Inside Ford Finance Staff | Steve Mariotti

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looked frightened and busy. I was a subordinate grade 7 analyst and Henry was the top grade at 30

and the major owner. His ideas were legendary calling for the creation of team meetings and the

concept of self-improvement known as Kaizen. We soon became friends. Let me talk to John Sagan

"(VP Treasurer)

This was good news. By the time I was ten, I managed to identify all the makes of cars on Pontiac

Trail, my home street. I could hear myself breathing. Wearing cologne, I smelled nice. I practiced

the skill of listening by looking at myself in my mirror without moving my lips. My managers closed

their doors and everything went stone cold quiet.

There was Mr. Two weeks later, my supervisors Don Orthner and Bruce Blythe and a nice man from

personnel, James Beurgoney told me to leave. Deming's concept of Kaizen was used by Japanese's

car companies to improve quality.

Subtle changes took place. One student set fire to a coat in the class. It was essentially a training

ground for America's top management including J.D. Then I went outside and walked around The

Glass House, Ford's World Headquarters totally unaware that everyone could witness my agony.

My orders were to vacate the building by 5 pm that same day and report to my old job. The company

was building a case to fire him.

Both Mr. He always supported me in my efforts as the analyst of South Africa to raise issues about

Ford's foreign policies with Governments.

In 1982, I was a failing remedial math teacher. Working closely with top bankers such as Landon

Hilliard of Brown Brothers Harriman, we did Ford's first bankers' acceptances, a financing

technique where you can borrow at a lower rate. Bank transfers from overseas financial institutions

to our company were traditionally held for at least one day by each transfer agent. My memos werehonest and outspoken. Within a few months, most of my students stopped showing up.

My frustration and sense of failure grew along with that deep feeling of losing control. This was not

the Ford Motor Company where I worked as a successful financial analyst. Designers were seldom

allowed to attend meetings at Headquarters. So if you borrowed for 180 days, they divided by 360

not 365. My appointment leaped frogged over older and more traditional MBA's. I ran down the

streets of Flint in pure joy. I was determined to create new products and help keep it, the greatest

company on earth.

Armed with an MBA, majoring in finance and business economics, the auto giant's Casting Division,

with $2 billion in sales, hired me as the assistant to the controller in 1976.

This division was the heart of the company's manufacturing. Soon afterwards, I was put on

probation. Everything, here, stemmed from profit. I want another chance. "You did make money and

Henry knows who you are--Strong arguments. At Finance, I took lots of liberties including wrangling

myself into high-level meetings with executives.

At every opportunity I would corral a senior executive in the halls or request a meeting with them.

I would always run compulsively in an excited state between meetings at full speed creating quite a

stir within the company. The process drove many decisions in personnel and policy. Many of my



Taking a deep breath, I knew it was adapt or die. A group of "Whiz Kids", former World War 11 Air

force officers, joined World Headquarters in 1946. More staff meetings were added. I was proud of

my contribution in this area. I wanted to be part of this world.

It was clear to me that positions in finance and marketing were key stepping stones to the

president's office. In many ways it was more influential than working in the State Department as we

would move millions of dollars daily around the world.

Studying Kissinger and Metternich's policies and techniques along with my in-depth knowledge of

the car industry, led to my appointment as lead analyst for Ford's South African, Venezuelan,

Mexican, and Aerospace Divisions which made highly sensitive equipment for foreign governments.

My job description included working with each of these wholly-owned affiliates, reviewing their

financial plans/business plans, arranging financing from our banks, and minimizing our exchange

risk management.

I also spent hours reading financial articles on currencies and thinking of legal ways to bring capital

back to Detroit in the form of dividends. It was painful to leave Ford.

My car was parked in the very last row behind the building. A senior analyst was equivalent to an

army first lieutenant, and there I am raising policy issues with generals. I knew that Henry Ford

would agree with me. He leaned over and yelled. Edward Deming, the world's leading guru on

innovative quality products and control. My insights covered most of our department's costs. Some

stood at the back of the room.

Over weeks, the class went from unruly to worse.

Sometimes, they locked me out of the classroom. In the evenings and every Sunday I would read,think and write trying to find new ideas to help the company.

Mayer talked about the Lombard Rate. I remember on one occasion, we brought 2 designers to a

meeting. In retrospect I do not know what I was thinking. My first review was unsatisfactory. Power,

Alan Gilmour and many others. My comparative advantage was reading and writing memos with new

ideas. My Bedford-Stuyvesant students become the beneficiaries of my Ford education. This begged

for some sort of promotion, I thought. Right after showing her the adjusted pages, I returned to my

cubicle on the 10th floor. Modern bankers never told you about it. There in the window on the 11th

floor two senior executives--Dennis Green and George Frame--supporters of my radical

presentations-- lined up to salute me.

1 - Iacocca, Lee. This new financial analysis saved the company $480,000 a year.

When we got into financial trouble, the company saved $3 million a year. Aerodynamic cars traveled

with greater speed and lower energy usage. My competitors were jealous but intrigued by my rapid

turnaround.

My assignment as the coordinator/financial analyst was to put together the financial books every

month and deliver them to the Senior Vice Presidents on the 12th floor. My posture changed and I

stood up straighter than a marine.

After a sleepless night, Ford gave me back my old job. Unaware of the chain of command, I walked

up to the 12th floor, the offices of Henry Ford, II and Iacocca and requested to speak to a Senior VP.



Within three months, Sidney Kelly, the Company Secretary met with me. One day, my father a

financial analyst in the Ypsilanti plant turned to me sadly and said. When he was strip-searched in

'74 in South Africa because he was black, he wrote The Sullivan Principles, a code of ethics for

companies doing business overseas to avoid a repetition of this incident

In '77, we corresponded. "I make money. Buying entirely new wardrobe, I learned to iron. I was now

25.

Then, I touched a raw nerve. Often, my judgments were immature.

In one case, the overhead allocations for different projects and car lines started to change. Ford. On

my first day, the International Finance Department assigned me to their Foreign Desk. This was the

new me. I called and wrote letters to senior management about my research at the Castings

Division. It was widely believed that Henry Ford would go out to lunch and on the way back would

stop his car take out the latest wiretapping equipment and see if he could hear the hated Iacocca

speaking in his office.

My first year was a disaster. I began my counter attack. My services were requested repeatedly as

the Finance Subcommittee representative to make presentations to higher management. John Sagan

had taken a real liking to me, and Ford was fair. These policies placed the blame on individuals for

petty and minor things. This started several hundred years ago. This was not Small Business

America where I had excelled as an entrepreneur.

One day in class, on impulse, an inspirational thought hit me. I was a loyal Ford Motor fan and

followed every move of lee Iacocca's career. These savings to Ford were huge.

I had made Ford money with Hillard's help. We were permitted to discuss any issues without been

fired. 'Why not connect their math class using real world business examples?' I held up my watch asa sales item for a mock auction which included a "Trading Game" to demonstrate the basic concept

of buying and selling.

To my amazement, they began to learn the basics of math.

My knowledge of business principles helped modify these kid's behavior and entrepreneurship

education changed the structure of their psyche. I felt that the 12 story glass-covered Ford offices

were Mecca. Counting the number of Fords, Chryslers and GM cars, I posted on my wall weekly tally

sheets. "If you ever break the chain of command again you little twerp I will fire you on the spot" I

almost fell over as he turned and walked away. Having participated in three Face offs, I understoodtheir value. When bankers calculate interest, they use 360 days as a denominator. Page 118.

. He knows who I am and called me 'Stevie the Wonder' at the board meetings."

There was long pause. I steeled myself and walked into my supervisor's office and asked for another

chance. W. Ford was doing business with a racist South African Government. Robert McNamara, a

Finance Staff member and former company president, became Secretary of Defense under Kennedy.

Other than Harvard's Business School, this global giant had produced more CEOs of Fortune 500

firms than any other organization. With the help of Henry Ford, II, they transformed the companyinto a modern-day wonder of management.

They occupied the 10th and 11th floors of World Headquarters. You talk too much and do not listen.



Leapfrogging over all the divisions, I landed the most coveted job in finance for a young MBA from

the Midwest. It also gave them the tools to get out of poverty and stay in school.

This led to me creating a business literacy curriculum at this inner-city school which later became

the genesis of (NFTE) the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, now a world-wide movement

which I founded in 1987.

I grew up and worked in the "AUTO BELT" in Michigan. My last link to power was gone. Tall and

charismatic he was typical of the Ivy leaguers that ran Ford.

All summer long, I helped Case and our team forecast what was going to happen with the large

scorching ovens. I hoped this observation would help them reconcile their differences.

My efforts soon blew up in my face. Our treasury department was guaranteed its funds in U.S dollars

if there was devaluation.

Since my handwriting was so bad, I was permitted to read, do research and attend meetings. The

lack of consistency concerned me. During my second year of graduate school, I broke every company

protocol to secure a position in International Finance at Ford's Headquarters.

My waking moments were consumed with impressing management with my proven performance in

research. I had my second chance. However, I was shocked by their indifference.

The Reverend Leon Sullivan, an African-American preacher served as a board member of General

Motors. This impacted on the numbers as to whether or not a project was profitable. You just do not

fit in. There is no chance. As it happened, the company did later adopt my recommendations in

quality and personnel based on Deming's work. Known as Steve The Wonder, my high profile soon

became a dark threat which I was oblivious to.

Ending apartheid was not my job. Iacocca: An Autobiography. I was never able to directly

communicate with him. While teaching in the New York City school system, I launched NFTE. They

dressed perfectly and were on average five years older. You're making our department look bad. I

worked on appearing serious and keeping a poker face. I learned that corporate culture was

important and to ignore it was to invite disaster. "Son, I am never going to move up here -- it is just

too competitive and the Ivy Leaguers work as a club."

We soon re-located to Flint where he became a professor at General Motors Institute (GMI) now

known as Kettering University. There was something wrong with the overhead allocations. Iacocca'ssecretary. At 24, I did not know how to dress, wore dirty ties and old suits that did not fit well. I was

unaware of the hatred between them. I also met with Gerald Greenwald who became chairman of

United Airlines

Inside Ford Finance Staff | Steve Mariotti

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