“I don’t think it’s shifted our mission,” she told me. “We still think EVs are the end game.”

That conviction matters, given that GM has spent years investing in electric vehicles, batteries, software, and charging. Going forward, Barra is applying a pragmatic framework: GM will keep selling EVs and hybrids; it will also keep selling the lucrative trucks and SUVs that many Americans still want. Investors by and large have applauded her embrace of the messy middle: The stock is trading near its all-time high and is up nearly 6% YTD.

The mantra that Barra returned to again and again in our interview was choice. She invoked the goal of the legendary GM CEO Alfred P. Sloan: to reach “a lot of pocketbooks.” It’s an idea that feels newly relevant in an inflationary era, as automakers try to serve customers with very different budgets, driving habits, and comfort levels with electrification.

As for her broader management philosophy, Barra told me, “Agility is a superpower now.” It’s a lesson she learned early in her tenure as CEO, when it became clear that a disastrous ignition-switch malfunction had not been addressed for months because of what she called at the time a “deeply troubling” culture of bureaucratic inaction. Barra quickly instilled a set of protocols to prevent anything like that from happening again: Solve problems immediately, build mechanisms for employees to surface concerns, and repeat the message until it becomes embedded in the culture. 

That’s still her approach. “Rarely do problems get smaller,” she told me. Today, GM starts every meeting with a safety message—a way to keep the lessons learned from the ignition switch crisis top of mind—and maintains a “speak up for safety” culture. 

Creating an agile organization also means anticipating what lies ahead. To that end, GM is investing in automation, aiming to offer eyes-off-the-road highway driving in a Cadillac Escalade IQ by 2028. It is spending more than $250 million on skilled-trades training, which Barra has told high school students may be “a little more AI-proof” than some white-collar jobs. And it is experimenting with AI in factories and vehicle design to help its workforce move faster.

These approaches add up to a clear strategy other leaders can learn from: Play the long game and don’t let shifts in the landscape throw you off course. Address problems as they arise and retain the flexibility to meet customers where they are now.

Check out my full interview with Mary Barra here.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

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The markets

S&P 500 futures are up 0.01% this morning. The last session closed down 0.58%. The STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.73% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.43% in early trading. The Nikkei 225 was down 0.19%. South Korea’s KOSPI was up 1.40%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.30%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.17%. India’s NIFTY 50 was down 0.65%. Bitcoin is up at $79k.

Around the watercooler

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Peru’s monetary system would not work in Venezuela by Steve H. Hanke and Emilio Ocampo

This European CEO says building a startup outside of AI is an advantage: ‘We will never be out-competed’ by Emma Hinchliffe

How Canada decided to hurt its own economy, raise its inflation—and most Canadians approved because they’re so angry at Trump by Sasha Rogelberg

CEO Daily is curated and edited by Joseph Abrams, Jason Ma, Claire Zillman, and Lee Clifford.