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

Quotes:

• Marcel begins his conversation with world-renowned CEO Alan Mulally by exploring Alan’s background and upbringing, which heavily influenced his leadership style and life of service. As they dive into the slide stack, Alan shares pivotal lessons and words that shaped his early life and career at Boeing and Ford, including a statement that embodies his “Working Together” system: “By ‘working together’ with others, you can make the most positive contribution to the most people.” [18:47]
• Alan Mulally and his trusted advisor Sarah McArthur 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, starting with its most important principle: people first... love ‘em up. "Love" as a guiding word for organizational processes marks a profound shift from traditional leadership approaches. 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.” [27:04]
• Alan illustrates the transformative impact of the "Working Together" system with examples from his time at Boeing and Ford. One such example is the 1990 agreement for the development of the Boeing 777. This collaborative effort was so powerful that the first pilots of the plane requested it be named Working Together. Quoting the pilots, John Cashman and Kenny Higgins, Alan recalls: “We have never had a working together experience like this... This airplane is going to be phenomenal.” [37:39]
• Alan clearly outlines the goals and expectations he sets with his teams at every step. For today’s listeners and viewers, he highlights the Ford Creating Value Roadmap included in the slides. Alan emphasizes that these expectations are always developed collaboratively. In this case, the team created an acronym—FORD—to outline the process, which culminates in the essence of his philosophy: “The essence of everything is working together globally using our expected behaviors.” [43:52]
• 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.” [55:43]
• Alan is also known for his remarkable work-life balance, which he attributes to the alignment of authentic leadership with the Be and Do of the “Working Together” system. He describes this alignment as an authentic, integrated One Life and Life’s Work of Service, calling it “our love made visible.” Alan challenges listeners to reflect by filling out a chart from one of the slides, identifying their Who, What, Why, and How. “This is one of the biggest contributions we can each make by moving in this direction, because we don’t have to go tell everybody about it... They can see it.” [1:04:34]

Key Takeaways:

• Alan Mulally shares a heartfelt conclusion, tying together the Be and Do of “Working Together.” He leaves listeners with well wishes and advice: “Start in the morning with your partner [yourself]... and ask if there is anything else you need to do to serve as you live with humility and love. It’s amazing what it will mean to your life.” [1:24:22] 

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