CEO reputation

Will an aluminum Ford F-150 make Alan Mulally the CEO of the decade?

Commercialization: Aluminum Body on Ford’s F150

2015 Ford F-150 Reveal

2015 Ford F-150 Reveal; Photo Credit: Ford

I follow the new car and truck market quite closely. It is a very competitive worldwide market that must balance form and function. I have been a big fan of the work that Alan Mulally has done at Ford, but this latest move is a whole other level. Switching from steel to aluminum for a vehicle that is not only your best seller but also the best-selling vehicle in America is a huge gamble. It is the type of move that companies don’t usually make unless they feel they are on death’s door and have no other option. The “safe” play from one perspective would be to stay with steel, and if you wanted to try aluminum do it in a low-volume, higher-end model. The fact that Mulally could make this move shows a leader who has the confidence of his team and is providing real leadership. My guess is that it will be a homerun for Ford and in my mind cement Mulally as CEO of the decade.

Why do so many companies want to fire their CEO? – CBS News

Why do so many companies want to fire their CEO? – CBS News

This is a great article written by Margaret Heffernan for CBS Moneywatch. She discusses how CEOs are not prepared for the role and therefore don’t know what to do when they achieve it (my mantra for this blog). As I’ve written about before, most CEOs have gotten the job because they were superstar performers in their careers, meaning they have specialized knowledge in marketing, sales, engineering or another function. But the CEO role entails a unique set of responsibilities. As Heffernan says, “But once they assume senior executive positions, they need entirely different skills: networking, knowledge-gathering, consensus building, listening. They should be good at this – so why aren’t they?”