thank you Alan, thank you for being with us today
you're welcome Antonio. I I'm pleased to be with you and I also am an admirer
of your work to capture project and program management. Thank You Alan!
Let me start quickly on a bit of your trajectory, and everybody knows what
you've achieved. But when you were a kid, did you want to be the CEO of Boeing?
and then later of Ford? what did you want to be when you were a kid?
Well one of the things I wanted to be was an astronaut ! and when I was in high school,
first part of college, President Kennedy announced that we're gonna go to the
Moon! And they were looking for some people with the right stuff to go to the
Moon, and it was very compelling to me, because he described the things we'd
learn by going to the moon, technically but also, the things that we would learn
that would help make life better on Earth. So I joined the Air Force, and I learned
to fly, and I I found out that I had a colourblindness. I wasn't qualified
because the first lunar landings were going to be manual. So I finished my
education on aeronautical and astronautical engineering, then I found
my dream to go to work as an airplane designer at Boeing.
And you made your whole career in Boeing? Yes. I had the honor to serve on
the design team for every Boeing airplane. So the 707, 727,
737, 747, 757, 767, and then they
asked me to serve as the chief engineer and the leader of the 777 airplane. And
then as the CEO of Boeing I helped launch the 787. So all the seats that are
flying in the world today over 60-70 percent of all the seats that are flying are
in a Boeing airplane. So it's quite an honor to get people together around the
world. What an achievement !! Alan, that means that you've been
leading projects, a big time of your career. Was there anything you
learned what kind of approaches you were taking at Boeing. Can you tell us a bit
more about that? Oh, sure. So I've summarized all the lessons I've learned
on the the simple document that I sent to you, and it is titled "Skilled and
Motivated Teams Working Together Principles and Practices", and everything
that I've learned, over the last 37 years at Boeing and also 8
years at Ford, are on that one piece of paper. So the the big points are is
to include everybody. It's all about people. So it's kind of
really saying "Love Them Up". Appreciate them so much because you have all these
talented people around the world they're working. Everybody needs to be included, and
come together around a compelling vision for what the airplane, or the program, or
the business is. A strategy for achieving it, and also a relentless implementation
plan. And that's where the business plan review comes from. Then of course clear
performance goals. Having one plan. Using facts and data. And the biggest one
Antonio, probably is that is that everybody, everybody knows the plan,
everybody knows the status, and everybody knows the areas needs special attention.
That's where the business plan review comes in. And then of course the
behaviors, a positive "can-do", find a way attitude, respect each other, help each
other, appreciate each other, maintain your emotional resilience, and also have
fun ! Enjoy the journey of what you're
doing and enjoy each other. And a corollary to that last one is: never
humor, Antonio, at anybody else's expense. Because what happens is that people
will go along, to get along, but when you environment where people can share the
reds and the yellows, and the areas that need special attention, and they work
together to turn the red, yellows and green. it has to be a safe environment, where people
know they're gonna be respected, and they'll be able to share what's
really going on. Because if they don't share, then you you're managing a secret.
You really can't program manager. So that's probably; having fun and enjoy
the journey on each other. That is probably the foundation for all the behaviors.
Then you set also quite ambitious goals? I think that's that's part of your
leadership, getting people focused. And a bit of pressure is always
good, I guess? Well, I think so. And it's really kind
of a positive pressure too. For example on airplanes, when you design a
new airplane. A commercial airplane has around 4 million parts and you take the
777, it's the most sophisticated product in the world, because it carries
200 to 300 people halfway around the world. It is the safest transportation
system ever. And of course you actually make these commitments to the airlines
and the traveling public and then you deliver the performance the reliability
the maintainability the produce ability the affordability. You deliver all those
commitments on a schedule, 5 years in advance. The airlines are actually paying
the progress payments along the way. They already have the tickets sold, they have
their routes all in place so you're actually creating this 4 million parts
in this airplane on a schedule that is that is like Scheduled Program
Management Innovation. So that's the pressure in itself, on the other
hand, you can imagine what that does to enable talented people to actually work
together to create this these fabulous products. One thing I noticed when I
saw some of your videos (I will share this information afterwards), you go
deep into the details as well. So you have the experts but you understand very
well the business both in Boeing and later on in Ford. The second part
which I admire is you have this business sense; you look at figures,
financials, head count, profit. Something that we don't do very often. We just
deliver, but miss that business part. Can you tell us a bit more about that
side? Sure. I think that's a great question, especially the way you
asked it, but just kind of starting at the basics the
fundamental of business the fundamental is to deliver profitable growth for all
the shareholders, all the stakeholders, not just the shareholders, but everybody
associated with the enterprise, so that like in Boeing's case, or Ford's case
that the people that drive the vehicles are right on the airplanes the customers
the airline's themselves the Ford stores around the world, also the investors are
all your partners your suppliers all the employees so the only way to have a
viable business, a sustainable business, is to create a business that is
growing profitably because then you get to continue to make the products and
services that people want and value, and you keep improving your quality and
productivity every year, so what's neat about it, it's just a design job
right? all we're doing is creating a viable business, just like we're creating
a viable airplane or viable cars and trucks. so it's not just me that knows it
but everybody on the team knows where we are on the plan to deliver profitable
growth with our products and services and where we are on our official it's
fun because now you're making great products but you're creating a business
that's sustainable this can provide great jobs for a lot of people can
contribute to the economy and contribute to energy independence and security and
sustainability. And Alan, you had to sometimes lay-off people. That's the more
difficult part, I guess. Somebody like you. What's the approach? I heard that you
try to still make it in a nice way positive way but I know you've gone
through this massively and it's a difficult part. It really is because when
you work together this way and you become very close with each other I mean
a lot of respect for and of course it's based on respect for people and respect
for each other and enjoying each other and the thing that I have found is the
most important thing is to be transparent and as honest as you can
about what the situation is. For example at Boeing, when we had the terrorist
attack of 9/11 no one none of us ever thought that a commercial airplane would
be used as a weapon we never imagined that, it completely changed our world and
those are Boeing airplanes that were involved and of course the travel
degraded tremendously after that because people were concerned and so our
production at Boeing actually went from over 680 airplanes to maybe 240 in the
following year and no company that I know of can keep going with that kind of
a throughput so we shared it with everybody we had to match our production
to the real demand and as you pointed out the only way to save the company too
was to reduce all our expenses including a lot of the members of our team on the
other hand because we did that, we saved the company, we actually continued to
invest in the new products and so now we were able to hire our employees back and
currently that is if you don't match your production to the real demand, then
you go out a bit you'll go bankrupt and you'll be out of business. So as hard as
it is, I just found that sharing it with everybody and with compassion and
thoughtfulness and empathy and helped people find other jobs and move on with
grace and then be able to come back later and do what they love doing
you are not afraid of taking the difficult decisions,
or confronting the most challenging problems. That's a characteristic
I see on you as well. I think that again it's such a roadmap but it's such
a compelling vision to create a sustainable business and so just keeping
that in mind you're only going to do that if you make products and services
that people really want and value and pay for. You can improve our quality
and our productivity every year and do that together and include everybody.
going deeper on the 777 project or program, I noticed that you
introduced - maybe was before - you engaged stakeholders in
the project, like the customers they had to put some part of the budget, the
providers too. Can you just tell us a bit more on that approach ? I think it
is fantastic. absolutely so one of the reasons I
believe that Boeing has been successful over the years is that on every airplane
program and especially on the on the 777 we've always included the airlines in
the actual design of the airplane because they have so much knowledge
about how to operate the airplane and how it's going to be used in the
reliability requirements and the maintainability requirements and how
they're going to take care of it, how they're going to fly the airplane, how
they're going to maintain the airplane so we actually invite the airlines that
want to participate in the launch of the vehicle to join the team and it's really
funny Antonio because at the first some of the airlines will say well I don't
want to be in the same room with it with our competitor and I'm going to
share all of my knowledge with you in front of the competitors that can put me
at a competitive disadvantage and I remember one of the airlines and
when the early meeting said and we had like 12 of the world's best airlines in
the same room and one of the airline leaders said, okay here's the deal, we
want to help Boeing build the best airplane in the world when we get that
best airplane in the world because we've all contributed to it then we can
compete as airlines but what we want all of us want is the best airplane in the world and
that just broke the ice from then on everybody was willing to share their
ideas from how the airplane operates how we fly the airplanes I'll
give you another example well it's a simple example in the in the
laboratory on the toilet seat it scares passengers when any kind of noise
they hear on an airplane so if the lid comes down because you're maybe hit a
little bit of rough air and it slams on the on the bowl that everybody gets
concerned so we put a little inertia reel in the back of the toilet
so the toilet seat comes down and the lid catches up with it and they both
provide very quiet service on to the bowl and people look at that and they've
told us my gosh if these Boeing engineers they pay that much
attention to that toilet, think of what the flight control system looks like and
the structures and the avionics so again the depth of the knowledge that we
were able to incorporate in that innovation by utilizing all of the
airline's best practices around the world actually
resulted in the airplane being what it is today. For me that's a game
changer in the way of doing projects Alan. What was the most difficult part in
that 777 program? what was the thing that was the toughest to come through? Well I
I don't I really think of it in those terms Antonio, because
when you operate with these principles and practices it's all out in the open
so it there's it's not a problem it's a gem when you when you when somebody has
an issue because it's a gem because now you know what the issue is and everybody
and you're also recognizing that this is an invention and it's going to be an
iterative process and that's what that's what engineering and design and
manufacturing are about so it's almost like you're legitimizing the process of
project or program management and so it's not this is all gonna go right
on the plan, it means that you have a process to cover the areas that need
special attention and you have a culture where everybody's going to share the
areas need special attention and work together it turns the red to yellows to
greens so it's almost like we can't wait to get to the business plan review every
week to see what the colors change that what we need to work on and with because
now we know that's part of the process and we have legitimized program
and project management and adapting to all of the changes that you're naturally
going to see going forward. amazing. because most
people working on projects they say yes, we have so many problems ..
and the way you look at this is so fresh and so constructive, we have
challenges but together we solve them. And that's
what that's what program and project management is about. And you can see to
your point earlier whether it's a product or whether it's managing
a business and whether it's Boeing whether it's forward whether it's your
personal life or your family life I mean it's all going to come together if we
had adopt working together principles and practices and come together on that
vision a strategy for achieving it and then that relentless implementation plan
where we deal with the issues and turn the reds to yellows the greens and
deliver all of our commitments on plan. I love that, I think this
deserves a book! Well there have been a lot of things written about it and you have if you
have our third a number of them so I think you're I the only reason I want to
support you is that you've dedicated your life to program a project
management, and I really think it's the future, and it's business, because it's
gonna be business that actually keeps us moving forward by making products and
services of people want and value.
And Alan, how do you take this approach to
Ford? a very very different business
and different culture from what I've read
very very different culture.
Antonio here's what I did
here's my working together principles and practices the same piece of paper
that you have. It's the only piece of paper that I took with me to Ford.
When Bill Ford called and asked me to join and so I started right at the
top we got I got all the team together selected business unit leaders for
around the world Asia Pacific Europe and in the United States and North and South
America and then we started the business plan review we came together around a
compelling vision and we actually decided on Henry Ford's original vision
of opening the highways to all mankind of making the best cars and trucks in
the world and making them available to everybody and then we agreed on a
strategy for achieving it, so we're going to focus on the Ford brand we divested
all the other brands that we had we agreed that we have a complete family
of vehicles from the Fiesta, the Focus, the Fusion, the Taurus, the Mustang, the Escape,
the Edge, the Flex, the Ranger, the F-series, the E-series, the transit and the
cargo, and that set of vehicles that family serves all the markets small
medium and large cars utilities and trucks around the world we also knew
that every Ford vehicle from when I got there on, would be the
best in class and quality fuel efficiency safety smart design
connectivity and we agreed we're gonna size our production to the real demand
we took out a small home improvement loan of twenty three and a half billion
dollars to finance the restructuring but also to invest in all the new cars and
trucks and most importantly we agreed that we're gonna work together as one
team worldwide all the Fords around the world we're gonna come together around
one Ford with one team and one plan to deliver profitable growth for Ford
And what was the reaction of the management team at the beginning?
well clearly we spent a lot of time man Tony was talking about these principles
of practices and that what I have found over the years the most important thing
is to spend the time to really understand not only the process a
program and project management but also the behaviors that we are going to expect of
each other the way we treat each other and so the what I found is all you
have to do is start the business plan review every week everybody's there
everybody's starting to show their part of the plan the status against the plans
and the areas need special attention and then they color code them and they
didn't know how wet that meant Antonio, how do you how do you color code a red
because in the Ford culture like a lot of companies you never bring a
problem to your supervisor unless you have a solution
so now as Deming would say you're managing a secret you have no idea
what's going on so we got it down to about 300 charts with our 12 members of
our team and it's going pretty well except
all the charts are green and they know now and I know because we've shared it
that we're gonna lose 17 billion dollars for the year in profits. I know and so I
stopped the meeting when one time and I said early on it's so you guys you
know we're gonna lose seventeen billion dollars is there anything in your area
responsibility that's not going well, that there's a problem? and of course the eye
contact goes down to the floor. Well a couple weeks later, the leader of the
Americas had a problem with the an actuator on the lift gate of the new
Edge that was being launched in Oakville Canon, he stopped production like we agreed to
only the finest quality would be delivered and then he switched the color
on his launch start to red, red for financial impact, for functionality and
for schedule compliance. Red, Red, Red. So the next day in the business plan review
everybody's connected worldwide and up comes this red chart, I mean the air was
sucked out of the room and so Mark said he has his problem he doesn't have a
solution yet but we're working on it so I started to clap and everybody in that
room Antonio, knew that was a sign that two doors behind me were gonna open up
to large human beings are gonna come in and extract him from the meeting because
he had a Red. I said "Mark that is great visibility, what can we do as a team to
help you out right away?" and Derrick Kuzak was leading manager engineering said
now I've seen that issue on such-and-such
I'll get that data over to you right away same comment from Benny Fowler
who's leading quality worldwide and then Joe Hendrick said, how was leading
manufacturing said, you know you're gonna need some manufacturing engineers you
to switch out the parts and get it going again
I'll get them identified and get them up to a fill right away and that took like
eight or nine seconds and we were on the next Green Green Green Green chart next
week they're all green again except for his one red, a chart couple weeks later
turned to yellow they had a solution couple of weeks later turn to green then
all the vehicles start flowing around the world guess what the colors of the
three hundred charts look like the following week it's not all red
because there's always a lot of things going well as you know at programs but
they let it look like a rainbow and right there Antonio they knew and I knew
that we are going to trust this process of working together and these principles
and practices and we're going to treat the issues as gems and work together to
turn the rest yellow to green and we were on our way.
Wow is like the tipping point when this happened. Exactly and whether
we had tsunamis in Asia Pacific we're half our productions under water or the
bankruptcy of our major competitors GM and Chrysler or whether we the worst
financial crisis we've ever had in the United States since the recession that
we knew that we can continue to work together and met every week and shared
the plan the status needed special attention that we are going to be ok and
we were and we didn't we were the only ones that did not ask for take a
precious taxpayer money during the worst financial crisis we've ever had. I love
this weekly meeting where you get all together. I heard that from
Steve Jobs he was doing that in Apple too. Is like something that puts people
together transparency, not hundreds of meeting but
just one very good one. That's really a good point Antonio because it's
not to solve the problem in the business plan review is to ensure that
everybody's at the table everybody is sharing their contribution their plan
for the overall plan and that everybody knows the area is a special attention
then we have four other meetings that we'll run one a week they'll deal with
the areas need special attention where we work the issue get the decisions made
and then they'll get incorporated in the business plan review I don't know very
many people that that do that or appreciate the power of that and you
want everybody on the team there is only takes two hours and we actually invite a
guest Antonio and we invite guests to sit around the room where we are and
also in all of the conference rooms around the world where everybody is
networked in so they can see it they can see they're part of it
and they can help cascade that up and down to the entire organization
I just get so excited from what you say Alan, because you're
making something that you can share where we're usually this hidden this
leaders there is all secret and you know you get guests and I can imagine this is
part of how you reach to the whole company because I know that Ford
people loved you, Boeing people loved, you so this is part of it right? Well I
think it goes absolutely Antonio, it goes back to that very first principle under
working together principles and practices people first, and that's code
for love them up. These are human beings they're talented they want to
contribute to making a cathedral not just to get a salary and they want
to they want to be appreciated for their great work and they really want to know
where are we on what is the plan where are we on the plan what can we do to
help each other accomplish these this compelling
vision and I think it's the most respectful thing you can do as a leader
in a leadership team is to create this environment it's not only smart but it's
also very healthy because all the politics go away
everybody's concerns go away because now you're celebrating the issues in a
positive way and you're making progress on creating your whatever your
compelling vision and the cathedral you're making.
Alan last question, because I could spend hours talking to you, it's all so insightful.
What would you recommend to a project manager who's or engineer who's doing projects
and what kind of skills do they need to develop to have a career path like
yours? to keep evolving? what are the skills that you see in the future?
Oh sure. Well I think appreciating the way we all grow up and in our lifelong
learning we usually have selected a technical or
a functional path it could be engineering
manufacturing finance legal communications and then over time
they'll always be opportunities for us and people want us to lead
multi-functions and so my first piece of advice is be the very best that she
can be in your functional discipline and know and then keep looking about how
your function fits into the overall business because it really is these
talented people with these diverse backgrounds and diversity on their
functions so be the best you can be and then lifelong learning over every year
or learning you're getting better and better then look for the opportunities
to help integrate the functions and then that's where you'll get into supervision
into management and just appreciate how the functions work together to create
something that neither no one function can do by itself and then really again
in tune with what the leader does and the leader is not gonna be
the expert in any one of those functions the leader now is gonna turn their
attention to what we've been talking about what is the compelling vision what's
to strategy for achieving it what's our relentless implementation plan how do
you run a business plan review it's not you talking I talked the least in a
business plan review because I'm facilitating the meeting I'm ensuring
that everybody is listening paying attention they're following the
behaviors we're getting the issues out in the open and we're getting them all
scheduled in the special attention and that is a leadership skill that every
one of us can learn and it's not widely taught and so you combine that
with fun fundamental program and project management skills and you can use it
whether it's a project or a program or it's a business or it's a CEO or some
countries working together those principles and practices are working
together are good for everything and that would be that be the things that I
would stress if you if you like doing this kind of work and it is really
really fun as you know. Yeah. Well Alan, I don't want to take too much time.
When I listen to you, you know in the 90s people were talking about
Jack Welsh at GE, what I see is that the new leader, the new CEO, he/she should be
like you Alan, it's the future, it's putting people together, being
transparent, creating the culture, being focused on execution
I think you are the Jack Welsh of our times. Well Antonio, that's very nice of
you to say
a few things I learned from my Mother: one is
the purpose of life, she used to tell me, every day, now remember the purpose of
life is to love and be loved in that order and then the next day Antonio
she'd say well you remember that you know to serve is to live and then the
next day she'd say well honey it's nice to be important but it's more important
to be nice. so it really is about talented people working together and
you know doing something for the good, for the greater good.
Thank you very much Alan! You're welcome. Thank you. Keep leading!
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