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Authors: Bryce G. Hoffman
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groomed for the post of president of the Americas—maybe even CEO one day—they were not sure he was ready to take on the company’s most dysfunctional division. But they were certain no one else was. So, in late August, Ford picked up his telephone and called Fields in London.
“I really need you here to run the Americas,” he said. “This place needs leadership, and you’re the guy I’d like to lead it. I need you to help me sort things out.”
Fields realized it was a huge opportunity, but he was not sure he wanted to take it. He knew how poisonous the culture inside World Headquarters could be, and he had a pretty good idea just how dire the situation in Dearborn had become. He asked to sleep on it. That night, Fields mulled his situation over a bottle of beer. He was not surprised that Ford was looking for someone else to run the region. Over the past six months, it had become obvious that North Americawas a rudderless ship with no real plan for the future. He knew the infighting at the top of the house was occupying more time than the problems on the ground. Fields had been insulated from most of this because he was overseas, and he did not relish the idea of being thrown into the thick of it. He thought he could fix North America, but he was not sure the other executives would let him. The next day, he called Ford back and said he was ready to accept the job, provided his boss would promise to protect him.
“Let me build my team, and just keep corporate out of my hair,” he told Ford. “Everybody’s got to know who’s accountable for delivering the Americas, and that’s got to be me and my team—not everybody else sticking their fingers into the pot. I’ve seen that. I’ve seen what it’s done. There’s no plan there. There’s no accountability.”
“Fine,” Ford said. “You’ve got my approval.”
He gave Fields a month to wrap things up in Europe and told him to be in Dearborn by October. Then Ford sold Hertz to help finance the big changes he hoped were coming. Ford had acquired the car rental agency back in 1994. The automaker sold it for $5.6 billion, though the deal was actually worth closer to $15 billion once Hertz’s debt was factored into the equation.
Fields knew a lot about building brands, but less about building cars. To compensate, Ford paired him with Anne Stevens, a tough-talking manufacturing expert with red hair and an imposing stare. She was lifelong gearhead, an engineer by training whodressed as a boy to sneak into the pits at the local racetrack when she was thirteen. As a married mother of two, Stevens had to fight for every rung of the corporate ladder. She came to Ford from Exxon in 1990 and became the automaker’s first female plant manager in Europe in 1995 and its first female vice president of vehicle operations in 2001. With her promotion to chief operating officer of the Americas group, she became one of the most powerful women in the automotive industry.
At fifty-six, she was more than ten years older than Fields and made no secret of the fact that she wanted his job. The two clashed from the start. At an early off-site briefing for senior managers, Stevens made a passionate plea to stop the backsliding on quality.
“We’re
never
going to get our customers back if we can’t improvequality,” she said. “It’s the only way we can change the way people look at Ford.”
When she finished listing all the ways Ford was failing on this front, Fields raised his hand with a smirk.
“My name is Mark Fields and I have a quality problem,” he chuckled.
Stevens glared at him. This was serious stuff, and she thought he was belittling it—and her. But the two managed to restrain their mutual animosity enough to begin work on a plan to salvage Ford’s North American car and truck business. Fields promised Bill Ford it would be on his desk in ninety days. With a cross-functional group of fifty managers, he and Stevens began a detailed analysis of Ford’s
“I really need you here to run the Americas,” he said. “This place needs leadership, and you’re the guy I’d like to lead it. I need you to help me sort things out.”
Fields realized it was a huge opportunity, but he was not sure he wanted to take it. He knew how poisonous the culture inside World Headquarters could be, and he had a pretty good idea just how dire the situation in Dearborn had become. He asked to sleep on it. That night, Fields mulled his situation over a bottle of beer. He was not surprised that Ford was looking for someone else to run the region. Over the past six months, it had become obvious that North Americawas a rudderless ship with no real plan for the future. He knew the infighting at the top of the house was occupying more time than the problems on the ground. Fields had been insulated from most of this because he was overseas, and he did not relish the idea of being thrown into the thick of it. He thought he could fix North America, but he was not sure the other executives would let him. The next day, he called Ford back and said he was ready to accept the job, provided his boss would promise to protect him.
“Let me build my team, and just keep corporate out of my hair,” he told Ford. “Everybody’s got to know who’s accountable for delivering the Americas, and that’s got to be me and my team—not everybody else sticking their fingers into the pot. I’ve seen that. I’ve seen what it’s done. There’s no plan there. There’s no accountability.”
“Fine,” Ford said. “You’ve got my approval.”
He gave Fields a month to wrap things up in Europe and told him to be in Dearborn by October. Then Ford sold Hertz to help finance the big changes he hoped were coming. Ford had acquired the car rental agency back in 1994. The automaker sold it for $5.6 billion, though the deal was actually worth closer to $15 billion once Hertz’s debt was factored into the equation.
Fields knew a lot about building brands, but less about building cars. To compensate, Ford paired him with Anne Stevens, a tough-talking manufacturing expert with red hair and an imposing stare. She was lifelong gearhead, an engineer by training whodressed as a boy to sneak into the pits at the local racetrack when she was thirteen. As a married mother of two, Stevens had to fight for every rung of the corporate ladder. She came to Ford from Exxon in 1990 and became the automaker’s first female plant manager in Europe in 1995 and its first female vice president of vehicle operations in 2001. With her promotion to chief operating officer of the Americas group, she became one of the most powerful women in the automotive industry.
At fifty-six, she was more than ten years older than Fields and made no secret of the fact that she wanted his job. The two clashed from the start. At an early off-site briefing for senior managers, Stevens made a passionate plea to stop the backsliding on quality.
“We’re
never
going to get our customers back if we can’t improvequality,” she said. “It’s the only way we can change the way people look at Ford.”
When she finished listing all the ways Ford was failing on this front, Fields raised his hand with a smirk.
“My name is Mark Fields and I have a quality problem,” he chuckled.
Stevens glared at him. This was serious stuff, and she thought he was belittling it—and her. But the two managed to restrain their mutual animosity enough to begin work on a plan to salvage Ford’s North American car and truck business. Fields promised Bill Ford it would be on his desk in ninety days. With a cross-functional group of fifty managers, he and Stevens began a detailed analysis of Ford’s
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