Q&A: Ex-Ford CEO Alan Mulally on Google, 3D printing

Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally, who led Ford's turnaround during the Great Recession, said he has stayed involved in both the automotive industry and the aerospace industry as consultant and as a member of the board for both Google and 3D printing company Carbon 3D.

"It really is amazing -- the convergence between digital technology and everything that is being touched by it," Mulally told the Detroit Free Press in a rare interview.

Mulally changed the culture at Ford from internal divisions and back-stabbing to a unified team that embraced Mulally's "One Ford" overhaul plan.

On Thursday night Mulally will be inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in metro Detroit, along with pioneering consumer advocate Ralph Nader and Roy Lunn, godfather of the original Ford GT40.

"I think his greatest achievement was the culture shift he brought to Ford," Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said in an e-mail to the Free Press. "Alan’s genuine interest in people really transcended everything we did and largely was the reason everyone rallied behind him because they could see he was an authentic leader that cared about people and the business."

Mulally retired from Ford on July 1, 2014, after serving as president and CEO for nearly eight years. Since then, the automaker has become more profitable than it has been in years with CEO Mark Fields at the helm. Mulally joined Ford in September 2006 after a 37-year career at Boeing.

At the time, industry analysts wondered if an executive from outside the automotive industry who loved aviation was the right answer for Ford. But the doubters turned out to be wrong.

"About six months into the job, I knew we had him emotionally when he stopped doodling airplanes and he started doodling cars," Bill Ford said.

Mulally, now 70, said he has been enjoying retirement. It's given him more time to be with his wife and kids and more time to play tennis and golf.

But he also has remains busy and is just as passionate as ever about his time at Ford. What follows is a conversation with Mulally about Google, self-driving cars and the secret to changing a company's culture. The conversation has been edited for  clarity and brevity:

You retired two years ago. What have you been doing with your time?

Well, I have been on the Google board and I am also on the Carbon 3D board, which is a company that is on the leading edge of 3D printing ... We can actually make parts off of the digital data set that is in the cloud and not have to have all of the tooling. So that’s been like just a dream come true to help them out with that.

Google is part of an industry that is very different than either Boeing or Ford — which are both manufacturers. What has that experience been like for you?

It’s been really fun...the convergence between digital technology and everything that is being touched by it ... including commercial airplanes, aerospace and automotive ... and yet it’s really different. Google is really committed to improving everything. So it has really fun to participate in all of their different moonshots.

Google, of course, is very involved in developing autonomous cars. Beyond being a board member, are you involved with Google's Self-Driving Car Project?

I think it’s not useful for me to be talking about Google and its board meetings.

More generally, the development of autonomous vehicles has taken center stage in the automotive industry since you retired. What is your view about the potential for autonomous vehicles?

I think that we will continue to use new sensor capability and also digital processing and satellite-based navigation guidance and control (in the automotive industry). All of those technologies — especially as we drive down the cost of those technologies that are available — are all going to be able to be used as enabling technology to further improve safe and efficient transportation around the world whether they are automobiles or airplanes.

Do you miss the automotive industry? Do you miss being in the middle of the action?

Well, with the things I am involved with, with 3D printing and Google, I am still very much involved in the aerospace industry and the auto industry.

Bill Ford said your biggest contribution at Ford was changing the culture. What is the secret to successfully changing the culture of a large company?

What I found over the years is the most important thing is for a team to come together over a compelling vision, a comprehensive strategy for achieving that vision and then a relentless implementation plan.

What happens is that process, of doing that and then also agreeing on expected behaviors ... drives the change. Once you start your business plan reviews … then your culture will just naturally evolve, because you are together every week, and you help each other… And so, I think it’s that, the process, in addition to expected behaviors that allowed us to really accelerate the cultural change."

What was the single toughest decision you made while at Ford?

We looked at reality. ...The house of brands Ford had, we were losing market share… . And so, the decisions that we made were decisions we thought would not only save Ford but also transform Ford and deliver a profitable, growing sustainable company.

Ford, unlike General Motors and Chrysler, did not file for bankruptcy. But why not? Bankruptcy allows companies to restructure much faster than companies that do not. Wouldn't bankruptcy have made it easier?

Well, maybe. But we thought the best way for us was to not (file for bankruptcy) because we had the plan financed, we also were well on our way to transforming Ford, and we knew that people were going to really believe in Ford by doing it the right way, by creating a viable company on our own.

Was it also critical for Ford to stay out of bankruptcy and find its way forward without federal emergency loans to protect the Ford family's control over the company?

We were not a failed enterprise, we did not need to go into bankruptcy. And clearly the right thing to do for us, in our case, was to continue to implement the One Ford Plan and not to take precious taxpayer dollars.

Follow Detroit Free Press reporter Brent Snavely on Twitter @BrentSnavely.