Management Lessons From Ford

Some people think that entrepreneurs cannot manage well. To that end, I'm recommending a terrific interview with Alan Mullaly, head of Ford Motor, which appeared in the New York Times on Sunday, September 6. It has so many nuggets of great advice on management and building an organization. It also has excellent personal advice for anyone who wants to advance their career.

Here is a brief excerpt and link to the article:

"One of my favorite stories is an analogy where this reporter stops by a construction site and he interviews three bricklayers. He asks the first bricklayer, “What are you doing?” And he says, “Well, I’m making a living laying these bricks.” The reporter says: “Oh, that’s great. That’s very noble.”

"He asks the next bricklayer, “What are you doing?” And he says, “Well, I am practicing the profession of bricklaying. I’m going to be the best bricklayer ever.”

"And the reporter asks the third bricklayer, “What are you doing?” And he says, “I’m developing a cathedral.”

"There is technical excellence and professionalism, but we all want to contribute to making a cathedral. And the more we feel that and we know what our part in it is, the more I think you can take the team performance to a whole other level of excellence."

To me an entrepreneur is building a cathedral. An entrepreneur always has to have the big vision in mind -- the end grand result. He or she can then turn that dream into something real by getting others to share the vision.

From:

Corner Office

Planes, Cars and Cathedrals

Published: September 6, 2009

Ford’s chief executive says corporate leaders should articulate a compelling vision for their employees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/business/06corner.html

Start-Up Tip: Execute Your Plan

One of the start-up companies I've done plans for just died after three years of existence. I am really sad. When I was talking to the former CEO who had hired me to write their plan, he lamented that they had deviated from their plan just before execution. That was the beginning of their end.

One board member got cold feet because of a comment from a social media expert. He suddenly lost sight of his passion and his vision. What a pity. The vision had been great. They had raised several million dollars to execute it. Then, two weeks before the national roll out, they deviated from the plan and the vision. It was chaos from then on. I helped rewrite their plans, but they kept not executing. They kept changing things or not executing as well as they could have.

Eventually, professional managers took over from the founding entrepreneurs. That was the true death knell.

You've seen it on a national scale. Jobs had to return to Apple to get the company back on track. But Bezos never left Amazon or Gates, Microsoft, while he was building the business. The visionary has to see the dream through to fruition. He or she has to keep that focus and execute the plan.

So get a great plan that has focus, vision and passion. Then, execute it. Don't lose heart. Don't listen to the naysayers.