Terry Rhadigan spent 36 years at General Motors.

He started answering phones on an 800 number in Troy, Michigan, fielding angry customers in an era when Detroit's quality reputation was taking hits. Communications was the goal, but it took nine years of dealer visits, district service calls, and floor-level learning before he got there.

On the other side of a GM crisis, he became VP of Global Communications at one of the largest companies in the world.

In our episode we covered:

→ Why transparency is your best crisis tool, and what happens when you don't use it

→ How to redirect a conversation without lying

→ What 15 different roles at one company teaches you about communicating

→ What it will take to keep Detroit's momentum going

→ What Terry would tell his younger self about balance, kindness, and the long game

People who can communicate well under pressure aren't born that way… they earn it in the hard roles nobody wanted, before anyone trusted them with the big ones.

Terry, thank you for sharing your story with our audience!

Chapters

0:00 - Introduction to Terry Rhadigan

1:30 - Career Beginnings: Nine Years to Get Into Communications

4:00 - Breaking Into GM Communications and Learning the Business

5:00 - The Core Rule of Crisis Communication: Own It

7:00 - Redirecting the Narrative: How Product Launches Changed GM's Story

8:45 - Using Communication Skills in Your Personal Life

11:15 - Life After GM: Four Boards, One Consultancy, and Detroit's Momentum

13:15 - The NFL Draft, the Sports Commission, and Detroit's Image Shift

17:00 - Michigan's Automotive Industry: Fighting to Stay at the Top

25:00 - The EV Crossroads: Where the Industry Goes From Here

38:15 - When Shift Hits the Fan: Inside the GM Crisis

44:50 - Leading at 22: Managing 70 People Through a Company Crisis

50:35 - Advice to My 25-Year-Old Self

52:05 - About TeamSense

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This episode is powered by TeamSense

Prefer to listen?

Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/033oapRSFlbJrOYMyW2IVS?si=d552ddefbc0c4c10

Apple → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-real-shift/id1896826304

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