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Bill Ford talks Detroit, last name Ford vs Forde Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press
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Jim Hackett, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ford Motor Company, with Bill Ford Jr. during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2018.
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Ford CEO Jim Hackett is the right man for the job during these changing times in the car business, Bill Ford told the Free Press.
Hackett, who has been in the role a little more than a year, has been both praised as a visionary and criticized as unable to effectively translate the company’s vision to the public.
But the executive chairman of Ford said in an interview last week with the Free Press that Hackett, 63, brings an ability to carefully guide the company while at the same time positioning it strategically for the future.
The former Steelcase furniture CEO, who did a temporary stint as athletic director at the University of Michigan, became Ford chief executive in May 2017. Considered a future thinker, among other efforts, he has launched a “fitness” campaign designed to more efficiently use company resources.
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Ford, himself a former CEO of the Dearborn-based automaker, told the Free Press:
“When Jim took this job, Jim was a 20-year CEO. He knows exactly what the demands of a CEO job — he knew what he was getting into.
“I think he believed, and I did too, that there was no point in doing this if he had one foot out the door. If he was going to do this, he would have to go all in. And he has.
“Now, as part of that, are we working together to work on his succession? Yeah, of course. But that would have been true no matter who was in there. Succession is hugely important in a company like Ford because you have to always be thinking ahead. For our board, you could argue, that’s their number one responsibility is to make sure that there’s always a number of succession candidates …
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“In terms of Jim’s longevity, we don’t really talk about it. He loves what he’s doing. I love having him here. We’ve known each other a long, long time. There’s a great familiarity. Jim has a big brain.
“This is the most challenging management time, I think, In our corporate history. You have to run today’s business, and run it really well. You have to then envision a very, very different long-term business, and then you have to build bridges between those two in a way that becomes seamless. Those are three big jobs to do and you have to do them all at once. You can’t do them sequentially because they all have to happen.
“Jim has the ability — to use his vernacular — to hold the now, the near and the far together in a way, I find, is really good for the organization.”
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Bill Ford Jr. talks about Ford buying the Michigan Central Station and his plans for its future Eric Seals, Eric Seals
Ford’s comments came during an interview outlining his vision for the company’s move to Corktown and acquisition of the Michigan Central Station, which is aimed at attracting new talent and building Ford as the leader in self-driving technology and future mobility.
Ford will ultimately have 2,500 workers on a large Corktown campus. In May, it moved the first of these workers, about 200 of them, into a renovated building at 1907 Michigan Ave. that it calls The Factory. It has acquired the train station, a former Detroit Schools book depository and various parcels of vacant land adjacent to the Police Athletic League complex where Tiger Stadium used to sit.
Ford reported a $7.6 billion profit on $156.8 billion in revenue for 2017, resulting in $7,500 profit-sharing checks for UAW workers. The company’s revenue was up 3% from a year earlier, primarily from sales in North America.
Hackett, who participated in a May 10 annual shareholder call, last made a public speech in mid-March to the Economic Club of Grand Rapids at the Marriott hotel. He did an interview with Business Insider published over the weekend outlining Ford’s Corktown vision.
He discussed a future filled with opportunity; and he told the crowd of about 600 that Ford, which recently announced plans to focus primarily on truck production, is working on adding hybrid engines to its bigger vehicles so that customers get better gas mileage and spend less on fuel.
Hackett earned $16.7 million in total compensation in 2017.
Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: phoward@freepress.com or 313-222-6512. Follow her onTwitter @phoebesaid
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