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Executive Chair Bill Ford joined TIME Magazine for a panel discussion on what keeps a company iconic in today’s rapidly changing world. [No Byline]
How do you maintain your status as an iconic American company? If you ask Bill Ford, the answer comes down to the people who work every day to carry the company forward — to a team of employees that share strong values.
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The Executive Chair of Ford Motor Company joined TIME Magazine’s Chief Executive Officer Jessica Sibley on Tuesday for a panel discussion about what makes — and keeps — a company iconic in today’s rapidly changing world.
The event, held at Detroit’s Michigan Central Station, was a celebration of TIME’s Most Iconic American Companies list. Ford Motor Company was ranked #1.
Ford and Sibley were joined onstage by Google Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat and United Airlines Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby.
Catch up on some of Ford’s key quotes and watch the full video below.
The event opened with a question about why it was important to keep communities and country at the forefront of any business. Bill Ford explained how, over the company's 123 years, Ford has pivoted to serve Americans during key moments in the country’s history — everything from opening food banks during the Great Depression to manufacturing ventilators during the Coronavirus Pandemic.
“We take care of each other; we take care of our communities; we take care of our country,” Ford said. “I think those values are timeless. It's different than culture, because cultures change and cultures evolve. But the values that underlie that culture are what have sustained us for our whole lifetime.”
In recent years, Ford has made significant investments in improving the company's work spaces, including a new World Headquarters, which opened in Dearborn a year ago. Ford stressed the importance of investing in employees, both where they work and what they work on has been key to attracting and keeping the "best and the brightest."
"If you don't have the best people, you're not going to win. And I think in today's competitive workplace, you also have to give them great places to work," Ford said.
“But then you must do something else. You must give them really interesting problems to solve. If you can do that, you can really get the best and the brightest. And if you get the best and brightest, you have a chance to win. So, for me, it's all very interconnected. ... We're not just building buildings to have nice buildings, we're building them to really build the future.”
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And by supporting employees, Bill Ford said the company has been able to weather some big challenges. During the 2008 recession, Ford was the only U.S. automaker that declined a government bailout, despite significant losses.
"We didn't go bankrupt during the financial crisis when our two biggest competitors did, but it wasn't because of anything we did; it was because our employees simply wouldn't let us fail, because they loved the company,” Ford said. “And so, I never want to lose that. I never want our employees to feel let down or embarrassed by us.”
When Ford thinks about the future of the company, what keeps him optimistic is not AI or autonomous driving or any of the big technological advancements.
“What gets me most excited is the fact that we will still be the most American car company 25 years from now,” he said. “We’ll be making our customers’ lives better.”
He added, “I think any company should only exist if it’s making people’s lives better. If it’s not making people’s lives better, it’s probably time to hang it up.”
