I’ve read some books on disaster tourism and the collapse of Detroit — Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDeuff and Sixty to Zero by Alex Tayler III are examples of the form.
But there is life, hope, and economic success in Detroit too. There are some who are alive. Who fight, and who want money.
Bryce Hoffman’s American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company is not an objective book. And Hoffman is not an objective author. Icon is clearly written with the cooperation of Alan Mulally and Ford. It is a pean to a genius CEO who notes obvious issues (executives don’t like to say bad things about themselves), implements industry-standard decisions that are de rigeur in many industries (tracking systems that can identify which worker but a specific faulty part in a specific product), and deceives his way to the stop (thru treatment of certain underlines, as well as the entire United Auto Workers).
But my point isn’t to drag Mulally thru the mud. It’s a fact that while Mulally’s American competitors were going bankrupt, Ford was able to ride out the financial storm. Indeed, the only competition that Alan Mullaly’s Ford has for the most innovative, most successful American auto company is certainly Elon Musks’s Tesla. Ford isn’t the leader in hybrids. But it is #2. And like Tesla, it’s building on successes.
It’s unlikely that Mulally will ever be the recipient of a cult like Steve Jobs. But nor is American Icon simply paid publicity, like Who says elephants can’t dance?. Rather, American Icon is like Dean Barrett‘s travel knowledge: proof that the writer is alive, the subject is alive, and all the faults of joys of human struggle are playing out on a healthy subject.
American Icon is a well written book, and Ford seems like a well managed company. In most cities and most industries, this would not be remarkable. But given the collapse of Detroit and the death of General Motors and Chrysler it is a celebration of life.
I read American Icon: Alan Mullaly and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company in the Nook Edition.
