More than box ticking: How inclusivity can be a brand’s superpower

Deborah Wahl: So Lilly I have a question for you.

Lilly Singh: Sure.

Deborah Wahl: Between you and me and your 14.9 million subscribers,

Lilly Singh: (laughs)

Deborah Wahl: How do you think GM can better adapt digital transformation and use it to better tell our story?

Lilly Singh: What do you guys think? What do y'all think? (laughing) There's just 14.9 million people over here.

Lilly Singh: Hey I'm Lilly Singh, and I am a content creator. I started in 2010 on YouTube, and, since then, my life has been a wild journey that I wasn't really prepared for to be honest but I've got to do some pretty cool things like write a book, start a social good initiative called Girl Love, go on world tours. It's been absolutely crazy, and I'm so so grateful for everything I've gotten to do but I'm really passionate about storytelling and, which is why I'm super excited for this conversation today. Because I think business and storytelling is chef's kiss.

Deborah Wahl: My name is Deborah Wahl. I am the Global CMO of General Motors. I am really excited to be here to have this conversation about how we inspire people and how we inspire a movement. Three years ago, General Motors made a statement that we are going to create a world of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion, and we've been working on that along with our aspiration to be the most inclusive company in the world ever since. So I'm excited today. I think about all the lessons I've learned since I was a baby marketer to now where I am today, and I can't wait to exchange ideas with Lilly.

Lilly Singh: I'm really excited for this conversation today. I think I'm a huge nerd when it comes to storytelling, when I'm really passionate about something, and I can tell that Deborah is a nerd when it comes to making change.

Deborah Wahl: I'm looking forward to getting inspired Lilly by you, how you do this, some of your magic. If you could just rub some of that off on me.

Lilly Singh: [inaudible 00:02:10]

Deborah Wahl: ...really, really love that.

Lilly Singh: And I'm wearing this cool outfit with socks that have my dog on them.

Deborah Wahl: Oh, I love that.

Lilly Singh: (laughs) Okay, Deborah let's dive into this. GM, aside from changing perception to be a forward thinking company besides, you know, making sure that you are zero fuel emissions, you also have a goal to be the most inclusive company. Talk to me a little bit about that.

Deborah Wahl: The only way that everyone can give their best self and be their best self overall is if we create a fully inclusive environment. And I know for myself I really dove into understanding systemic racism, understanding these barriers, what's happened with women, I've always been a huge champion of women and what we do because I think we have to stick together. We've also really changed the way that we're looking at talent and giving people opportunities, interviewing in different ways, really identifying what career pathing would be, because I think that's really important too in changing perceptions of everyone. It's hard work. It takes, it's very purposeful, and it's something that we're incredibly committed to.

Lilly Singh: We're all, we're all students for life I say. The best teachers are students for life, and we're all students for life.

Deborah Wahl: How did you make your YouTube channel the most inclusive ever?

Lilly Singh: Ever? Wow. Ever, ever is a big word, but I appreciate that. Yeah, I think, you know, by nature of who I am, and the point of view I have, I think you're hearing from someone who you don't usually see on screens, so I think that already by nature makes it a little more inclusive. I like my stories to be representative of the real world and the real world has an array of people in it. And so I've always just viewed my channel as being authentically what is real to me, never trying to fit into a mold, never trying to satisfy an agenda of anything else, it's just who am I, that's what you're gonna get.

Lilly Singh: My late-night show, my writing staff is very diverse. I'm gonna go ahead and say that probably one of the most diverse if not the most diverse. I don't see that as a box to check off. I more so see it as a superpower, honestly. And for me it boggles my mind why companies don't view inclusivity as a superpower. You are getting so many points of view, you are getting real representation from the world. If you are selling to the world, if you are making stuff for the world, in what scenario is it not beneficial to have the world in your company? For me, it's a no brainer.

Lilly Singh: Now GM is a, a pretty iconic, older company. I think 113 years, is it? That they've been in existence. And you've been at GM for three years, is that right?

Deborah Wahl: Correct.

Lilly Singh: So, what steps have you taken to keep the brand relevant during your time there?

Deborah Wahl: The first thing which is perfectly fits into what our theme is today is just really delved into storytelling. I mean I think I spent the first year going across the company trying to discover what people were doing and, you know, what motivated them and the stories that they had to tell and really out of the work bringing out the humanity of what was behind the work. I'm really interested in how you go about that, because you have such a way of finding those insights that then everyone's like can completely relate to.

Lilly Singh: Thank you. I mean step one to what Lilly does: funky socks, 100%. I'll send you a bunch. (laughs) Step two is, yeah, you know a big part of storytelling is engaging with the people who you are storytelling to. Gen Z and millennials they really appreciate getting to know the people. Telling the story is great but how do you learn what your audience is resonating with, what they're actually feeling when they're seeing that story, you know? So it's really about inviting them into something. So it's not that GM is gonna help save the planet, it's that "me and GM" are gonna help save the planet.

Deborah Wahl: I kinda think that's where corporations need to go. There's always this thing that companies are this big, monolithic thing then actually they're made up of people who are, you know, giving every ounce of their days and hours to make something important happen.

Lilly Singh: I would love to see GM where they're like, "Hey, this is our mission and we're gonna take you behind the scenes on YouTube, show you exactly, like hey, yeah, we can tell you a bunch of buzzy tech words on a picture, but I wanna take you in to the manufacturing, and we're gonna take you behind the glossy commercials with the glossy cars and the actors and all that stuff, and we're just gonna take you to the real deal so you are part of this. Like, that's super exciting to me.

Deborah Wahl: Great idea. I love that.

Lilly Singh: (laughs)

Deborah Wahl: How do you think GM can better adapt digital transformation and use it to better tell our story?

Lilly Singh: One of my personal biggest pet peeves of any corporation is when they do not adapt their actual content to online. So I think if you're posting things on YouTube, it's important to understand what works on YouTube. You know, does a one-minute fancy intro work on YouTube? Not necessarily. People like to dive into content right away. And then really using the tools of that platform, you know, YouTube is great. It has so many analytics in the back end to understand exactly where your audience is, where they're coming from, what their, what their demographics are. There is so many tools to engage with the audience whether it's comments, whether it's pinning comments, whether it's live streams. Obviously I'm a huge advocate for this because of who I am, but there's so many tools to use on YouTube whether it's, you know, subtitling things. Make sure your content is optimized for YouTube, and I would say it takes a little studying.

Deborah Wahl: A little studying and a lot of practice at work at it. You've obviously perfected it amazingly. I could see a future YouTube channel coming up.

Lilly Singh: Do it for sure, for sure. I'm happy to help as well if you need it.

Deborah Wahl: We could use Lilly advisory sessions definitely, please. (laughs)

Lilly Singh: Is it by 2035 GM is trying to, what is the goal around 2035 for GM?

Deborah Wahl: We have a couple goals. First we want to make sure that we're launching 30 EVs by 2025. And then by 2035, we really hope to really go into that transition to all electric overall.

Lilly Singh: What is an electric vehicle though? What is, how is it different from vehicles we're used to?

Deborah Wahl: I think the most exciting thing about electric vehicles are they symbolize the whole next step in mobility and transportation. This is really important, one, for the environment, I think, you know, that's when you get to zero-emissions future.

Lilly Singh: Is there gonna be an EV for everyone, because I think right now the perception is that electric vehicles are very expensive.

Deborah Wahl: Yeah.

Lilly Singh: And they're not affordable for everyone, and they're not for everyone. But how, how is GM changing that?

Deborah Wahl: We will be making EV's in every category for every price point, and then, with that, we're really focused on making it easy for everyone to have accessible charging, make sure that that infrastructure is available, you know, because that's really important.

Lilly Singh: That's a big overhaul. That's like a, that's a huge undertaking and that's not lost on me. Deborah, do you think we have a lot in common?

Deborah Wahl: I think our world views are very similar.

Lilly Singh: Yeah.

Deborah Wahl: You're just so much better at articulating everything.

Lilly Singh: No, not even I actually feel like you're really good at articulating. One thing I think we have in common is, and this is a humble brag for both of us, I don't think we get intimidated by the size of a task. I think we want to see the world a certain way, we want to make sure we have a positive impact on the world, and we don't let anybody tell us that it's too big or impossible or can't be done.

Deborah Wahl: I love that. You know what I also noted that both of us understand that to achieve anything you go through fear.

Lilly Singh: Yes.

Deborah Wahl: And you go through that. And hearing you talk about that, because I feel it all the time, and I'm like, "Does anyone else feel this?" I think it shows for anyone who wants to achieve something you have to go through that, push yourself through that stage. And that's really inspiring.

Lilly Singh: Yeah, it's, it's kind of like fear is a bumpy road not a stop sign. I just made that up right now but I think it sounds really smart. [crosstalk 00:09:51] It might make things a little harder, but it's not a reason to stop.

Deborah Wahl: That's right. I'm going to keep working harder now you've inspired me. I've got, I gotta go, I gotta get to work now.

Lilly Singh: (laughs)

Lilly Singh: Deborah, you're dope. You're dope, Deborah.

Deborah Wahl: (laughs) I'm gonna tell my son that you said that.

Lilly Singh: Yeah, tell your son I said you're dope.