High atop the list of local boys done good resides Alan Mulally...
That is, to the extent anybody much remembers, the Ford Motor Company prez and CEO is from little, old Lawrence, Kansas (and just happens to own one of Joe-College.com’s much-maligned “Muck Fizzou” T-shirts.
The latest?
Mulally was cited in October’s Automobile magazine “Taking the Wheel” story about the ten men “charged with steering a new course for Detroit.”
Not without a mini dissing of sorts to start out…
“Few people were excited when Mulally, formerly executive vice-president of Boeing, took control of Ford in 2006,” Automobile writes. “Enthusiasts decried his lack of industry knowledge. Business analysts wondered if he’d arrived too late to pull the ailing automaker out of its tailspin. His decision to mortage essentially everything the company owned for $23 billion in loans was widely seen as an act of desperation.”
That was then…
“Of course, Mulally is now viewed as the smartest executive in Detroit,” Automobile continues. “His aggressive cost cutting and borrowing in 2006 and 2007 saved Ford when the credit markets froze last year, allowing the company to steer clear of the turmoil of government intervention and bankruptcy in 2009. And even car guys admit that under Mulally, who started out in 1969 as an aircraft engineer, Ford is turning out better products than ever.”
smartman
I don’t envy this guy. He’s fighting Japan and South Korea on one front and the US government on the other. Toss the UAW in the mix and you’ve got a real mess. He does have the vision thing and has certainly made Ford a better company. Wonder what he could do with Sprint?
hearne
Kick ass question
dimebag
Mulally is in a whole different league than Esrey, Forsee and Hesse. He understands that it’s about the Customer.