Lee Iacocca

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     Lee Iacocca passed away on July 2. He was 94 years old. His passing caught me by surprise since I had not seen him mentioned in the business news, as far as I can recall, for several years. Part of the surprise might have been because I might have thought he already passed.
     Iacocca was a big deal in the auto industry. I was well aware of that growing up in Detroit. He was the President of Ford Motor when I began working there in 1976. His ambitions and ego clashed with the ego of Henry Ford II who fired his #2 on July 13, 1978. The shock of that rippled through the company like wildfire in an era well before email and internet. Ford logged a profit of $2 Billion the year that the “Deuce” fired Iacocca.
     Much has been written about Lee Iacocca this week. He was the father of the Mustang, one the most popular and enduring cars to come out of Detroit. He was also the credited with the Ford Pinto which was most infamous for its design flaw that made it prone to gas tank explosions in rear end collisions. After Ford, he took the helm at an ailing Chrysler. There his celebrity took a quantum leap as he secured government loans to buoy the failing and became the spokesman of the company in their television advertising. At Chrysler, he introduced the K-Car and the Mini-Van, the latter of which has been as iconic as the Mustang. He also bought American Motors which brought the Jeep nameplate to Chrysler. He authored three books, two of which I read.
      Many of the articles referred to him as the first celebrity CEO. This observation also surprised me a bit because I thought of Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Graham Bell, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and others. Upon further reflection, everyone before Iacocca was a founder, inventor, or entrepreneur and not professional managers rising to the top in well established companies.
     I never met Lee Iacocca. I would have loved to have and maybe worked for him. Minimally, I would have liked to have heard him speak. I enjoyed his Autobiography (1984) and Talking Straight (1988) books. I got and read them both when they were published. Oddly, I completely missed his third book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone, which was published in 2007. I have added that to my reading list.
    Here are a few recollections and reflections when I think about this larger than life leader in the auto industry.

• All the senior executives at Ford had access to a fleet of cars to drive. They all drove brand new Ford cars for certain. But, they also had access to the best cars in the world to drive for “competitive evaluation.” The lore around the company was that Iacocca took a Ferrari from the World Headquarters, the Glass House, to a meeting at another of the many Ford buildings in Dearborn. When it came time to return to the Glass House, Iacocca couldn’t figure out how to get the Ferrari into reverse and had to call the garage personal to come out and show him. 
• This one I believe is from Iacocca’s Autobiography or the Detroit Free Press. On the other hand, it may have also been corporate lore. When Henry Ford II fired Iacocca, he walked him out in front of the Glass House. He pointed up at the blue oval Ford logo on the building and told Iacocca, “Do you see whose name is on the building?”
• This one is from his Autobiography. Iacocca was amazed at how good the hamburgers tasted in the Glass House executive dining room. One day he asked the chef (I want to say his name was Bernardin) how he prepared he burgers. He took Iacocca into the kitchen, opened up the refrigerator and took out a filet, he put the filet into the meat grinder, and then formed the output into a patty. That was the secret.
• The obituaries all referenced that Iacocca in his last years at Chrysler, he tried to expand beyond autos in a series of acquisitions. This plan put Chrysler into financial turmoil again and hastened Iacocca’s departure. He tried to take the company over again in a hostile takeover partnering with Kirk Kerkorian. That takeover did not pan out but instead lead to Mercedes Benz taking over Chrysler. I once knew about these lesser parts of Iacocca’s storied career but chose only to remember his huge successes.
• I wonder what impact Iacocca had if had become Ford’s CEO? Would they have had the same quality focus? Would they have developed the Taurus? Certainly, Philip Caldwell, Don Petersen, and Red Poling did a pretty good job. Iacocca was certainly more popular and well-known than Philip Caldwell, but Caldwell equally, if not more, successful.
• The Mustang came out while I was in elementary school. We were Detroit kids which meant everyone had a family member or extended family member working in the auto industry. So, it goes without saying that the popularity and excitement of the Mustang was part of our young lives. I recall my friend telling me that “My Dad designed part of the Mustang.” I said, “Wow! What part?” He responded, “The rear window molding!” I remember thinking “the rear window molding… not very exciting.” It was my first glimpse into the “not very exciting” aspects of the auto industry.
• Again, most of the obituaries I read, alluded to Iacocca as a cigar chomping executive. Ah, for the good old days where you could smoke a cigar anywhere you wanted. Certainly, we are better off with smoke free workplaces but I would occasionally smoke one in my office or while teaching if it were allowed.
• I wonder if any of my students would know who Lee Iacocca is? I will have to poll them when classes begin.

     To end, here are some memorable quotes from Lee Iacocca.

• Management is nothing more than motivating other people. 
• The one word that makes a good manager – ‘decisiveness’.
• In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits.
• You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere.
• We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insolvable problems
• The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.