I walked in and inherited a management group that I didn’t know very well. They didn’t know me, and we had a very short window to put together a credible recovery plan.
When I joined Ford, in the late 1970s, I felt strongly we could not forever be a huge user of natural resources without there being consequences. But I was alone in my thinking in those days.
I think I was the first executive to ever speak at a Greenpeace business conference, in London in 2001. That didn’t play well here at Ford, but I thought it was an important signal to send internally, that these were the kind of issues we needed to be grappling with.
One of the things I’ve had the advantage of, growing up and being close to the top management of this company and other companies for most of my life, is seeing how CEOs start to believe in their own infallibility. And that really scares me.
I think the world is filled with so much hype and PR bull. Frankly, it all comes out in the end. Good or bad, I’d rather just let our accomplishments really speak for themselves.
I believe fuel cells will finally end the 100-year reign of the internal combustion engine. . . Fuel cells could be the predominant automotive power source in 25 years.
All things being equal, I think people would still prefer to do business with their hometown companies. That’s true in America, that’s true in China, that’s true in Germany.
Nobody’s irreplaceable, including me. I think for too long we’ve had a cult of personality in this company and in this industry, and frankly, I’d like to see that diminish.
I believe very strongly that corporations could and should be a major force for resolving social and environmental concerns in the twenty-first century.
