party's top priority gives you more chips to play with and will enable you to achieve better results than you may have anticipated.

There are some terrorist organizations, there are some organized crime organizations, that launder money through charities and make donations to charities. That's not the purpose of charitable donations in Canada, so we're becoming increasingly strict on the subject.