Back to the Future at GM: General Motors’ decision to bring back Steve Harris was an obvious one. He has the total respect of the company’s management and the automotive press—in fact, I don’t know any other PR guy who is held in such high esteem by the media covering his industry. His return won’t solve all GM’s problems by any stretch of the imagination, but it will earn the company the benefit of the doubt and a little time.

His decision to go back is a little more surprising. It’s not like he has anything left to prove. I assume GM is paying him well, but my guess is his choice had more to do with loyalty to the company where he began his career and where he still has a lot of friends and admirers in the public relations team.

It’s not often the decision to hire a new PR guy changes perceptions of a company, and I may be making too much of this, but watch the coverage GM gets over the next few months… I’ll bet it’s a little better than it’s been used to recently.