Word: eaton
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...that ousted his predecessor, chairman Robert Stempel, and most of his top executives, Smith ascended with no ritual at all, and settled down to business at the world's largest industrial corporation so quietly that he has seldom been seen or heard from in public since. At Chrysler, Bob Eaton owed his job to another noisy boardroom battle to persuade Chrysler's miracle worker Lee Iacocca that it was time for him to retire. After the dust settled early last year, Eaton drove up alone at 7:30 a.m. to Chrysler's factory gates in Highland Park, Michigan...
...Eaton, 53, Trotman, 60, and Smith, 55, each spent his entire career within the auto industry. Still, they were unconventional choices for its top jobs. None of them fitted the mold of the clubby headquarters men who filled the executive suites before them. Detroit's three new CEOs have begun to introduce a similar management style into their very different corporate domains. Modesty, humor (especially of the self-deflating variety), open discussion, candor and team play are all in. Pomp, protocol, pretension and paperwork are distinctly...
...Detroit gave Eaton's succession at Chrysler much chance at all. A career GM man, he had spent his recent years in Europe, well away from the turmoil and strife that had gripped his industry's hometown. He was something of a shotgun compromise in Chrysler's boardroom showdown between Iacocca and president Bob Lutz, and in the view of some skeptics, mainly lucked out in grabbing the prize after all the hard work had been done. Eaton arrived alone, brought in none of his deputies (not even his secretary) and fired no one. In Chrysler's recent history...
...Eaton could have easily become the short-term resident that many expected, including those young tigers who had devoted themselves to Lutz's leadership. Eaton stayed, and not incidentally, so did Lutz, becoming a team that has healed the rift and continued to build on the company's momentum. Eaton turned out to be a morale-building coach among a number of individual stars. "I don't believe in one-man shows," says Eaton. "But my style is very, very persistent in pushing for things I think are right. I was surprised at how far along everyone was toward working...
...watched Japanese carmakers bust up their market dominance, are countering that assault by building very Japanese-like bonds among themselves and with their government. "The three of us have had more direct contact with this Administration in the past nine months than existed for the past 12 years," says Eaton...