This whole new GM with a new frontman would be more believable if it weren't for a few things: Fritz Henderson is 52 years old and has been with General Motors since 1984 -- the same year he graduated from business school. In other words, his entire professional career has been spent as part of the old GM. If he's such a brilliant innovator, why wasn't he pushing Richard Wagoner in the right direction? Was he weak and subservient? If so, that doesn't bode well. Henderson was vice chairman and CFO from the beginning of 2006 onward until he was elevated to COO. As CFO, why didn't he push for the company's irresponsible dividend to be eliminated so that the company could pay down debt? At the beginning of 2006, shares of GM were flying high and the company might have been able to raise cash, but Fritz ignored the heinously bad balance sheet and it was business as usual.

Looking at this guy's biography, there's really very little to make you think he's going to be the guy who can transform GM into a lean, 21st century company. He can do all the Twittering and YouTube videos he wants, but what GM needs is new blood and leadership.