Find out what's keeping them up nights and offer hope. Your theme must be an answer to their fears.

Humor heals the heckler.

The dealers have to buy in, the suppliers, their shareholders, Wall Street. Each of those constituencies need to buy into the brand identity if it is to succeed.

[Meyers notes that GM also is buffeted by macroeconomic winds that are damaging the company's bottom line and over which it has no control. Prices for steel, oil and plastics all have risen in recent years. GM also is burdened with legacy costs over which it has little control if it keeps its current promises to employees.] Health care is the one you hear most about -- and it's big, ... But pension costs are enormous too.

The heat is excruciatingly high.

It's necessary now. The message has to not only be presented, it has to be accepted.