In 2005, Bill Ford saw the writing on the wall: “We can continue to cut costs and improve our efficiency, but we cannot win the hearts and minds of a new generation with efficiency alone.” The board brought in Alan Mulally as CEO. Mulally had been in charge of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division and had overseen the development of the 777, one of the safest, most advanced, most financially successful passenger planes ever created. He attributed the project’s success to a management approach called “working together” that involved forcing interaction between previously separate groups and
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