Ford’s CEO on social media and innovation

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At the Ultimate Bloggers Dinner on the opening night of the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last Wednesday, Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Company, took out time to sit down with a few bloggers for a live Webcast, a couple of cell phone interviews, and the interview above, which I captured with a Canon HV20 hi-def camcorder.

Chris Heuer of AdHocnium (and the Social Media Club) and I interviewed Mulally about how Ford is using social media to drive innovation and transformation inside the company. Chris and I both found Mulally to be incredibly personable and knowledgeable about the social forces swirling through the economy.

The video is 10 minutes long and a bit noisy because we didn’t have a lavalier mic, but you can hear Mulally throughout.

Watch in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia (or download it)
Watch in Flash on Vimeo (embedded above)

Bonus: Flickr photo set of Mulally (at bottom) and others at CES.

JD Lasica is founder of Socialmedia.biz. We work with large and mid-size businesses and organizations on social media strategies and optimizing your online presence. Contact JD by email, follow him on Twitter and Google Plus or leave a comment below.

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Carl van Bolderen

Mulally seems to be the right guy for the job. Ford has made a lot of good moves over the past few years and is now well positioned to compete. Ford has a lot to be proud of and they should blow their own horn, thank God the Crown Vic is dead and I won't see it at any Hertz locations again. North America has as much talent as anyone. I hope the unions can begin to see the light so we can finally end this us versus them mentality. If unions need things like job classifications then they have no value, to NA economy.

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Molly Mulally

What a great interview, Chris and JD! So glad you had a chance to sit down with him.

Scott Monty

J.D. - thanks for doing this. I hope you were as impressed with Alan as I continue to be on a daily basis. Naturally, the CEO doesn't have the ground-level insight of the specifics of our social media activities, but Alan is the kind of guy who "gets it." He understands the importance of personal interaction, and he reflects it in his own behaviors around the company. He sends personal notes to employees and personally responds to his email. And he's a genuinely nice guy who's very easy to talk with. While crowdsourcing the development of a car is a dangerous prospect (remember the car Homer Simpson designed? ), the point is that we don't do so in a vacuum. We are committed to making cars that people want and value, and we can only do that through interaction. I hope this gives people a sense of the excitement we've got at Ford. Scott Monty Global Digital Communications Ford Motor Company

J.D. - thanks for doing this. I hope you were as impressed with Alan as I continue to be on a daily basis. Naturally, the CEO doesn't have the ground-level insight of the specifics of our social media activities, but Alan is the kind of guy who "gets it." He understands the importance of personal interaction, and he reflects it in his own behaviors around the company. He sends personal notes to employees and personally responds to his email. And he's a genuinely nice guy who's very easy to talk with. While crowdsourcing the development of a car is a dangerous prospect (remember the car Homer Simpson designed? <grin>), the point is that we don't do so in a vacuum. We are committed to making cars that people want and value, and we can only do that through interaction. I hope this gives people a sense of the excitement we've got at Ford. Scott Monty Global Digital Communications Ford Motor Company