We Need Good Leaders Badly! Are You Up to the Challenge?
On September 5, 2006, I was sitting at my desk working. It was the day after labor day. The phone rang and the caller announced that he was in the HR department at Ford Motor Company, and he was giving me an advance notice that Alan Mulally, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, was going to be the new CEO at Ford. “I’m calling you because the book you wrote about Mr. Mulally helped us decide to tap him as our new CEO, and the media will most likely be calling you with questions.” Sure enough, within an hour after the announcement was made, a reporter from USA Today called. “I understand you wrote a book called Working Together about Mr. Mulally’s management principles,” the reporter began. “Do you think he can run Ford? He’s not a car guy.” “It’s not about knowing how to build cars,” I replied. “Ford needs leadership, and Mulally is the best there is.” Did they ever need leadership! They were losing 16 billion dollars that year. I did the math: that’s $46...