American Icon

Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company

By: Bryce G. Hoffman

Narrated by: Pete Larkin

Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

At the end of 2008, Ford Motor Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the auto industry careening toward ruin, Congress offered all three Detroit automakers a bailout. General Motors and Chrysler grabbed the taxpayer lifeline, but Ford decided to save itself. Under the leadership of charismatic CEO Alan Mulally, Ford had already put together a bold plan to unify its divided global operations, transform its lackluster product lineup, and overcome a dys­functional culture of infighting, backstabbing, and excuses. It was an extraordinary risk, but it was the only way the Ford family - America's last great industrial dynasty - could hold on to their company.

Mulally and his team pulled off one of the great­est comebacks in business history. As the rest of Detroit collapsed, Ford went from the brink of bankruptcy to being the most profitable automaker in the world. American Icon is the compelling, behind-the-scenes account of that epic turnaround. On the verge of collapse, Ford went outside the auto industry and recruited Mulally - the man who had already saved Boeing from the deathblow of 9/11 - to lead a sweeping restructuring of a company that had been unable to overcome decades of mismanagement and denial.

Mulally applied the principles he developed at Boeing to streamline Ford's inefficient operations, force its fractious executives to work together as a team, and spark a product renaissance in Dearborn. He also convinced the United Auto Workers to join his fight for the soul of American manufacturing.

Bryce Hoffman reveals the untold story of the covert meetings with UAW leaders that led to a game-changing contract, Bill Ford's battle to hold the Ford family together when many were ready to cash in their stock and write off the company, and the secret alliance with Toyota and Honda that helped prop up the Amer­ican automotive supply base. In one of the great management narratives of our time, Hoffman puts the reader inside the boardroom as Mulally uses his celebrated Business Plan Review meet­ings to drive change and force Ford to deal with the painful realities of the American auto industry.

Hoffman was granted unprecedented access to Ford's top executives and top-secret company documents. He spent countless hours with Alan Mulally, Bill Ford, the Ford family, former executives, labor leaders, and company directors. In the best-selling tradition of Too Big to Fail and The Big Short, American Icon is narrative nonfiction at its vivid and colorful best.

©2012 Bryce G. Hoffman (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"For those interested in the recent political interventions and maneuvers in the auto industry, this book provides a fly-on-the-wall view of the meetings and behind-the-scenes deal making necessary to revive an ailing giant." ( Library Journal)

Must read

Story is compelling. If younread the Henry Ford story first. My Life and Work, this is an interesting companion. Love the narrator for this, his voice is perfect and his diction is awesome.

No Book Has Ever Had a More Appropriate Title

Full disclosure; I bleed Ford Blue and I believe that Ford has always made some of the best cars and trucks in the world. Despite the fact that only one car has ever left me stranded on an interstate and it was a 4-cylinder Ford Taurus (I said some of the best in the world). Nobody's perfect. And that's the point this book makes. Every business; in fact, every venture in life, has ups and downs and how you react to the downs is typically more important than having the downs in the first place.

This book is so much more than a story about FOMOCO. It is a study in individual and group tenacity and personal triumphs and business successes and failures. As a lover of all things with a blue oval it frightened me to learn exactly how close the company came to shutting the doors for good! To think that my F150 and my Mustang may have never existed made me very sad, but then those thoughts evoked emotions of pride in how true American spirit and hard work coupled with some gamesmanship and business acumen came through and brought this company back from the brink of extinction to where it is today.

Alan Mulally. Wow! Thank the Gods of internal combustion and horsepower that this man was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time! And thank them again that the Ford family was so clever in protecting the company and keeping it family controlled. The history of the company leading up to the tenure of Mulally was fascinating and, even though I had a lot of knowledge about Ford the man and Ford the company going in, I learned a tremendous amount of additional information from this book. The author put a lot of great quotes from Henry Ford into the book and he wove them into the writing. It is true that Henry Ford was a flawed man; he was a stated anti-Semite. He wasn't perfect by any stretch, but he was also a forward thinker who improved the daily wages and working conditions for his workers and he brought freedom of movement to millions of people. I can't let his bad overshadow his good works and this book gives a balanced perspective on all of it.

The narration was phenomenal. The cadence, tone and inflection was always right at the right time. The book seemed too short to me and it read a little like historical fiction mixed with a suspense novel. You don't need to love, or even like, Ford in order to like, or even love, this book. So, if you don't like Ford, but you like business or you love this country I am fairly confident that you will like this book and you should get it. If you are a follower of the cult whose motto is "Build me a car that will crush Ferrari at Le Mans." then this book is a must for your library.

Best book! Changed my view

This book was really incredible. Very fact based and informational but extremely easy to listen to. It completely changed my view of the automotive industry and provided a look into a world I had never seen.

Writing style was a good fit for narrator

What about Pete Larkin’s performance did you like?

Pete Larkin's performance was excellent, it felt like he was telling the story all first hand. These was a great amount of passion in his voice that made the story more inspirational and compelling.

Any additional comments?

The book felt very inspiring, I felt like i was hearing alot of insight into the struggles that Ford was facing and how they felt about what they were seeing in the marketplace at the time.

The best story you don't know about

Would you listen to American Icon again? Why?

No I don't listen to books more than once because I have so many to listen ton.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The story of Ford's turnaround, steered by the genius Not (and hard work) of one man, was amazing. I had no idea of what had happened and how, and was mesmerized by the story and its telling.

Have you listened to any of Pete Larkin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

He narrated "The Everything Story" about Amazon. This performance was just as excellent as the Amazon book. His voice has character which adds to my appreciation of the story.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Not sure.

Any additional comments?

I was not that interested in Ford or the auto industry, but I enjoy books about the "behind the scenes" looks and individuals and power, and this book has it all. I see Ford much differently than I did before.

interesting

The source material was fascinating. Saviour of both Boeing and Ford and how he did it. The writing leaves a bit to be desired. Lack of world context and backstory of Mullalys days at Boeing I think.

Very good narrative.

Great narration of a very interesting period of Ford history.

Knew of the troubles the auto industry had but this skillfully explained it all.

If you listen “between the lines” you can pick up some valuable lessons in leadership along the way.

The narrator is consistent in pitch and tempo. I listened at 1.1x speed which was a very good and understandable pace.

Leaders leadership skills is the key for success

The narrator keeps a nice pace and is easy to listen and get dragged into the board room.

Easy to understand and very clear. Very descriptive and given details. The leadership styles and skills will make u feel he the best person

inspiring!

what a great story about a great leader. all companies/leaders can benefit from this book.

Great Read, err, listen

As a Ford dealership employee who lived through this restructuring it was really interesting to learn about what was really happening at a factory level. I was hooked within minutes.