Low-key Smith led GM through radical change.(News)(GM Europe's Jack Smith)(Brief Article)

A favorite Jack Smith motto in his 11 years as the top executive at General Motors has been "Deeds, not words."

Asked whether he knew how to change GM in 1992, when the board of directors ousted Robert Stempel and installed him as CEO, Smith begins: "Pretty much. It was simple, really."

But his deeds have added up to nothing less than a top-to-bottom restructuring of the world's largest automaker. Smith has steered GM from a severe crisis in 1992 to the point that it is regaining respect as a tough global competitor.

On May 1, Smith's protege, CEO Rick ...