Fields Out, Hackett In as Ford Seeks Another Cultural Transformation

During his time as Ford CEO, Alan Mulally led a huge cultural transformation credited with staving off bankruptcy and putting the company on the path toward record profitability.

But just three years following his departure, the automaker signals it’s time for another overhaul.

Ford today announces Mulally’s successor, Mark Fields, 56, is out as CEO, replaced by Jim Hackett, 62, who led a transformation at office-furniture firm Steelcase and most recently was in charge of Ford’s Mobility arm.

Chairman Bill Ford doesn’t say so directly, but there are suggestions during a conference call to announce the moves that the automaker’s culture under Fields backslid into a slow-moving, top-down management structure that left employees frustrated and the company’s stock price lagging.

“Alan really captured the hearts and minds of employees and made them feel not only could we win but we were going to win, and they could have fun on the journey,” Bill Ford says, suggesting that spirit was squelched under Fields. “One thing that’s frustrating for me is the obsession with hierarchy. If we are going to get the best out of people and get teamwork, we’re going to have to bend that hierarchy.”

Bill Ford does credit Fields for leaving the automaker in a strong financial position, suggesting he handled the basic blocking and tackling but failed to deliver a cohesive vision of the future and rally employees toward execution.

“(Fields) had a tremendous career at Ford and did great things,” Bill Ford says. “We’ve had record profitability, cash flow and really solid results. Financially we’re in a great position to chart the vision Jim and I have.

“But this is a time of unprecedented change…(and) great change requires a transformational leader. We have that in Jim.”

Hackett ran Steelcase for 25 years, then took over the athletic department of the University of Michigan before joining Ford’s board and subsequently taking the job to head its Mobility operations. That’s given him a solid track record that “shows Jim can be successful and operate in multiple environments,” Bill Ford says.

“He’s a proven transformational leader,” he says, adding Hackett will get ideas free-flowing throughout the company “without regard to hierarchy.”

Hackett gives credit to Mulally for the changes he made via his One Ford strategy that better united operations globally with a single vision, a game plan Fields continued to follow and will remain in place to some extent under Hackett.

But the new CEO says that organization “doesn’t do as well when there’s a lot of complex strategy questions” that need to be sorted out.

“Over the years what happens in big corporations is the hierarchy overwhelms, (and it slows) decision-making. We want people to come to work thinking they can have a great day here. There’s pockets of that that exist, but we want to make it more emphatic.”

Ford officials are short on specifics as to how they expect to move the company forward and prop up its stock price, which has declined 40% in the three years under Fields.

“One of the things we need to do is reenergize our business,” Bill Ford says, declining to comment on whether there will be cutbacks in global operations or exits from underperforming markets. “If we have a clear view of the future, we can make decisions rapidly. You will see (directional) signposts along the way.”

Hackett says the automaker will be looking closely at its bulging inventories in North America, but doesn’t comment on whether production cuts are in the offing. As for the stock price, he says that will take care of itself as “a consequence of what we do.”

Supporting Hackett will be Jim Farley, 54, whose responsibilities are greatly expanded in the management shuffle. Farley moves from president of Ford Europe, Middle East and Africa to oversee Ford’s business units, The America, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific. He also will oversee the Lincoln Motor Co. and global Marketing Sales & Service.

Joe Hinrichs, 50, formerly in charge of The Americas, now will oversee global Product Development; Manufacturing and Labor Affairs; Quality; Purchasing; and Sustainability, Environmental and Safety Engineering.

Taking Hackett’s place as president of the Mobility arm is Marcy Klevorn, 57, in charge of Information Technology and Ford’s chief information officer since January. Paul Ballew, 52, Ford’s chief market analyst, is named global chief data and analytics officer, reporting to Klevorn.

The reorganization expands Bill Ford’s duties as well. Reporting directly to him will be Ford’s government relations department and its communications team.

Bill Ford says the executive shuffle came together quickly following a board meeting Friday, but adds the moves were not hastily done. “There have been discussions going on for a long time,” he says of the company’s performance under Fields.

[email protected] @DavidZoia