Chrysler's Jim Press: "It's Not About Changing the Culture"

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

It's about "lifting the dome" and letting people do their jobs. This insight into the Chrysler's freshly-minted Co-President's "take plenty of prisoners" management style arrives via The Detroit Free Press. The Freep joined a respect of journos at a Las Vegas round table to grill simmer Press on the changes needed to return Chrysler to profitability. They got bupkis. Nothing on the strike. Zilch on product executions. But they did get more of Press' party line: Chrysler makes cars with "visceral" appeal (I guess reliability and build quality are emotional issues) and Chrysler's employees are great people. "There's a real willingness to listen and do better," Press said. "The main thing I can do is get out of the way." Perhaps Cerberus should have paid Press to not work for them.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • FreeMan FreeMan on Oct 12, 2007

    "a respect of journos"? Is that like a flock of geese, or a pride of lions? I had no idea! How do I sign up for a job paying millions where the job description reads: 1) Get out of the way. 2) When in doubt, see 1.

  • Samir Syed Samir Syed on Oct 12, 2007

    I think those words need to be taken at more than face value. "Getting out of the way" might be a clumsy allusion to the fact that the design process is encumbered by n to the power of n meters of red tape - committees, meetings, union input, executive approvals, etc., etc until the point where they end up with cars that everyone had a hand in designing but nobody likes. Lifting that, i.e., getting out of the way, and letting some of the passion come through might be what he means. OR NOT.

  • Robert Farago Robert Farago on Oct 12, 2007

    Samir Syed : “Getting out of the way” might be a clumsy allusion to the fact that the design process is encumbered by n to the power of n meters of red tape - committees, meetings, union input, executive approvals, etc. Press' use of the personal pronoun puts pay to that prognostication.

  • Ryan Knuckles Ryan Knuckles on Oct 12, 2007
    Press’ use of the personal pronoun puts pay to that prognostication. Now that is a sentence. Well crafted, master Farago.
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