Not only do they lack vision and direction, but they are also incredibly slow to react to the developments in the world around them. I'm honestly terrified of what next year will bring. I have absolutely no confidence that they will successfully adapt to the current circumstances, let alone come up with great ideas that could move us forward.
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The number of people on this post on Christmas and the Christmas holidays show the collective concern for the future of Ford.
Ford do not have any leadership.
I agree @OP, FMC has no leaders, and the ship is sinking. The question in everyone's minds is... how long before the ship goes down? Some people are betting on hanging until retirement, some are thinking of milking the company to the last moment, some are already looking for their next job.
Ford is a big company, and we are still selling trucks. The !mbeciles at the top managed to get the company in huge debt during the good times, now we are not ready for the upcoming bad times. However, it seems the Feds are cutting rates again, so we may have another Sears in our hands now, dying a slow death with low interest rate borrowing.
I am not a betting man, but still I am betting whatever little remains of my career in 2 things:
1- BF will cut the company very harsh, including the BEV dreams, when faced with the bankruptcy of the company.
2- The ICE truck "division" will still be a money maker for several years to come.
Therefore, the company may limp several years more, enough for me to retire, or at least, get close enough that I could "lay low in unemployment" for a while before retirement.
Since I am an engineer in Ford Blue, my biggest danger is outsourcing/layoffs. I am hoping my team will stay around a few more years, since it has been cut very deep in the past, and managers are not planning on hiring more people, making "indispensable" the few of us remaining. Of course I know no one is indispensable, but our value has gone up due to the scarcity in the company.
I believe that I could be still employed at this company for 3 more years, maybe more. Just in case, my resume is already polished, and I am working on new skills, because nobody knows the future. One additional detail, so you don't think that I am betting on one pony. I am sitting in a pile of cash (like Berkshire under Warren Buffett), waiting to see what happens next. Maybe I can retire earlier than I thought, if the economy goes upside down.
Good luck!
I place 100% responsibility on the family. The BoD is a formality for public trading. The family has the voting control, the family has the last say. If they weren’t so damn busy being trust fund kiddos and buying up defunct real estate like the monopoly guy, maybe this company would have a chance at true greatness. The last one that truly had that was WCF senior, and before him his brother HF2. Now: it’s a bunch of money su-king, virtue signaling nitwits, who couldn’t care less about what keeps the company in business. Like Bill Ford bad mouthing large SUVs when it’s the reason the company made so much money. They let this clown Farley and before him Hackett run a muck and act pretty much indifferent to it. Bill didn’t even have the ba--s to say Hackett was fired. Passive aggressive BS per the norm. Unfortunately, this company is their play thing. The family is also experts at running people off who were beneficial but deemed too big and felt their glory was diminished. Well, I will tell the family one thing: you want glory? Fu--ing earn it!!! Go to the fu--ing plants, have impromptu visits to the numerous facilities around the world. Know what your company does. Until they walk the talk expect this company to be on the perpetual slide.
Farley is a marketing guy and marketing is all about lying, hiding the warts, deflection and misrepresentation. Why is everybody surprised that we are in such bad shape? BS is in his DNA.
The issue with Farley is he’s been able to dodge and mask his faults pre-CEO. Now there’s nowhere to run. He can’t just move on to another position. Instead, he has to sit in his own sh-t. Deflecting blame to employees is all he’s got and reinforces his key flaw in leadership. All leadership teams at the most senior levels are by nature filled with sh--s but with few exceptions, ours is worse because it’s led by someone who is soulless and flawed to such a degrees it’s the main source for Ford’s issues. When does the emperor get told he’s na--d?
They need to fix the past
Its to late, to far gown for a turnaround. place has one foot in the grave and other on a banana peal.
You know, I often blame Bill for the disaster the company has become. And the quality mess. It's easy to. But we really need to point the finger at the BOD. They are a bunch of clowns who have failed and been failing for years now. Probably the worst group of know nothings in the auto business.
Zero confidence for a while here. JF seems to squirm out of every bad decision he makes, blames employees, where does the buck stop exactly? Morale is in the toilet, good BoDs change a leader long before you get to this point. Whoever is up next, priority one needs to be rebuilding trust of management and gsr ranks.