Slumping stock was the undoing of Mark Fields as CEO of Ford Motor Company.
Detroit News business columnist Daniel Howes said Fields’ successor Jim Hackett must rally his team to full battle mode, even though times are good and profits are fat.
“All of a sudden, the Detroit automakers and the traditional auto business has a whole new set of competitors out in Silicon Valley,” Howes said. “People who are geared to taking risks, who are not afraid to fail, for whom innovation is part and parcel of what they do every day, and that’s what makes this very different and I think a lot more challenging.”
Listen above to hear the full conversation about the work Hackett has cut out for him.
Daniel Howes is a columnist with the Detroit News. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.
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