Release date: March 13th, 2012

THE INSIDE STORY OF THE EPIC TURNAROUND OF FORD MOTOR COMPANY UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF CEO ALAN MULALLY.

At the end of 2008, Ford Motor Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the auto industry careening toward ruin, Congress offered all three Detroit automakers a bailout. General Motors and Chrysler grabbed the taxpayer lifeline, but Ford decided to save itself. Under the leadership of charismatic CEO Alan Mulally, Ford had already put together a bold plan to unify its divided global operations, transform its lackluster product lineup, and overcome a dys*functional culture of infighting, backstabbing, and excuses. It was an extraordinary risk, but it was the only way the Ford family—America’s last great industrial dynasty—could hold on to their company.

Mulally and his team pulled off one of the great*est comebacks in business history. As the rest of Detroit collapsed, Ford went from the brink of bankruptcy to being the most profitable automaker in the world.

American Icon is the compelling, behind-the-scenes account of that epic turnaround. On the verge of collapse, Ford went outside the auto industry and recruited Mulally—the man who had already saved Boeing from the deathblow of 9/11—to lead a sweeping restructuring of a company that had been unable to overcome decades of mismanage*ment and denial. Mulally applied the principles he developed at Boeing to streamline Ford’s inefficient operations, force its fractious executives to work together as a team, and spark a product renaissance in Dearborn. He also convinced the United Auto Workers to join his fight for the soul of American manufacturing.

Bryce Hoffman reveals the untold story of the covert meetings with UAW leaders that led to a game-changing contract, Bill Ford’s battle to hold the Ford family together when many were ready to cash in their stock and write off the company, and the secret alliance with Toyota and Honda that helped prop up the Amer*ican automotive supply base.

In one of the great management narratives of our time, Hoffman puts the reader inside the boardroom as Mulally uses his celebrated Business Plan Review meet*ings to drive change and force Ford to deal with the painful realities of the American auto industry.

Hoffman was granted unprecedented access to Ford’s top executives and top-secret company documents. He spent countless hours with Alan Mulally, Bill Ford, the Ford family, former executives, labor leaders, and company directors. In the bestselling tradition of Too Big to Fail and The Big Short, American Icon is narrative nonfiction at its vivid and colorful best.

 

I'll have to get that.

 

yup, that'll be in my must buy list

 

Ford secretly partnered with Toyota, Honda during economic crisis



While the headline might seem shocking, given the circumstances of the 2009 global economic meltdown, it only makes sense. Ford's dealings with two of its biggest competitors were centered around mutual self-preservation in the form of trying to keep a beleaguered supplier base afloat, according to The Detroit News. According to the report, Ford, Toyota and Honda cooperated to buy from common suppliers in a bid to keep those parts-makers from going under, which would have threatened the automakers' viability. That revelation comes courtesy of a new book, American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company by Bryce G. Hoffman.

The auto industry is far more complex than many people realize, especially in this modern era, with ever-more demanding regulations and brutal competition from all corners of the globe. Tier One suppliers, as the biggest parts companies are known, have assumed much of the engineering and product testing and development work for new vehicles, even including big chunks of assembly.

When times get tough, as they most certainly did in late 2008, suppliers are often the canary in the coal mine. At least 27 automotive suppliers filed for Chapter 11 in 2009, meaning that Ford had good reason for taking such precautions, referred to as "Project Quark" internally, according to the report.

Interestingly enough, General Motors and Chrysler, the pair that eventually sought bankruptcy, chose not to participate in the alliance, with GM allegedly expressing concerns over the legality of such a maneuver. The book says Ford's antitrust attorneys were careful to avoid setting foot on the wrong side of such laws, which prohibit collusion on pricing, among other restrictions on cooperative behavior by competitors.

There are quite a few other interesting anecdotes in Hoffman's book, including a heated argument between Mark Fields, Ford's President of the Americas (now said to be in line to succeed CEO Alan Mulally), and Don Leclair, the company's then chief financial officer. According to Automotive News, a passage in the book declares that Leclair suggested that Fields cut the advertising budget for Ford's Bold Moves campaign in 2006. This led to heated argument, that ended up with Fields making a move toward Leclair while spouting some choice four-letter words. The altercation was broken up by none other than Bill Ford Jr.

 

I just finished reading this book. Great book, highly recommended.

 

Will do, thanks for the review.