今年初，通用汽車公司推出了一項名為Maven，作為子公司獨立運作的拼車服務。該品牌整合了這家汽車巨頭的三大測試項目：一個基于城市，按照小時或天數租賃通用系列汽車的服務；一個為紐約和芝加哥合作公寓的居民提供按需用車服務的項目；還有一個目前只在歐洲運營的點對點拼車服務。

Maven團隊共有40人，其領導者是通用汽車城市移動主管茱莉亞?斯泰恩。斯泰恩曾擔任通用汽車企業發展、全球并購業務副總裁，以及美國鋁業公司并購業務副總裁，積累了在高風險環境中擔任領導的豐富經驗。《財富》特邀請她談談Maven，汽車業的未來，以及管理一群千禧世代和谷歌前員工的感受。

以下為專訪摘要：

《財富》雜志：你是如何看待Maven業務的？

茱莉亞?斯泰恩：關于這項服務，我其實已經認真思考了很長一段時間。去年9月，Maven正式進入公司日程，但我們好幾年前就開始了這方面的工作。拼車是未來出行的第一塊基石，與打車應用Lyft的合作則是另一塊基石，借助這一合作我們去設想更遠的未來，終有一天，汽車將實現自動化。我認為Maven就是公司的未來。

《財富》雜志：你把Maven看作通用汽車的未來，但有人把它看作對公司現有商業模式的潛在威脅。你怎么回應這些反對者？

茱莉亞?斯泰恩：我完全沒有把它看作威脅。我認為汽車業的生態系統一直在變化，Maven所做的就是把按需出行服務提供給那些沒有車的人。我們面對的是許多從來沒有接觸過我們的產品的新面孔和年輕人。這不是一種競爭關系。

《財富》雜志：你認為誰會是主要的競爭對手？福特、奧迪和寶馬也試圖進軍這一行業，當然，還有一些專攻這一領域的公司，例如ZipCar。

茱莉亞?斯泰恩：目前，我專注于同自己競爭——試圖在每一個消費者關注的細節上取得進步。盡管出行領域的競爭非常激烈，但對我來說，消費者才是一切的核心。我怎樣才能提供具有持續競爭力的服務？我怎樣才能與消費者一同進步？在密歇根州安阿伯市，我們將要與移動信息服務應用Whatsapp進行試點合作，與消費者進行交流。消費者可以聯系我和團隊的其他人，我們可以直接聽取他們的意見。這才是我真正感興趣的事情。

《財富》雜志：你還通過其他哪些渠道與消費者溝通？

茱莉亞?斯泰恩：把智能手機應用與汽車連接起來，就能激出火花。Maven用戶可以實現無縫連接。你下載了應用，選擇了汽車，智能手機就能成為你打開車門的鑰匙。你可以把整個數字生活帶入車內。我們強烈相信，未來的汽車共享體驗，需要營造出“你擁有這輛車”一樣的感覺。你插上手機，音響里就能立刻傳出你的音樂，你喜歡的歌曲。

《財富》雜志：聽起來像是千禧世代的夢想。你的團隊中大部分人都是千禧世代嗎？如果是的話，你有沒有覺得管理他們就像人們說的那樣充滿挑戰？

茱莉亞?斯泰恩：對，大部分都是千禧世代。他們促使我每天想出新的點子，做新的事情。我們的風格更像是在硅谷，而不是在一家老派的汽車公司。能吸引這樣的人才，讓我感到十分興奮。我們有來自谷歌、ZipCar，現在還有來自最近收購的SideCar的員工。我沒覺得管理千禧世代是很難的事。也許這是因為我從來沒有真正長大。重要的是，這些人才想留下，公司正在傾聽他們的想法，各種想法不斷涌現。在Maven，我們就是這樣做的，所以沒什么問題。我沒有感覺到什么管理問題，問題只在于優先權的排序——這里的想法太多了！

《財富》雜志：談到管理，你在瑪麗?巴拉的手下工作，她是《財富》最具影響力女性榜單中的第一名，無與倫比。在女性管理的公司中工作，是一種什么樣的感受？

茱莉亞?斯泰恩：我認為瑪麗之所以管理這家公司，是因為她很有資格管理這家公司——我從來沒有關注她或者我的性別。不過，如果有人因為瑪麗擔任首席執行官，其他女性也處在權力高層而加入通用汽車，我也會很激動，因為這意味著我們鼓舞了新一代年輕女性。也就是說，我堅決擁護觀念的多樣化。從不同角度得來的各種觀念，會讓公司更加強大。

《財富》雜志：看到你和瑪麗?巴拉這樣的女性能平衡好工作和家庭，對下一代女性是很大的鼓舞。你是如何做到的？

茱莉亞?斯泰恩：我從不會說取得了平衡——一切都在于權衡取舍和個人的選擇。我很幸運，家庭和通用汽車都給了我很棒的支持。我做這些，是因為我希望自己8歲的兒子在未來幾年中能享受到這樣的出行便利。這推動著我更努力地工作。知道我打造的未來產品是他可能會用到的，這讓我動力十足。他也總是給我很好的建議。

《財富》雜志：這是你將家庭和工作聯系起來的小竅門嗎？

茱莉亞?斯泰恩：從我的角度來看，這似乎很有效。我的兒子會參加今天的發布會。我把他稱作我的首席私人顧問。他有每一款通用的汽車——至少是小模型。他很高興他的媽媽在汽車公司工作。(財富中文網)

譯者：嚴匡正

審校：任文科

At the beginning of this year, General Motors introduced Maven, a ride-sharing service that operates as a company-within-a-company under the larger GM umbrella. Maven combines three of the auto giant’s existing test programs under a single brand: a city-based service that rents GM GM 1.44% vehicles by the hour or day, a program that gives residents of partner apartment buildings in New York and Chicago access to on-demand vehicles, and a Europe-only (for now) peer-to-peer car-sharing service.

Maven’s 40-person team is lead by Julia Steyn, GM’s head of urban mobility. Formerly GM’s vice president of corporate development and global mergers and acquisitions, and VP of Alcoa’sM&A group before that, Steyn is no stranger to leadership in a high-stakes environment.Fortune caught up with her to talk about Maven, the future of the auto industry, and the ins and outs of managing a group of millennials and ex-Googlers.

The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How do you think about Maven?

Julia Steyn: This has been something that I’ve been thinking long and hard about for a while. In September, [Maven] became official, but the work that we’ve been doing dates back several years. Car-sharing is one of the first building blocks of the future of mobility. Our partnership with Lyft is a different building block, where we’re looking even farther into the future and saying okay, some day cars will be autonomous. I see [Maven] as the future of the company.

You see Maven as GM’s future, but some see it as a potential threat to the company’s existing business model. What is your response to the naysayers?

I don’t see it as a threat at all. I think the [automotive] eco-system is evolving and what Maven is doing is giving on-demand mobility services to folks who otherwise wouldn’t have cars. We’re exposing a lot of new faces and younger faces who wouldn’t otherwise have access to our products. It’s not a competition.

Who do you see as your main competitors? Ford, Audi, and BMW are also pushing into in this space, and of, course, there are standalone services like ZipCar.

Right now, I am focusing on competing with myself—trying to push forward in a way that makes sense for our customers. Although there’s furious competition for the future of mobility, to me I see the customer as the center of it all. How can I provide a service that continues to be relevant? How can I evolve with the customer? One of the things I’m really excited about is how in Ann Arbor, we’ll be communicating with customers through our pilot partnership with [mobile messaging service] Whatsapp. Customers can reach me and the other members of the team and we can hear from them directly.

What other ways are you engaging with your customers?

The magic happens when you connect a smartphone app to a car. For a “Mavener,” it’s seamless. You download the app, then you choose the car, and your smartphone actually acts as a key when you enter the vehicle. You get to bring your whole digital life inside. We strongly believe that the car-share experience of the future needs to feel like car ownership. You plug in your phone and immediately you have access to your music, your preferences.

Sounds like a millennial’s dream. Is most of your team made up of millennials? If so, do you find managing them to be as challenging as people say?

Yes, I’d say it is mostly millennials. They push me every day to think of something new and do new things. It’s much more Silicon Valley than what you would imagine of an old-style automotive company. I’m thrilled to attract that kind of talent. We have people from Google, from ZipCar, and now from [recently acquired] SideCar. I don’t really get what the big deal is with managing Millennials. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really grown up. It’s all about people wanting to stay, it’s all about their ideas being heard, all about ideas being generated. At Maven, it’s what we do, so there’s no problem. I don’t see a problem of management, all I see a problem with is prioritizing—there are so many ideas!

Speaking of management, you work under the inimitable Mary Barra, no. 1 on Fortune‘s list ofMost Powerful Women. What’s it like working at a woman-led company?

I think Mary runs this company because she’s ultimately very qualified to run a company—I’ve never focused on her or my gender. Still, if somebody joins GM because they see Mary as CEO and they see other women in positions of power, I’ll be thrilled, because that means that we inspired another generation of young women. That said, I’m a strong believer in the diversity of opinion. The diversity that you have from various angles is making the company stronger. [To read more about gender diversity in the workplace, subscribe to theBroadsheet.]

I think it is inspiring to the next generation of women to see women like you and Mary Barra balance work and family. How do you do it?

I would never say that you achieve balance—it’s all about trade-offs and the personal choices you make. I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve had a wonderful support system both at home and with GM. I’m doing this because I want a future of mobility to fit into what my eight-year-old son’s life will be like in a couple of years and so that motivates me to work even harder at it. It’s such an inspiration to know that I’m building a future for something that he might use, and he himself is always giving me great suggestions.

So is the trick to involve your family in what you do?

In my case it seems to be working. My son is going to come to my launch event today. I call him my chief personal consultant and he has every model of GM vehicle at his disposal—or at least the small versions. He’s totally loving the fact that his mom works in cars.