Alan Mulally's Engine
Humility, Love, and Service for the Greater Good
His parents' foundational wisdom of life shaped the principles that drove Alan Mulally, America's greatest leader as ranked by Fortune magazine, to do the "impossible" at Boeing and Ford. Now he explains how they can help you, also.
Read and listen.
Alan Mulally’s Leadership in Pictures
The Engine Under the Hood’s dream team starts with Alan Mulally. Many prestigious arbiters of success have sung his praises, his box scores at Boeing and Ford are astonishing by any yardstick, and I doubt it’s coincidental that since Google added him to its board as an independent director the company’s value has risen nearly ten-fold.
Alan’s life work is a testament to the extraordinary power of principled leadership. He consistently leads with humility, love, and service for the Greater Good.
An engineer by training, Alan especially shines in the teamwork department. The United Autoworkers loved working with him because he was all about the team, and his actions prove that he means it when he says, “It’s an honor and a privilege to serve.” He’s somehow able to facilitate and enable the best in everyone, and bring us together into a grand symphony of synergy. Whenever Alan was seen on the factory floor, smiling while poking his head inside a huge jet engine—his message was: anything is possible. And his authentic humility helped remind people that it was okay to expect and deal with issues along the way while creating great things.
In 2001, the year Alan was tapped to lead the commercial airplane division, Boeing’s annual report stated that the company will remain “focused on one fundamental proposition—to connect and protect people.” This is a terrific mission statement.
Did Alan faithfully execute his mission? You betcha! At both Boeing and Ford. Billions of people have flown safely because of why he did what he did. Billions more have safely driven trillions of miles. Loved ones have connected across numerous time zones, economically. The wheels of commerce have hummed, employing millions. First responders have arrived in time to save lives and homes. People in their 70s, 80s and 90s whose 401K plans had invested in Boeing and Ford have benefitted greatly.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes and the Ford Motor Company are two of the most storied icons in the history of business. When Alan was brought in to serve, the climates could hardly have been worse. First at Boeing, taking the helm at the world’s largest commercial airplane-maker shortly before the 9/11 terrorist attacks halted air travel, and then rescuing and reviving it. And then at Ford, rescuing and reviving a sprawling global manufacturer of durable consumer goods in the teeth of The Great Recession.
That’s when Alan first came to my attention: in early 2008, when he was the only CEO of The Big Three automakers to say “Thanks but no thanks” when a U.S. Senator asked if Ford needed a federal bailout. I saw him on TV in a Lexus service lounge while waiting for my supposedly flawless Japanese car to get fixed. What really struck me was his confident but not at all cocky response to the lawmaker’s non sequitur: “Would you consider taking a pay cut?” to which he responded: “I’m good, Senator.”
Ford’s history magnifies the scale of Alan’s challenge, courage and accomplishment. When he arrived in Detroit in the fall of 2006, the firm was on its way to posting the biggest loss in its 103-year history.
The lawmakers were astounded when he declined federal assistance. The pundits at BusinessWeek and elsewhere said Alan didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell. He proved them wrong: Ford roared back from being on life support to being best in class in terms of myriad key benchmarks, including being the number one brand in the United States.
How did he pull it off? What was his principled leadership philosophy? Though he held bachelor's and master's degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Kansas, and was a prestigious Sloan Fellow at MIT (ironically funded by none other than Alfred Sloan, the ex-CEO of Ford’s arch-rival, General Motors), where he added a master’s in management science, that wasn’t all of it. What Alan held nearest and dearest to his heart were his parents’ profound “Working Together” principles and practices, wise advice, and teachings:
Principle 1. The purpose of life is to love and be loved, in that order.
Our purpose is not to harm, exploit or manipulate, but to treat others how we would want to be treated. It’s not an intellectual-mental notion but a soulful-empathic one, borne of the heart, as expressed by the great servant-leader Abraham Lincoln: “When I do good, I feel good, and when I do bad, I feel bad; that’s my religion.” The sequence is key: as our warmth flows out to another, we ourselves are warmed; even before the reciprocal love, that almost always flows in return.
Principle 2. To serve is to live.
Living isn’t about luxuriating, recreating, cogitating or praying, but serving the Greater Good by providing something needed by one of life’s fellow stakeholders, whether it be blue jeans, blueberry preserves, or Boeing jets. The power of this principle was incarnate in the lives of Joan of Arc, Nelson Mandela, Frances Hesselbein, and many others who have lived life to their fullest, overcoming what most felt were impossible odds. And Mandela’s beaming smile told the world: serving is fun!
Principle 3. Seek to understand before seeking to be understood.
This principle is brilliant and effective, because if we have the humility to listen and learn from each other, we can come together around a common understanding. The result is that our understanding is much stronger and more effective, so we can align and move forward together.
Principle 4. It’s nice to be important, but more important to be nice.
Nice moves mountains. Jesus showered outcasts with kindness, humbly refusing seats of honor. Hinges of History author Thomas Cahill says of life’s most consequential forces: “[T]here are only two real powers: kindness, and cruelty.” Being nice is right, and a powerful motivator.
Principle 5. By “Working Together” with others, you can make the most positive contribution to the most people.
Collaborative and respectful teamwork, focused on a comprehensive strategy to deliver a compelling vision, stimulates synergy. With this powerful “Working Together” synergy, we can deliver the most positive contribution to create value for all of the stakeholders and the Greater Good.
Principle 6. Expect the unexpected and expect to deal with it.
None of us can foresee the future in its entirety. This contingency mindset principle—to expect the unexpected and expect to deal with our reality in a positive way—significantly reduces individual and team stress and enables us to focus on solutions and move forward together. Many families and other social organizations have survived hard times by adhering to this one principle.
Principle 7. Lifelong learning and continuous improvement.
By humbly pairing these two practices into one principle, we are enabling continuously looking at ourselves and our changing world, and encouraging and embracing feedback and suggestions for improvement. When we embrace this principle, we are continuously improving how we serve the Greater Good.
Principle 8. Respect everyone. We are all creatures of God and worthy to be loved.
Respect opens the door to love. When people are loved and respected, they feel safe and secure, and when they do, they reciprocate, and their cognitive and emotional energy drives extraordinarily positive results.
Principle 9. Develop one integrated life to deliver your life’s work.
Our one Integrated Life includes all aspects of our Life’s Service, including our family life, our spiritual life, our community life, our occupation life, and our personal life. This is our Life’s Work. And everyone knows and appreciates that our Life’s Work is our Love Made Visible.
Though Alan knows better than most there’s no “I” in “team,” he also knows everyone has special gifts and skills. On The Engine Under the Hood’s all-star team, he’s chief facilitator and coach of value creation and growth for all of the stakeholders and the Greater Good, as set forth in his highly successful “Working Together”© Leadership and Management System.
Sources & Recommended Readings
Nine conversations and scores of emails between April and December 2022.
Work Is Love Made Visible: A Collection of Essays About the Power of Finding Your Purpose from the World’s Greatest Thought Leaders, Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, Sarah McArthur, foreword Alan Mulally.
“A Conversation with Alan Mulally about His “Working Together”© Strategic, Operational, and Stakeholder-Centered Management System,” Alan Mulally and Sarah McArthur, Leader to Leader, Volume 104.
The Extraordinary Power of Leader Humility: Thriving Organizations - Great Results, foreword and chapter by Alan Mulally about how leader humility enables and nurtures effective working together by great teams, Marilyn Gist, PhD.
Lessons from Leaders, Marshall Goldsmith, Sam Shriver, Kathy McDermott. “To Serve Is to Live”
“Engineer of the Year Alan Mulally” Lawrence D. Maloney, Design News, March 4, 1996.
Twenty-First Century Jet: The Making and Marketing of the Boeing 777, Book and Video, Karl Sabbagh.
American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company, Bryce Hoffman.
“American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company” Summary, Brady Pyle, Out of This World Leadership.
Willow Creek-Working Together, Alan Mulally, September 8, 2016.
“The Elevated Leader: Level Up Your Leadership Through Vertical Development,” an Gottfredson, Morgan James Publishing, October 2022.
“Former CEO Alan Mulally Is Who CEOs Need to Be Today,” Article + Video, Dan Pontefract, Forbes, July 2022.
Working Together: 12 Principles for Achieving Excellence in Managing Projects, Teams and Organizations, James Lewis.
“How to Become a Game-Changing Leader,” Doug Ready, Alan Mulally, MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall 2017, Vol. 59 No. 1, pp. 63-71.
Thank you!
Alan has blessed so many!
Shep -
Couldn’t agree with you more!