At the 2025 New York Times DealBook Summit, General Motors chief executive Mary Barra said she replies to every letter that lands on her desk with a handwritten note, a habit she has kept while running a $65 billion automaker.
The letters run the gamut
Barra described correspondence that spans odometer milestones from longtime Chevrolet owners to notes from children anxious about a plant closure in their town. She told the summit audience that each one gets a response, regardless of tone.
A stranger's letter in 2015
Carolyn Rodz, who founded a virtual accelerator for women, wrote to Barra cold in 2015. The reply acknowledged the request, declined it politely, and added encouragement. Rodz later said the gesture turned her into a potential GM buyer.
The practice is not unique to Barra
First Watch chief executive Chris Tomasso sets aside time each month to handwrite congratulatory notes to hourly workers, cooks and dishwashers, marking tenures of ten, twenty, or thirty years. At a chain with more than 15,000 employees, he has sent over 500 such notes since adopting the ritual. Geoffroy van Raemdonck, now leading Saks, previously mailed three to five handwritten thank-yous daily before the pandemic shifted him toward texts and quick calls.
Why it matters in an automated era
Barra framed the habit as intentional communication baked into her rise from the assembly line to the corner office. In a sector racing toward software-defined vehicles and AI-driven efficiency, the persistence of pen-and-paper outreach underscores a conviction that personal acknowledgment still moves the needle on loyalty, whether from a customer, a job applicant, or a line cook hitting a thirty-year anniversary.