Alan Mulally: Navigating the trickiest road

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Fortune magazine profiles Ford’s chief honcho Alan Mulally to see why he’s the auto industry’s best bet to still be standing after the recession ends. What we see is a man driven to know the small details of a complex industry and in nearly three years on the job, keeping the giant on course.

The Mulally we see is an outsider from Boeing, who shakes up the status quo with his simple questions (“Where’s the Taurus?”) and demanding managers flag problems in meetings -- as opposed to glossing over them with smiles and sunshine.

He takes responsibility for keeping government bailout money away from Ford’s coffers by strategic divestitures and loans that help keep the nation’s No. 2 automaker in business. While it remains to be seen if moves like bringing European Fords here, selling off Land Rover and Jaguar and letting Mercury wither will do the job, Mulally comes across as focused and adept at getting the job done right.

He is probing and cajoling to prove his point. And the numbers seem to be backing him up. Stock prices are up fivefold since November and retail market share is trending upward. In another time he might have been the kid in class who stumps the teacher, but now he’s responsible for insuring an industrial giant is around by the time he retires.

-- Doug Stewart