The Career of

Nettie Seabrooks
and Influence
Against All Odds
Aulia Nur Cahyo - 29319109
People in Organization - SBM ITB - GM9 -
Aulia Ridho Muhammad - 29319007 SG7
Christopher Bonauli - 29319130
Delina Fitri - 29319128
Eva Natasha Setjo - 29319161
Galih Ghanesa Cakra - 29319103
1. Background
● In the 1950s it was not easy for a Black woman to get any sort of technical or professional job. Nettie Seabrooks graduated from
Marygrove College in 1955 with a degree in Chemistry. Then, Nettie get a Masters in Library Sciences in Chemistry, University of
Michigan for two years. Then she got her first job at General Motors was as a librarian in the Public Relations library in 1962
●There was only one problem: Headquarters was really lily White.
2. Sexual Harassment on the Job
● She got a sexual harassment from The Assistant Personnel Director
3. How Nettie Defined Her Role
● She define herself as a hard worker and always trying to learn, always trying to do better.
4. Getting Noticed
● GM didn’t have a sophisticated Washington staff to do the background research and to coach Gerstenberg, so that task fell to her
area. His preparation team was comprised mainly of executives, and they would ask all sorts of questions. All librarians helped, but
I really worked hard to find additional information that I thought might be of assistance. Gerstenberg testimony was very successful
and was key to propelling him to be later named Chairman of GM.
5. Promotion to Manager of the Library, But an Issue of Pay Grade
Her boss, the manager of the Library, committed suicide, and the Director of Editorial Services called her and discussed
her becoming the manager. She was promoted from Level 5 to Level 6 even though the previous manager had been
unclassified at the Executive level. She was made Level 7 for 6 months, Level 8 for 6 months, and then she was
unclassified. So she
felt her patience won out.

6. Building from the Formal Managerial Position

They were trying something new. They are only going to `read and file’ but not send out and will see how others
respond. They just sent out a letter explaining that they have files and all available. She made sure that they always
stayed within our budget that built up trust with those above her.

7. Risking Her Job; Standing Up to a Director

Associated with the Annual Stockholder’s meeting would be a dinner for the officers. There was the incident with one of
the Directors, Waldo McNaught. The wife’s name tag of one of the directors was wrong, it was the name of his previous
wife. She went back to the library and called everybody together. She has covered up the deeds of her relatives to Waldo.
That incident was a defining moment for her. She realized that she was responsible for a group of people and that she
had to stand up for them.

8. Life Lesson
Nettie learned a life lesson from her father’s story about his work as a maintenance manager in Chrysler, facing issues
such as racism. He thought: “If Daddy could take it from Mr. Malone, I can handle this situation.” .
9. Expanding to Accommodate Overseas Operations

● In the late, 1970s, the decision was made to move the entire corporate overseas operations from New York to Detroit, but
they weren’t going to move the overseas library.
● Nettie expanded her library without talking to his boss, stayed within the budget, so when the overseas operation came to
Detroit, she was ready.
● She learned that sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness afterwards rather than permission ahead of time.

10. Writing for GM Magazine

● In order to help her friend, the editor of GM Magazine, Nettie wrote two or three articles every year.
● Despite the benefit of publicity, Nettie did the article just because she liked doing research and never used any of the topics
advance anything she wasn’t personally interested in.
● She got a reputation of delivering so she was known by all the top people in GM.

11. Anticipating Competitive Information Needs

● Nettie went to Northwestern and took a one-week course on competitive analysis.

● She thought that competitive analysis and strategic planning had to be done in stages.
● She learned that one thing she must not do was separating the library rather than fully integrating them into the organizatio
12. Resisting Assignment to a New Boss

● She never wanted to do anything that political or self serving, but then she faced the problem in 1984
● Her team was reorganizing and now she has to work with the incompetent boss.
● Elmer (VP) called her in the thanksgiving day and ask her recommendation about government operation being more
effectively
● She Promoted to be the Public Affairs Information Service.

13. A Big Promotion to Operations

● 10 Months being the Director Public Affairs Information Service, Nettie Seabrooks get promoted to be a Director of
Government and Civic Affairs for the Chevrolet, Pontiac and GM of Canada Group.
● One of the stimulating and challenging public affairs work for Nettie Seabrooks was closing plants.
● Dave Campbell as the VP of CPC manufacturing and Nettie Seabrooks got along, after she set it up a meeting with
Mayor Moore as the Mayor of Pontiac
14. Bridging Headquarters and the Field

● Nettie Seabrooks had been able to put IGR’s trust on her hand towards a CPC project to one plant or another, and it was
never been an easy task for her.
● Nettie built trust and respect out of the cards she was dealt and successfully worked in Public Affairs for eight years
before being asked by Dennis Archer, who was running for Mayor of Detroit at that time, and eventually she left GM.
● The author thinks that what she did is not a hundred percent perfect for gaining influence, but it certainly contains a
large measure of the important things, including doing good work; placing the organization’s interests above her own;
making valuable exchanges; building many relationships; and avoiding self-limiting traps.
15. Good Work Matters

● The author thinks that what really matters in being influential is that you produce. like what Seabrooks had done with her life,
where she was a librarian, she always looked for ways to deliver extra value by helping people.

● The author also thinks that she focused mostly not for her own personal advancement but towards the good for other people.
Although having many rough moments in her career path, she always did more than was expected, focused on what was good for
the company, and was eventually recognized.

● Finally, the author think that previous work history are combined with hard work, great skill and courage which lead to a success.

16. Placing the Organization’s Interests First

● Too many people think about their careers in terms of having to make tradeoffs between responding to their own self-interests vs.
the interests of the organization.

● Framing choices this way can lead to false dichotomies and poor choices. if you are asked to support policies or actions that
violate your own standards relating to the environment, accounting, safety, equal treatment, or other values, you must decide for
yourself whether the principle is more important than protecting yourself, and act accordingly that. In that case, you might
believe that community interests are even more important than your company or career).
17. Relationships Matter

● There are several aspects of relationships that make it important: First, they give you visibility and access. Second,
they help you know what's important. Third, they provide people to contact when help is needed.

● Being sincere, and loyal, is a real key to the job, also makes nettie more likeable. All of this together gave him a wide
web of connections that knew him and his good work, and that he could make use of it when he needed something.
The people who have the most informal influence in the organization also have the highest number of good relations.
 18. Influence as Exchange
● Influence is about exchange and reciprocity
● Influence is created by the willingness of those who get what is valuable to them to give what is desired

19. Avoid self-inflicted traps

● Anticipated are other people likely to want and provided it without attaching strings
● Did not made enemies to wanted to see the failure

20. Conclusion

Nettie isn’t perfect, and some of what she did might be impossible for ambitious, values-driven people who cannot so deepl
love their companies, but she provides good lessons about influence that can help you. Keep her skills in mind as you read about War
Peters, who struggled mightily to influence a higher ranking manager. And think of Nettie when you meet Anne Austin, a younger, m
consciously ambitious woman, who also was working against her background as she tried to make contributions and get ahead in her
Fortune 500 consumer goods

+
THAN
K
YOU