Alan Mulally: The Power Of Working Together
Alan Mulally, former President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, discusses his leadership strategy rooted in "working together" principles and a "culture of love by design." He shares how these values, formed early in life, enabled turnarounds at Boeing and Ford, and how they apply to business and family life.
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Alan Mulally's Early Life and Leadership Formation
Defining an Integrated Life and Its Importance
Decision to Join Ford and Initial Cultural Differences
Introducing 'Working Together' Principles and 'Love by Design' Culture
Overcoming Resistance and Building Trust at Ford
Dealing with Non-Committed Individuals and Behaviors
The Working Together Management System Explained
The Leader's Role in the Working Together System
The Concept of 'Everyone is a Leader'
Applying the Working Together System to Family Life
Family Principles and Teaching Constructive Feedback
Defining Success and Legacy
7 Key Concepts
Integrated Life
A conscious approach to aligning and managing all aspects of one's life—work, family, spiritual, community, health—to serve a unified life's purpose. It requires daily attention to ensure activities reflect what is truly important across all these areas, avoiding sacrifice of one component for another.
Culture of Love by Design
A deliberately created organizational culture built on principles and practices that demonstrate appreciation and respect for all participants and their contributions. It incorporates a reliable process and expected behaviors to collectively achieve a compelling vision, fostering psychological safety and mutual support.
Business Plan Review (BPR)
A weekly meeting where all stakeholders review the strategy and plan status using a color-coded system: green for on-track, yellow for issues with solutions, and red for new issues needing solutions. This process fosters transparency, timely problem-solving, and collective support among team members.
Psychological Safety
An environment created through consistent discipline in process and behaviors, where individuals feel safe to share problems or 'red' items without fear of blame or embarrassment. This safety allows the team to collectively address issues, knowing they will receive support to find solutions.
Working Together Management System
A comprehensive framework for organizational operation comprising five interconnected elements: principles and practices, a governance process, a committed leadership team, a clear creating value roadmap (strategy), and a disciplined business plan review. This system aims to create a culture of psychological safety, continuous improvement, and shared purpose.
Authenticity
The alignment between one's beliefs, values, and behaviors. In a 'working together' system, consistent positive behaviors, even if initially challenging, can gradually shift underlying mindsets, beliefs, and values, leading to genuine authenticity and a more positive way of operating.
Stakeholder-Centered Coaching
A practice where colleagues provide constructive feedback and support to each other based on agreed-upon developmental areas. This approach fosters continuous improvement, personal growth, and mutual accountability within the team, as everyone is aware of and supports each other's development goals.
8 Questions Answered
Alan Mulally's leadership was shaped by his parents' lessons, emphasizing the purpose of life to love and be loved, serving others, seeking to understand before being understood, being nice, and the power of working together to make a positive contribution to many people.
An integrated life means consciously deciding what is important across all life components (work, family, spiritual, community) and ensuring daily activities align with these priorities. It requires regularly checking one's calendar to confirm attention is paid to all important areas, rather than sacrificing one for another.
He was compelled by Bill Ford's request to save an American icon, seeing it as a call to serve, and was encouraged by his family. After reflection, he decided it was where he wanted to serve next, trusting his desire to contribute to a globally impactful company.
He consistently applied the 'working together' principles, particularly the Business Plan Review with color-coded status (red, yellow, green). He clapped for 'red' issues, demonstrating that sharing problems was an opportunity for collective support and problem-solving, not punishment, thereby building psychological safety.
Mulally would have a direct conversation, asking them to reflect on their behavior and its impact on the team. He offered support like coaching if they committed to change, but if they chose not to commit, he would accept their decision to move on, emphasizing that it was 'okay' because it was their choice.
The leader's most important role is to hold themselves and the team accountable for consistently following the system's processes and expected behaviors. This involves leading by example through coaching, facilitating, humility, service, courage, discipline, resilience, civility, authenticity, and maintaining a positive mindset.
Alan Mulally and his wife implemented a weekly 'family meeting' with an agenda that included tidying the house, doing laundry together, reviewing individual calendars for the week, identifying needs for help, and reflecting on agreed-upon family behaviors and principles.
Children are coached to share how they feel and what is important to them, rather than yelling or attacking. An example involved a daughter calmly explaining how a forgotten pickup impacted her, which led to a sincere apology and a commitment to learn from her brother.
51 Actionable Insights
1. Develop an Integrated Life
Integrate all aspects of your life (work, family, spiritual, community, health) into ‘one life’ to deliver your ’life’s work’ (service), ensuring holistic well-being and purpose.
2. Review Calendar Daily
Identify what’s important in each life area and review your calendar daily (morning and night) to ensure activities are integrated and align with your values.
3. Integrate Family into Work
Schedule family commitments (like parent-teacher conferences) directly into your work calendar, ensuring transparency and reliability with your team.
4. Prioritize People First, Love Them
Always put people first by appreciating them as human beings, acknowledging their talent, thanking them, and including them in the process to demonstrate love and respect.
5. Include All Stakeholders
Ensure all relevant stakeholders are represented on the leadership team so their voices, thoughts, and suggestions are included in strategy, planning, and objective accomplishment.
6. Unite Around Compelling Vision
Rally everyone around a meaningful, purposeful, and compelling vision, supported by a comprehensive strategy and a relentless implementation plan for collective achievement.
7. Establish Clear Goals, One Plan
Ensure there are clear performance goals and a single, unified plan that everyone understands and works towards to avoid confusion and misdirection.
8. Base Decisions on Facts, Data
Ground discussions and conclusions in facts and data, even when sharing opinions, especially when addressing issues to collaboratively find effective solutions.
9. Embrace Reality, Expect Issues
Share the reality of the situation weekly, including opportunities and issues, expecting the unexpected and being prepared to deal with it transparently.
10. Celebrate and Support Red Issues
View ‘red’ (problematic) items as valuable ‘gems’ to be shared, and respond with applause and offers of collective support to turn them into yellows and greens.
11. Uphold Expected Behaviors
Maintain zero tolerance for violating expected behaviors such as proposing a plan, being positive, having a find-a-way attitude, respecting, listening, helping, and appreciating each other.
12. Cultivate Emotional Resilience
Develop emotional resilience, trusting the working together process to navigate issues in creative and innovative endeavors, and to turn ‘reds’ into ‘greens’.
13. Enjoy the Journey, Each Other
Make time to have fun, enjoy the journey of creating products and services, and appreciate the company of your colleagues to foster a positive environment.
14. Start Day with Gratitude, Help
Begin each day by expressing gratitude and offering help to business partners or colleagues, fostering a supportive and collaborative mindset.
15. Enforce Zero Tolerance
Maintain strict zero tolerance for any violations of the established operating process (e.g., business plan review, stakeholder inclusion) and expected behaviors.
16. Leaders: Model and Enforce System
Leaders must lead by example and hold themselves and the team accountable for consistently following all elements of the working together management system.
17. Adopt Coaching Leadership Style
As a leader, shift from telling people what to do to coaching and facilitating, focusing on aligning the team and leveraging their collective knowledge.
18. Lead with Core Virtues
Lead with humility, love, service, courage, discipline, resilience, civility, and authenticity, ensuring your behaviors align with your beliefs and values, and maintaining a positive mindset.
19. Protect Psychological Safety
Actively prevent behaviors that undermine psychological safety, such as attacking others or rhetorical questions, as these reduce commitment to transparency and open sharing.
20. Maintain Strict Discipline
Adhere to a strict, consistent discipline for regular meetings and processes (e.g., weekly 7-9 AM business reviews) to build reliability and trust within the team.
21. Dedicate Time to Explain Principles
When introducing new principles or cultural shifts, dedicate significant time (e.g., hours a day for weeks) to explain them and answer individual questions to ensure understanding and buy-in.
22. Offer Exit with Dignity
When someone cannot commit to core principles and behaviors, offer a respectful ‘it’s okay to move on’ option, emphasizing continued respect for them as a person.
23. Provide Behavioral Support
For those willing to commit to new behaviors, offer coaching and support to help them develop, acknowledging their existing knowledge and potential.
24. Encourage Reflection on Commitment
Give individuals time to reflect, discuss with trusted loved ones, and then make a conscious decision about their commitment to new principles.
25. Model Desired Behaviors
Recognize that behavioral change takes time; consistently model desired behaviors and provide a safe environment for others to observe, learn, and gradually adopt them.
26. Allow ‘Start Again’ Moments
Create a culture where individuals can acknowledge a misstep, apologize, and be given the chance to ‘start again’ with the correct behavior, fostering learning and forgiveness.
27. Include All Disciplines
Structure leadership teams to include representatives from every relevant discipline to ensure comprehensive understanding, avoid information silos, and foster collective ownership.
28. Ensure Full Organizational Coverage
Design leadership structures so that every person in the organization reports up through one of the leadership team members, ensuring no one is left out and communication flows effectively.
29. Maintain Tight Review Schedule
Conduct business plan reviews on a very tight schedule, focusing on changes and offers to help, knowing that the team will reconvene weekly for continuous updates.
30. Ban Devices for Presence
Enforce a strict no-device policy during meetings to ensure full presence, respect for the organization and colleagues, and active participation from everyone.
31. Prioritize Personal Character
Understand that your character and who you are as a person are more critical to your success than anything else you do.
32. Seek Understanding First
Prioritize understanding others’ perspectives before attempting to make your own understood, fostering better communication and empathy.
33. Prioritize Niceness Over Importance
Remember that being nice is more important than being important, guiding your interactions and character in all situations.
34. Embrace Service Mindset
Adopt ’to serve is to live’ as a personal strategy, finding fulfillment and opportunities through serving others.
35. Work Together for Impact
Collaborate with others to maximize positive contributions to the most people, leveraging collective effort for greater good.
36. Commit to Continuous Growth
Engage in lifelong learning and continuous improvement, and always respect everyone as worthy of love, fostering personal and collective development.
37. Reflect on Decisions
After thorough consideration and making a decision, pause to reflect on how you feel about it before fully committing and acting, to ensure alignment.
38. Assess Others with Three Questions
When meeting someone, ask yourself: 1) Who are they as a person (I vs. We, Me vs. Service)? 2) Where are we going (vision, strategy)? 3) Do they see me (respect, interest)?
39. Prioritize Love and Be Loved
Remember that the purpose of life is to love and then be loved, emphasizing giving love first.
40. Live Without Regrets
Make decisions now to avoid future regrets, focusing on contributing to something bigger than yourself and continuously striving for improvement.
41. Implement 360 Feedback
Annually conduct 360-degree feedback using all stakeholders and colleagues to identify one or two specific behaviors, character traits, or skills for improvement, fostering individual and team growth.
42. Foster Welcomed Feedback
Create an environment where feedback is desired and easily given because expectations are clear, and everyone knows what specific areas their colleagues are working to improve.
43. Prioritize Safety for Feedback
Recognize that genuine feedback (both receiving and giving) thrives only in an environment of psychological safety, where individuals feel respected and secure.
44. Hold Weekly Family Meetings
Implement a weekly family meeting, ideally on a consistent day (e.g., Sunday morning), with a clear agenda to discuss family matters.
45. Pre-Meeting House Tidy-Up
Before the family meeting, have everyone (including parents) participate in a collective tidy-up of the house, returning personal items to their designated places.
46. Collective Laundry Sorting
After tidying, everyone brings their laundry to a central location and collectively sorts it, making the task quicker and more equitable.
47. Weekly Calendar Review
During the family meeting, each family member (even young children) reviews their calendar for the upcoming week and identifies areas where they need help or support from others.
48. Review Family Behaviors
Regularly reflect on agreed-upon family behaviors and principles, inviting suggestions for improvement from all members to foster growth and contribution.
49. Share Impactful Actions
Establish a family principle that members must share in advance any actions that could either embarrass or make the family proud, fostering transparency.
50. Give Feedback Respectfully
When giving feedback, focus on sharing how you feel about a situation or behavior, rather than yelling or attacking, to maintain respect and facilitate understanding.
51. Incentivize Meeting Attendance
Link positive incentives, such as allowances, to attendance and participation in family meetings to ensure consistent engagement.
6 Key Quotes
The purpose of life is to love and be loved, but remember, in that order.
Alan Mulally's Mom
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Alan Mulally's Dad
By working together with others, you can make the most positive contribution to the most people.
Alan Mulally's Parents
You're not red. It's your item's red. Thanks for sharing that. Now, we all can work together to help you and us turn the reds to yellows to green.
Alan Mulally
When you meet somebody, you always have three questions. One, who are you as a person? ... The second question is, you're the leader. Where are we going? ... Then you got the third question is, Shane, do you see me?
Alan Mulally
Once you've seen the light, once you felt the heat, the warmth of operating this way, you're never going to go back.
Alan Mulally
2 Protocols
Business Plan Review (BPR)
Alan Mulally- Meet weekly with all stakeholders, typically for 1.5 to 2 hours.
- The leader provides an introduction to the company's vision, strategy, and overall plan status.
- Each team member presents their area's contribution to the strategy and plan.
- Team members color-code the status of their plan: Green (on plan), Yellow (issue with a solution), or Red (new issue, working on solution).
- The team collectively offers help and support to address 'red' and 'yellow' issues.
- Maintain zero tolerance for violating the process or expected behaviors.
Weekly Family Meeting
Alan Mulally- After mass on Sunday morning, gather for a family meeting.
- Everyone goes around the house, picks up their belongings, and returns them to their cubby or room.
- Everyone gathers their laundry and takes it to the laundry room.
- All family members sort the laundry together on the kitchen table.
- Each family member brings their calendar and describes their plans for the upcoming week.
- Family members identify any needs for help (e.g., taxi service, cheerleading).
- Reflect on agreed-upon family behaviors and principles, offering suggestions for improvement.
- Distribute allowances (as the final agenda item).