September brought two of the most demanding, as well as stimulating days of the year.
The Conference Board had us invite Alan Mulally to speak at the Organizational Design Conference we were co-sponsoring with The Conference Board in New York. The key moment came with Alan doing a CBNBC interview earlier Friday morning, but true to form showed up at 8:00 am for his 9:00 am speech. He greeted people before 9:00 am introduction. He had one hour, and divided the time between speaking and encouraging questions.
I had mentioned and displayed his One Ford card all the people of Ford carry. During his speech, he had his assistant distribute the cards to each table: “ONE TEAM – ONE PLAN – ONE GOAL – ONE FORD.” Alan told me he had written this message himself – not surprising. We remember his from-the-heart acceptance of our Leader of the Future Award in October 2006, in which he used no notes. The same with his 40-minute address on the transformation of Ford Motor Company. Not one note – speaking from the heart. He had some in tears; he was so eloquent – so powerful.
Simultaneously, the ServiceNation Conference in New York was opening. At the two-day long, ServiceNation Summit, 500 people attended. We sat with General Freakley, who spoke for General George Casey, Colonel Luke Knittig and the other U.S. Army representatives. General Freakley was outstanding and if there were participants who had questioned the Army’s role in a ServiceNation Summit; by the time he finished – no doubts. He heads Recruiting on the Chief of Staff’s team. During the Summit, Judy Woodruff and the President of TIME interviewed Senator McCain for one hour and then Senator Obama for the next hour. It was a powerful part of the Summit. David Gergen was superb as always, saw me and introduced me to a friend with complimentary remarks about Leader to Leader.
Both conferences were positive successes. We were grateful to have board members represent Leader to Leader at both.