This is why I love blogging.

June 17th, 2009

fleuron

On Sunday I asked “Who’s the best CEO in America?” Although a number of folks weighed in on my question via Twitter, “only” two readers left comments on the post. (Don’t get me wrong: every comment is like manna to me.)

Yet Wally Bock, whom I met recently through Twitter and whose blog I’ve enjoyed reading, took the time to tangle not just with my own (intentionally simplistic) question, but with various issues raised by the Atlantic Monthly article I cited in the post. That culminated in an extra-long, detailed comment from Wally about modern corporate leadership, which could be a good blog post in its own right.

So, two morals to this story:

  1. Wally Bock is someone worth listening to on business leadership;
  2. I love blogging because, for all that I work to educate and inform with my posts, I always end up learning more than that from my readers.

~

Category: Blog housekeeping,Management

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4 Comments so far

Elliot Ross June 18th, 2009 11:40 am

Tim,

I like Wally’s blog as well!

I missed the original – so will chime in here

I would nominate Alan Mulally now of Ford (formerly Boeing)

I believe that he proves that the CEO does matter, although different circumstances can demand diferent skills, and possibly different people.

Since taking over Ford in 2006 – Mr. Mulally has been successfully changing a structure by …………

…An almost identical plan that Jac Nasser tried in the late ’90′s with his Ford 2000 plan.

Mr. Nasser failed, and was replaced.

This plan has been to reduce the (cough, cough) internal friction within Ford (eg Ford Europe vs. For Motor US) and to reduce costs by amortizing R&D expenses over cars that can be sold around the world – with just regional ‘tweaks’.

Think back; the Ford Escort here in North America – there was a European Ford Escort too – but they were not the same car. And at 700 mil + for a new vehicle design – that is a lot of R&D investment.

Now, I have never met, spoken to, or other wise been in contact with either of those gentlemen, but from what I have read & heard, Mr. Nasser could be abrasive, whereas Mr. Mulally is reportedly the opposite.

If we talk about Ford Motor being in ‘better’ shape than the now Chapter 11 GM and Chrysler, it is becasue Mr. Mulally got a good year + head start before this current collapse hit.

So I would argue that when the same organization has two very similar strategic plans, and two different Chief Executives driving that strategy, one fails – and one is succeeding – there is really only the one variable;

That Chief Exec.

Regards

PS: I would not vote Warren Buffett – he is an excellent investor and buyer – but he leaves his businesses alone to ‘real’ CEO’s!

Tim Walker June 18th, 2009 1:41 pm

Thanks for this, Elliot. By all means, I agree that Mulally has been doing a fine job at Ford — and have said so in several posts.

Two things about the differences between him and Nasser:

1. It may be that part of Mulally’s leeway comes from the timing of his introduction to the company. He was the very first Detroit Big 3 CEO ever hired from outside the automotive industry, and the hire came (as I understand it) because Bill Ford and the other directors believed that they absolutely had to have fresh thinking in the business, and needed to *show* that there would be fresh thinking in the business. Those circumstances simply gave Mulally more room to operate from the time he walked in the door.

2. We underestimate the importance of emotional intelligence at our peril. Many great leaders — Jack Welch, Jamie Dimon, and Dwight Eisenhower come to mind — have been able to do so much because they combined, on the one hand, organizational rigor and toughness with, on the other hand, the ability to inspire and get along with their lieutenants.

Wally Bock June 24th, 2009 1:01 pm

Thanks for the kind words, guys. As it happens, I just had some good things to say about Alan Mulally. I’m a great fan of what he did at Ford, using a kind of cultural aikido on the Ford culture.

He benefitted from being hired by Bill Ford after Ford had done the CEO job for a while. Both part of that are important. Bill Ford, as a Ford and key stockholder, had a leverage that no “hired hand” could ever have, inside the company, inside the family and inside the board room. But it’s also significant that he had tried on the CEO job and had an idea of both how tough it was and what was needed. A year earlier, I’m not sure he’d have made as good a decision.

And one of the great Twitter things for me is that it’s how I discovered this blog, which is now on my regular review list. Thanks for the good stuff.

Do Leaders Matter? « A Dime a Dozen Small Business, Tech and Talk June 16th, 2010 6:53 am

[...] It is followed up by expanding on comments to that first post in this; This is why I love blogging [...]

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