At his first town hall meeting as Ford Motor Co.'s CEO, Alan Mulally said corporate strategy would be devised by the people running the Blue Oval business — not, he implied, by a policy shop paid big money to think big thoughts.
His successor, Mark Fields, has a different take for a different time. Unlike the existential threat that Mulally inherited in 2006, the profitable company Fields leads now faces competitive threats posed by technology-fueled change, the innovation it drives and how it promises to reshape consumer behavior.
In a series of high-profile moves, Fields is doing something his predecessor seldom did during the epic turnaround of Ford: recruiting high-level outside talent to help operating executives navigate competitive threats and identify opportunities for the Dearborn automaker.
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