American Icon (73 page)

I
n 2011, at least, there was no evidence of the complacency that inevitably followed earlier rebounds in Dearborn. Instead of resting on their laurels, Mulally and his team were still toiling to improve Ford’s balance sheet, raise its credit rating, redeem the Blue Oval, and restore dividends. The stalled recovery in the United States and new economic problems abroad meant none of these things would come easy. And there were still bigger goals beyond those. Ford was now competing to stand beside companies like Toyota and Volkswagen at the forefront of the global automotive industry. In June 2011, Mulally vowed to double sales worldwide by 2015.

“Keep your foot on the gas!” became his constant refrain.

Ford’s aggressive growth strategy is not without its risks. Toyota’s problems began when it decided to challenge General Motors for the title of world’s largest automaker. The company that was once content to be the most admired in the world began cutting corners and getting sloppy. There is no sign of that happening at Ford today, but making sure it does not will require constant vigilance.

Still, the real challenge facing Ford Motor Company today is institutionalizing Mulally’s revolution. Mulally has given the company a system that, if rigorously adhered to, should prevent Ford’s chronic disease from reasserting itself. He has also given it a bench of leaders who know how to win.

“We’ve been through the trenches. We saw the setbacks. And we saw it work,” Mark Fields told me. “Everybody just benefits so much when you develop a plan, you implement it, you work through the issues, you work through the setbacks, and you see the points start going on the board.”

On January 12, 2011, Bill Ford asked Lewis Booth to deliver the keynote speech to Ford’s senior executives from around the world who had convened for the company’s annual global leadership meeting in Dearborn. He started by listing everything Ford had achieved over the past year—paying down the debt, paying off the VEBA, and shifting the entire organization back into growth mode.

“This is I think the best thing I’ve seen in my thirty-something years at Ford, the opportunities ahead of us. This is absolutely the
best thing. And if this doesn’t make you break out into a sweat, you should, and give yourself a good shake because this is just a fantastic opportunity ahead of us,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion. “This is our moment to change the business forever.”

H
enry Ford once said, “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.” Ford Motor Company has certainly made a great deal of money since Alan Mulally started there in 2006. But it has also made people believe that the highest principles of American enterprise—ingenuity, innovation, and integrity—have not deserted us entirely. In an economic era marked by avarice and greed, Mulally’s Ford has demonstrated that a company can still succeed by building a good product and selling it at a fair price. As the big Wall Street banks tried to hide their mounting failures, Mulally was exposing Ford’s shortcomings and challenging his company to overcome them. Wall Street’s obfuscation and trickery would ultimately drag the entire world into the Great Recession. With Mulally’s relentless determination to succeed, Ford would defy that downturn and once again become an engine of prosperity.

From the day he arrived in Dearborn, Mulally said he was fighting for the soul of American manufacturing. If Ford had failed, a little bit of America would have died, too. But Ford did not fail. Under Mulally’s leadership, it showed the entire world that at least one American automaker could pick itself up, shake off the rust, compete with the best in the business, and win.

T
his work would never have been possible without the help of many extraordinary individuals. There are too many to name, and some of them would prefer to remain anonymous. But among those whom I can name publicly, I must begin with Bill Ford Jr. and Alan Mulally, for without their cooperation it would have been impossible to tell this story in such detail. Both men gave generously of their valuable time, offering a perspective on the events chronicled herein that would have been unobtainable from any other source. Their support for this project also gave me access to the rest of Ford Motor Company’s executives, the automaker’s archives, and other important sources. That they were willing to sanction it without any promise of editorial review or influence is a powerful testament to their faith and confidence in the Ford story.

I am also indebted to many others at Ford, beginning with Mark Truby. Before he joined Ford’s corporate communications staff in 2007, Mark was my editor at the
Detroit News
. He hired me to cover the automaker back in 2005, taught me everything he knew about its secrets, and showed me how to extract more. Mark was the best newshound I have ever met, and I owe much of whatever skill I possess as a reporter to his tutelage. At Ford, he was a powerful advocate for this project and an invaluable aid in my work on it. He and his staff set up many of the interviews I conducted for
American Icon
and spent a great deal of time and energy assisting me with my research—at least until he was transferred to Germany in early 2011. That burden then shifted to Karen Hampton, who had already been a tremendous help as Mulally’s media liaison. Karen and her staff did far more than any author could have hoped for, often spending hours or even days tracking down the most minute detail or checking the most obscure fact. My seemingly endless requests would have tried anyone’s patience,
but not Karen’s. She answered them all promptly and cheerfully, and for that I am truly grateful. I am also indebted to Mark and Karen’s boss, Ray Day, who first discussed the idea for this book over lunch with me more than two years ago. It was Day who presented this project to Ford and Mulally and urged their cooperation. To him and to the other Ford executives, both current and former, who participated in this project, as well as their assistants, I offer thanks.

I would also like to thank my friend Eric Selle of J.P. Morgan Chase & Company for making me smart about the more arcane financial matters covered in this book.

I am, of course, forever indebted to my fantastic agent, Jane Dystel. Jane has proven an invaluable ally, counselor, and advocate. Her help in navigating the complexities of the publishing business is cause for near constant thanks. I would also like to thank her partner, Miriam Goderich, for her help in preparing my book proposal, along with the rest of the staff at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management for their help in making this happen.

Of course, it never would have happened without Roger Scholl, my editor at Crown Business, who made a big bet on an unknown author and also proved a great collaborator. His enthusiasm for this project and patience with me has been beyond anything I could have hoped for. I would also like to thank his assistant, Logan Balestrino, as well as Paul Lamb, Dennelle Catlett, and everyone else at Crown who believed in this project and has worked to make it a success.

I am also indebted to the
Detroit News
for allowing me to cover this amazing story and giving me the time off to write this book. That was no small thing in this era of ever-shrinking newsrooms. I would particularly like to thank publisher Jon Wolman, managing editor Don Nauss, and business editors Sue Carney and Joanna Firestone for their patience and support, as well as the other members of the
Detroit News
autos team, who were forced to pick up the slack during my long absence. I have been fortunate at the
News
to have worked with and learned from some of the best automotive journalists in the business, including Christine Tierney and Bill Vlasic. But it is to Daniel Howes that I owe my biggest thanks. He has been my mentor and confessor through some very trying times, has always been there to
poke holes in my hypotheses with his encyclopedic knowledge of the automobile industry, and has helped me to become the writer that I am today.

In that, I am also forever indebted to the author Herbert Kohl, who was the first to see my potential as a writer and the first to encourage me to pursue this path in life. I was still in high school when I first met Herb. He helped me hone my talents, showed me what I could do with them, and gave me a kick in the pants when I needed it. And he has been there for me whenever I have needed him ever since.

So have my parents, who have supported me in this and just about everything else in life, even when that was hard.

All of these contributions were enormous, yet they were dwarfed by the help rendered to me in this and in all things by my amazing wife, Gretchen Meyer-Hoffman. Proofreader and editor, cook and collaborator, shrink and soulmate, she was my constant companion at every stage of this project, just as she has been every step of the way for more than eighteen years. She has always believed in me, even when I have not believed in myself, and this book was no exception. Gretchen’s name really deserves to stand next to mine in the credits, but she is far too modest for that. So instead I say simply, “Thanks.”

1.
five of every six vehicles:
James M. Rubenstein,
Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), p. 188.

1.
“Business men go down with their businesses”:
Henry Ford, with Samuel Crowther,
My Life and Work
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1922), p. 43.

2.
the company’s billboards:
Douglas Brinkley,
Wheels for the World
(New York: Viking, 2003), p. 115.

3.
the average time:
Paul Ingrassia,
Crash Course: The American Automobile Industry’s Road from Glory to Disaster
(New York: Random House, 2010), p. 17.

4.
nearly 200,000 fewer:
James M. Flammang and David L. Lewis,
Ford Chronicle: A Pictorial History from 1893
(Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, 2000), pp. 54–57.