Ford’s new CEO Jim Hackett talks to Ideo founder David Kelley and Ideo CEO Tim Brown. In his previous job as the CEO of furniture maker Steelcase, Hackett worked closely with Kelley, who introduced him to design thinking as a mode of running a business. [Photo: courtesy Ford]
Jim Hackett was raised on Ideo’s brand of design thinking. Can he use it to save the 114-year-old automotive giant?
In April 2017, the Ford Motor Company–114 years old, the second largest carmaker in the country behind General Motors, a stalwart of American manufacturing–was suddenly worth less than 14-year-old Tesla. As the New York Times wrote at the time, investors were betting on the future; Ford, in that sense, was history.
The company’s stock has fallen nearly 40% since 2014. With investors grumbling, Ford’s board ousted CEO Mark Fields and appointed Jim Hackett. Hackett, who has turned around flailing companies, including the furniture manufacturer Steelcase, is an executive raised on the gospel of Ideo’s design thinking, where Post-it brainstorming, user testing, and quick prototyping are the keys to success. He wants Ford to shape the future of transportation at a time when younger, more agile companies are jockeying to do the same–and he thinks design will be the crucial differentiator.
We’re living in a time of unprecedented change in transportation. Personal automobiles dominated for decades. But now people are buying fewer cars and some are skipping the expense all together. Ride sharing has become a billion dollar industry, driven by aggressive companies like Uber and Lyft. Self-driving cars are looming on the horizon as traditional carmakers and tech companies rush to be the first on the road–without killing anyone. Ford is operating within this fiercely competitive landscape; and while it might not be the first to sell an autonomous vehicle, it can’t afford to be left in the dust.
Hackett clearly understands this urgency; before being appointed CEO, he was the chairman of Ford Smart Mobility, a subsidiary focused on self-driving cars. He also understands Ford’s existing value proposition–and how design can make it more salient. People trust Ford’s ability to keep them safe in their vehicles, he says–and they’ll continue to have faith in the company’s ability to integrate technology in the smartest way. “I think the understanding of humans in our product is an advantage,” Hackett says. “People are expecting us to interpret technology for their advantage. It’s like a translator. Isn’t design about great translation?”