By Christina Rogers and Joann S. Lublin
Jim Hackett joined Ford Motor Co.'s board of directors in 2013
talking about "design thinking" and "fitness of use." The phrases
were foreign to the dog-eat-dog car business.
Now, as the auto maker's new chief executive, Mr. Hackett faces
high expectations to translate those phrases into meaningful
change. He made his name turning Steelcase Inc. into an
office-furniture juggernaut; now he needs to take on billionaire
Tesla Inc., CEO Elon Musk.
In wooing Mr. Hackett to become a Ford director, Chairman Bill
Ford had hoped to "inject his tech-savvy energy into the board,"
according to an executive recruiter familiar with the process.
In 2016, Mr. Hackett was tapped to lead outgoing Chief Executive
Mark Fields' new Smart Mobility innovation unit.
As he replaces Mr. Fields, Mr. Hackett, 62 years old, must
transition from outsider to team player. Mr. Ford has emphasized
the need for unity and clarity as Ford builds on its core
auto-making business to forge ahead into new technologies and
services, including the electric cars that Mr. Musk's Tesla
makes.
Part of Mr. Hackett's role in his new job "will be to teach and
groom the next generation" of leaders, Mr. Ford said on Monday. And
he needs to foster innovation, a catch phrase Mr. Ford was fond of
when he ran his great-grandfather's company.
Mr. Hackett is charged with better harnessing data and analytics
to tap into car-buying trends and future needs of people walking
into dealerships. Mr. Ford wants more research on parts made by 3-D
printers and new modes of transportation, such as self-driving
cars.
During his 30 years at Steelcase, an office-furniture maker
based in Grand Rapids, Mich., Mr. Hackett pushed to modernize the
workspace, dispensing of old-style cubicles and using technology to
create open-office spaces better suited to today's work habits.
Taking over Steelcase as CEO in the mid-1990s when the firm was
bleeding red ink, he led the company through a painful downsizing
that resulted in thousands of job cuts. He is credited with
transforming the product line, putting a greater emphasis on
selling experiences and solutions, rather than individual chairs
and desks.
Following his retirement from Steelcase, Mr. Hackett made waves
in the Detroit area as interim athletic director for the University
of Michigan. He recruited NFL coach and former star quarterback Jim
Harbaugh to lead Michigan's vaunted football team, which at the
time was struggling.
More recently at Ford, he oversaw the creation of the Smart
Mobility unit. The subsidiary, formed last year, is responsible for
experimenting with car-sharing programs, self-driving ventures and
other services aimed at helping Ford better compete with Uber
Technologies Inc., Alphabet Inc. and other tech firms trying to
edge into the auto industry.
In Mr. Hackett, Mr. Ford saw a "serious and experienced
executive" who was well known to the board, said one person close
to the company. Instead of threatening the next generation of
potential leaders to the company, Mr. Hackett would work to
cultivate them, this person said.
Mr. Hackett, however, lacks a high profile in Silicon Valley.
And he doesn't have a background in the world of machine learning,
artificial intelligence and other areas important to the future of
self-driving cars.
Still, his involvement with Ideo, an influential design firm
that Steelcase invested in during his tenure, indicates he can
handle the learning curves.
"He is a collaborative kind of leader and that is a quality that
wins in Silicon Valley, Dearborn and Delhi," said Reilly Patrick
Brennan, a partner at Trucks Venture Capital, which invests in
mobility startups.
In an interview last year with The Wall Street Journal, Mr.
Hackett said he wasn't interested in being a chief executive again
but was interested in helping Mr. Fields think through tough
challenges.
Mr. Hackett explained that traditional car-building consumes
substantial capital and returns relatively slim margins. In
so-called mobility services, he said Ford could eventually earn far
more attractive margins if it hired the right software engineers
and designers.
The auto maker has been projecting 20% margins in the mobility
services business, but hasn't outlined when that would be achieved.
Ford's North American unit, currently its most profitable, returns
about 10% operating margins under the best conditions.
Ford's Smart Mobility unit has made some initial moves under Mr.
Hackett's direction, acquiring van-shuttle service Chariot and
joining with a bike-sharing firm.
--Tim Higgins contributed to this article.
Write to Christina Rogers at christina.rogers@wsj.com and Joann
S. Lublin at joann.lublin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 22, 2017 19:12 ET (23:12 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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