“In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three
words: people, product, and profits. People come first. Unless you’ve
got a good team, you can’t do much with the other two.”
It was sometime in 1998 I picked up a copy of the book 'Iacocca:An Autobiography' in the street book stalls of Pondy Bazaar. I had no idea who Iacocca was at that time. When I read through it, I realized that this will be a book which will be with me through my career - giving me the lessons I needed at the start of the career.
When 12-13 years after reading that book, I ended up working for Chrysler as a contractor, it was a strange feeling - of pride to be part of the same company which Iacocca rescued from bankruptcy Of course, Chrysler was going through another messy bankruptcy and was selling assets - so the feeling of belonging the same company was more intimate than I wanted it to be.
So, when I watched Lee Iacocca appear on screen with a slide deck to show Henry Ford II - the need to create a racing team, I couldn't contain my excitement. While the movie - 'Ford v Ferrari' - is not about Iacocca or about his role in designing the Ford Mustang the year before, to me, I was looking for Iacocca in every frame to see how he is portrayed.
Iacocca passed away some months ago. It was a feeling of losing a good teacher and I do not think I wrote anything at that time, so I thought it is time to write something about him now.
Now, about the movie. 'Ford v Ferrari' is as good a movie gets when it combines a real story with some fast cars. Now, cast Christian Bale and Matt Damon in it, you have a combination which cannot miss.
The movie is about Ford's entry and desire to win the 24 hour Lemans championship and what they did to bring it about. It is also the story of two race drivers - Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles - and how they brought about the defeat of the Ferraris in the championship.
A good movie does not let you pause to second guess the happenings on the screen. You are immersed in the story and start rooting for the protagonist and invest yourself in the happenings. By that standard, 'Ford v Ferrari' wins big. The movie is about 2.5 hours long and you do not feel time flies by. By the time Ken is doing his last lap, you start cheering for him to finish on top.
The committee culture of Ford is something Iacocca writes about in his book and what he had to do to get past that to get new cars introduced or new designs discussed. This is true in any corporate environment today. For all the drama in the movie, I know the ways in which companies by their own policies and procedures kill off solutions which are not in line. This is a difficult challenge to address.
How do you make an inventor or just a brilliant programmer into a 'team player'? As far as I know, the only way to do it is by killing the brilliance. Because I have always believed (and behaved) that conformance kills the inner self and it is by constant rule-breaking that we achieve anything in the world.
However, the world being what it is, it is usually the likes of Leo Beebe who get ahead and the company always manages to snuff off any sense of rule-breaking. This is what I believe is the core issue of the movie - it is the likes of Iacocca who fight this system from within, shielding the freedom of the designers and creators - however, there are always people like Ken Miles who lose out all the time.
To me, the story is just another illustration of the way the corporate committees kill off innovation. Think of Apple - what has it done to itself in the years following Jobs death? - it is the work of marketing committees and scared-to-death of new design executives that we see in the output today.
It was late in the night when the movie finished and we were in the 12th floor of the Phoenix Market city and it was pouring outside. Chennai looked like heaven and we spent quite sometime trying to second guess all that we can see in the night.
Back to the movie, what I liked is that the movie takes an interesting story and makes it more interesting by bringing in all the drama of the 60's culture and never loses sight of the depiction of the brilliance of Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby in pulling off an incredible win.
That is worth watching again and again (and of course, you don't get to see Iacocca in movies - that is something!).
It was sometime in 1998 I picked up a copy of the book 'Iacocca:An Autobiography' in the street book stalls of Pondy Bazaar. I had no idea who Iacocca was at that time. When I read through it, I realized that this will be a book which will be with me through my career - giving me the lessons I needed at the start of the career.
When 12-13 years after reading that book, I ended up working for Chrysler as a contractor, it was a strange feeling - of pride to be part of the same company which Iacocca rescued from bankruptcy Of course, Chrysler was going through another messy bankruptcy and was selling assets - so the feeling of belonging the same company was more intimate than I wanted it to be.
So, when I watched Lee Iacocca appear on screen with a slide deck to show Henry Ford II - the need to create a racing team, I couldn't contain my excitement. While the movie - 'Ford v Ferrari' - is not about Iacocca or about his role in designing the Ford Mustang the year before, to me, I was looking for Iacocca in every frame to see how he is portrayed.
Iacocca passed away some months ago. It was a feeling of losing a good teacher and I do not think I wrote anything at that time, so I thought it is time to write something about him now.
The movie is about Ford's entry and desire to win the 24 hour Lemans championship and what they did to bring it about. It is also the story of two race drivers - Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles - and how they brought about the defeat of the Ferraris in the championship.
A good movie does not let you pause to second guess the happenings on the screen. You are immersed in the story and start rooting for the protagonist and invest yourself in the happenings. By that standard, 'Ford v Ferrari' wins big. The movie is about 2.5 hours long and you do not feel time flies by. By the time Ken is doing his last lap, you start cheering for him to finish on top.
The committee culture of Ford is something Iacocca writes about in his book and what he had to do to get past that to get new cars introduced or new designs discussed. This is true in any corporate environment today. For all the drama in the movie, I know the ways in which companies by their own policies and procedures kill off solutions which are not in line. This is a difficult challenge to address.
How do you make an inventor or just a brilliant programmer into a 'team player'? As far as I know, the only way to do it is by killing the brilliance. Because I have always believed (and behaved) that conformance kills the inner self and it is by constant rule-breaking that we achieve anything in the world.However, the world being what it is, it is usually the likes of Leo Beebe who get ahead and the company always manages to snuff off any sense of rule-breaking. This is what I believe is the core issue of the movie - it is the likes of Iacocca who fight this system from within, shielding the freedom of the designers and creators - however, there are always people like Ken Miles who lose out all the time.
To me, the story is just another illustration of the way the corporate committees kill off innovation. Think of Apple - what has it done to itself in the years following Jobs death? - it is the work of marketing committees and scared-to-death of new design executives that we see in the output today.
It was late in the night when the movie finished and we were in the 12th floor of the Phoenix Market city and it was pouring outside. Chennai looked like heaven and we spent quite sometime trying to second guess all that we can see in the night.
Back to the movie, what I liked is that the movie takes an interesting story and makes it more interesting by bringing in all the drama of the 60's culture and never loses sight of the depiction of the brilliance of Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby in pulling off an incredible win.
That is worth watching again and again (and of course, you don't get to see Iacocca in movies - that is something!).
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