A harsh lesson in leadership from ‘Way Forward’ Requires Culture Shift at Ford:
At a meeting in early October at Ford Motor Co.’s big design-center showroom here, an employee asked Mark Fields, then fresh in his job as head of the company’s North and South American auto operations, if workers should be worried about their pensions.‘Yes, yes, you should,’ Mr. Fields says he replied. ‘That’s a great motivator.’
For Ford workers, the idea that the family-controlled company, still commonly called ‘Ford’s’ by longtime employees, might not pay promised pensions is a shocking concept. ‘I decided this was a chance to get people moving; to get away from the ‘this too shall pass’ mindset we’ve had,’ Mr. Fields says.