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LEADERSHIP leadership of a sharp analytical mind to keep discussions on track, and objectives targeted. To bolster his analytical insight, Ghosn relies on his strong work ethic. Known as 7-11 for his long work hours, Ghosn devotes five days each week to pistons and clutches. The remaining two days are given to his family, spending time with his wife and four children. “My kids are very important to my balance,” he explained in an interview, “since they keep me informed of what is happening out there, in the world beyond my office walls. Reading books is another important source of mental nourishment.”
workers alike. Contrast that with the old school French car makers where CEOs would only discuss things with their direct reports.”
Ghosn styling In all these ways Ghosn has proposed a style, meaning for it to percolate down as an inspiring message to staff and workers. There’s the 7-11 work schedule. The down-to-earth engineer’s approach. The chummy lunches at the Nissan cafeteria and choice
tenures. “Renault in France is not in the same dire straits as Nissan was in 1999,” observes Professor Edwards, “but there are powerful and touchy trade unions to cope with, so he needs to tread more delicately here.” Ghosn has a plan for running Renault – ‘Contrat 2009’, it is called. It is nowhere as aspirational as the plan he prescribed for Nissan, back in 2000. Indeed, much of Contrat 2009 strikes one as banal,
Charisma To elicit the devotion from his managers, Ghosn can rely on a goodly supply of charisma. He does preserve the French formality of addressing colleagues as ‘vous’ – as opposed to a more familiar ‘tu’ that is the standard on the assembly line – yet his work style retains the American openness that came from his years in the United States for Michelin tyres, when it acquired Bridgestone. That openness is accompanied by the strict fairness that he displayed in Japan, when he only brought with him a small team of French managers. He sensed – correctly, it seems—that it would be counter-productive to appear on the Japanese scene with the intention of dominating. “Ghosn is also very open; you could even say democratic,” says Fournier. “He will go out on to the factory floor, or into the computer-laden purlieus of the engineering and design departments, and talk shop with blue collar and white collar
of a Nissan as his private car. There’s also one of his sayings that’s been quoted often enough to now qualify as a motto: “The key to success in any career is understanding and choosing what you love to do. The rest flows from there.”
The current frying pan To be sure, Ghosn lately has not proved immune to criticism in France, where he moved back in 2005, to assume the leadership position at Renault. Here he now has his work cut out, coping with our recessive times and a generally less friendly industrial climate. But he has approached his challenge with the same cool-headed self-assurance that characterised his previous
especially its emphasis on dealing with quality problems and its insistence, and insistence, and insistence, on achievement of bottom-line profitability. But the plan also contains strong signs of a regard for the future. This notably includes his declared intention to press work on a power train linked to a fuel cell, and a low-cost platform for production in a number of emerging markets. Nissan will be playing a large role in these two buzz areas. Ghosn has mandated it in a plan, the GT2012, which aims for leadership in vehicles with zero emissions. At talks that he gives at business schools and universities, he ever stresses the need for car makers to put
down solid ecological roots, or risk losing credibility and market share. With the current automotive crisis, some of GT2012’s aims seem illusive, such as the target to increase topline revenues by 5% annually. Yet Renault has been particularly adept at entering foreign boom markets, including, at appropriate times, Central Europe, Iran, Russia, Brazil and others (see map with plant locations) which may signal the way in which Ghosn intends to achieve profits, in spite of the inauspiciousness of the times. Another aspect of the long-term vision is the Better Place project (see box), an endeavour to spread the use of electric vehicles. Here Ghosn has chivvied his interest into the planning sphere, working with local authorities and environmental organisations in Denmark, Israel, and several US states, so as to create a network of electric charging stations, that would countervail the limited range of electric vehicles. For Ghosn, the next leadership frontier seems to lie in areas beyond the microeconomic interests of his two car companies. Indeed, at times he seems to be morphing into a green politician. But that’s only at times. ■ Reference: Carlos Ghosn – A Study of Diversity Management in the Framework of Strategic Alliances Prof. Guy Fournier, Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences Prof. David Evans, Reims Management School ECCH Case 307-234-1 Carlos Ghosn – Leader without Borders Prof. Manfred Kets de Vries, INSEAD ECCH Case 405-056-1
Go India January 2009
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