Lee, The Chrysler Man
Lee Iacocca is well known for bringing Chrysler back from the brink. People thought Chrysler was a dead company & revival of Chrysler was only next to impossible. It had a debt of more than a billon dollar. That’s when the management of Chrysler approached Lee, who was just fired from Ford, for asking him to take over as CEO of Chrysler. The rest is history.
Ford Days: Lee completed his masters from Lehigh University and began his career in Ford. He started his career as an engineer and after a brief stint he shifted to sales and marketing. "Sales is where the real action is," Lee felt. He quickly moved up the ladder and eventually became the president of Ford when he turned forty. Some of the notable achievements of Lee during his tenure in Ford are "Ford Mustang", "Ford Fiesta", and ”56 for 56" campaign which brought him national recognition. Henry Ford II grew apprehensive over his quick success & fired him fearing that Lee would overtake him someday, although Lee had no intentions of becoming CEO of Ford. He was more than happy to be the President of Ford. The way he was sent out of Ford (esp., his last day at Ford) was all the more humiliating for Lee. (You should read that book to know it)
Aboard a Sinking Ship: When Lee took over Chrysler, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. He quickly did a management and financial restructuring. He laid off some employees, sold some part of the company, slashed down his salary to $1 per Annam (Perfect example of putting the company's objectives ahead of personal objectives). Some of Lee's intimate and competent friends were also fired from Ford before Lee was fired, only because they were friends of Lee. After Lee joined Chrysler, he brought some of them to Chrysler. Finally, Lee turned towards Federal government and asked for a loan. His line of argument was that if Chrysler licks the dust, thousand of employees would lose their jobs, which wasn't good for the country. And government bailing-out companies wasn't unprecedented. It has happened umpteen time in the US. The controversial decision was finally taken, and Chrysler got a loan of 1.2 billion, in two installments. Later, Chrysler successfully rolled out a few cars and repaid the debts. Lee's contribution was instrumental in turning the company around.
Learnings from the book: This book has something for everybody to learn. Spawned below are the few things that i learned from this book. In fact, this book teaches a lot of lessons, but i remember only very few.
Three Axioms of Public speaking: Here is lee's tip on public speaking:” Tell the audience what you are going to tell them, then tell them, and finish by telling what you told them."
Always speak in other man's interests: When Lee approached Federal govt for a loan, he never spoke how granting loan would bring Chrysler out of bankruptcy. He spoke how it would save the jobs of thousand of employees of Chrysler.
Importance of Appraisal: In his book, Lee extensively speaks about the appraisal system, setting short-term and long-term goals. He also suggests that we should write our goals on a paper, because otherwise we get away with the vagueness in the goals. Moreover, writing our goals on paper makes it all the more clear.
P.S: I read his autobiography a few months back. Whatever I could recollect, I've written here. If I have furnished any wrong details, do let me know so that I can correct it.
Ford Days: Lee completed his masters from Lehigh University and began his career in Ford. He started his career as an engineer and after a brief stint he shifted to sales and marketing. "Sales is where the real action is," Lee felt. He quickly moved up the ladder and eventually became the president of Ford when he turned forty. Some of the notable achievements of Lee during his tenure in Ford are "Ford Mustang", "Ford Fiesta", and ”56 for 56" campaign which brought him national recognition. Henry Ford II grew apprehensive over his quick success & fired him fearing that Lee would overtake him someday, although Lee had no intentions of becoming CEO of Ford. He was more than happy to be the President of Ford. The way he was sent out of Ford (esp., his last day at Ford) was all the more humiliating for Lee. (You should read that book to know it)
Aboard a Sinking Ship: When Lee took over Chrysler, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. He quickly did a management and financial restructuring. He laid off some employees, sold some part of the company, slashed down his salary to $1 per Annam (Perfect example of putting the company's objectives ahead of personal objectives). Some of Lee's intimate and competent friends were also fired from Ford before Lee was fired, only because they were friends of Lee. After Lee joined Chrysler, he brought some of them to Chrysler. Finally, Lee turned towards Federal government and asked for a loan. His line of argument was that if Chrysler licks the dust, thousand of employees would lose their jobs, which wasn't good for the country. And government bailing-out companies wasn't unprecedented. It has happened umpteen time in the US. The controversial decision was finally taken, and Chrysler got a loan of 1.2 billion, in two installments. Later, Chrysler successfully rolled out a few cars and repaid the debts. Lee's contribution was instrumental in turning the company around.
Learnings from the book: This book has something for everybody to learn. Spawned below are the few things that i learned from this book. In fact, this book teaches a lot of lessons, but i remember only very few.
Three Axioms of Public speaking: Here is lee's tip on public speaking:” Tell the audience what you are going to tell them, then tell them, and finish by telling what you told them."
Always speak in other man's interests: When Lee approached Federal govt for a loan, he never spoke how granting loan would bring Chrysler out of bankruptcy. He spoke how it would save the jobs of thousand of employees of Chrysler.
Importance of Appraisal: In his book, Lee extensively speaks about the appraisal system, setting short-term and long-term goals. He also suggests that we should write our goals on a paper, because otherwise we get away with the vagueness in the goals. Moreover, writing our goals on paper makes it all the more clear.
P.S: I read his autobiography a few months back. Whatever I could recollect, I've written here. If I have furnished any wrong details, do let me know so that I can correct it.
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