Transform Your Organization with Alan Mulally’s ‘Working Together’ System

World-renowned leader Alan Mulally?recently joined me on?episode 234?of the Love In Action podcast. Alan is the former president and CEO of Ford Motor Company who transformed Ford into a global leader and the top U.S. automobile brand during his tenure. Known for his incredible “Working Together” leadership system (which he presented in this episode in an instructional video you can watch below), Mulally was ranked #3 on Fortune’s “World’s Greatest Leaders,” and has been called one of “The World’s Most Influential People” by Time magazine.

About This Episode

Alan Mulally and his trusted advisor, Sarah McArthur (who joined us on the podcast), designed the “Working Together” system to foster a connected and collaborative culture of love by design. Alan highlights the key elements of his operating system during the episode, starting with its most important principle: "People first… love ‘em up."

Alan clarifies his intention behind the word love, stating, “I’m not looking for a date… this means I LOVE humanity, and we’re going to work together and align around, including everybody, a compelling vision, a comprehensive strategy for achieving it, and relentless positive implementation.”

Alan explains the “Working Together” leadership and management system as consisting of five key elements. It starts with the Principles and Practices discussed earlier in the episode, followed by implementation through Governance, Leadership Team, Creating Value Roadmap, and Business Plan Review. He describes this system as an ever-spinning circle revisited weekly to ensure its effectiveness: “The reason this is called a system is because you need to do this over and over again.”

After hearing about the “Working Together” system, any CEO would likely be convinced of its power—but how should they begin? Alan shares an anecdote to clarify the process and emphasizes two critical slides, which are included in the PDF file for the accompanying video presentation: “The first has to do with the principles and practices… That’s slide 10, and then how do you implement the principles and practices… slide 17… those are the only two pieces of paper that I took,” says Alan.

Watch the full episode below or on YouTube and don't forget to download the accompanying slide deck to get the most out of Alan's captivating presentation.

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About Marcel Schwantes

Marcel Schwantes is an international speaker, executive coach, and author, attracting millions to his thought leadership. Marcel has been recognized as one of the Top 101 Global Employee Engagement & Experience Influencers, along with Josh Bersin, Amy Edmondson, and Adam Grant. Join here for exclusive 'how to' leadership articles, coaching videos, tools, strategies, and more.