People & Strategy Winter 2015 Vol. 38 Issue 1 - 49

engaged, build capacity, and demonstrate
leadership. T hey worked together to
strengthen the brands with improvements in
both design and quality of the products in
addition to cutting costs. Just nine months
after Mulally's arrival, FMC was in the black
for the first time in two years.

the current plan. An organization learns from
its early adaptations by building competencies
for future adaptations, making the positive
adaption process a continuous one.
EXHIBIT 2. MODEL OF THE
POSITIVE ADAPTATION PROCESS.

In spite of the progress, the 2007 unraveling
of the subprime mortgage market drastically
reduced the availability of credit, while
unemployment rates rose, and automotive
sales plunged.
In March 2009, President Obama addressed
the nation and acknowledged that the difficulties of the automotive industry were
strongly related to the weaknesses in the
economy. However, the president made it
clear that the industry had not been managed well for decades. While offering support to spur automotive sales, Obama
challenged the industry to once again prosper and provide opportunities. Mulally told
his executives that the president's challenge
was their opportunity to make history, saying, "You've spent all of your working lives
waiting to make a difference. Well, now is
your time. This is about the soul of American
manufacturing, and you're part of the solution" (Hoffman, 2012).
Leaders who care deeply about their organizations, the work they do, and the people
they influence use a process called positive
adaptation to achieve their personal impact.

The Positive
Adaptation Process
Resilience is the ability of an organization to
address a challenging condition by making
a positive adaptation. Mulally's experiences
at Boeing and during his first nine months at
FMC illustrate how the interrelated actions
of research, inquiry, and reflection foster the
ability to ask the right questions and then
recognize and seize opportunities to improve
organization performance (see Exhibit 2).
To regain organizational health and deliver
superior performance after the automotive
industry crisis, FMC had to demonstrate resilience. Knowledge sharing and relationships
are enabling conditions (Sutcliffe & Vogus,
2003) that build resiliency at an organizational level. As Mulally explained to his executive team, they needed to work on a better plan
at the same time they checked progress against

FMC learned how to make money in a down
market. No other American automaker had
done that before. Ford posted a profit of $6.6
billion for 2010. It was the most money the
company had made in more than 10 years.
Under Mulally, the leadership team captured
the value of organizational health and remains
one of the world's most profitable automakers.
Successful groups function as both learning
and performing units. Studying the practices
of successful units offers insight into how
groups recognize and seize opportunities. It
is in the study of groups as learning and performing units that the value of knowledgesharing relationships becomes most apparent.
Research suggests knowledge-sharing relationships support all three stages of the positive adaptation process (see Exhibit 3).
EXHIBIT 3. KNOWLEDGE-SHARING
RELATIONSHIPS SUPPORT ALL
STAGES OF POSITIVE ADAPTATION.

Mentors and
Influencers
Beyond connectors, collaborators, and facilitators, there are several other types of
knowledge-sharing relationships. A fourth
type of knowledge-sharing relationship is
with a mentor, someone who provides constructive feedback to an individual. Mentors
are often higher-level executives and managers valued for their seasoned insights.
A fifth type of knowledge-sharing relationship is with an influencer. Similar to a mentor,
an influencer provides insights and constructive feedback to an individual. The difference
is that the interpersonal relationship is more
limited than the close working relationships
between a boss and subordinate or two peers.
An influencer could be an individual briefly
encountered or indirectly encountered, such
as a writer or a public speaker.
When Mulally informed Jim McNerney, his
boss at Boeing, that he had been offered the
top job at FMC, McNerney responded with
the potential that Mulally could play a larger role at Boeing. Mulally decided to stay.
When Ford informed the board, John Thornton, former president of Goldman Sachs, and
the board member who first suggested
Mulally as a candidate, offered to call
Mulally. Thornton, an influencer, appealed
to Mulally on the basis of the personal
impact he could make as CEO of FMC. Ford
sent Joe Layman, human resource director,
to Seattle. Layman, also an influencer,
reminded Mulally that he did not need to
wait for Boeing to expand his role; FMC
provided Mulally with an immediate opportunity to run a Fortune 10 company. Mulally accepted FMC's offer.

Allies and Disseminators
That same year, 2006, Mark Fields, Ford
Americas president, had had ambitions to be
CEO. Mulally's appointment was disappointing to Fields, and some reporters stoked rumors
that Fields' days were numbered. When Daniel
Howes of the Detroit News called Fields with
this speculation, Fields went straight to Mulally to find out if he was being fired.
Mulally acted as Fields' ally, a person who
stands by another individual, informing him
(and later Howes) that he was a valued member of the team.
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VOLUME 38/ISSUE 1 - 2015

People & Strategy Winter 2015 Vol. 38 Issue 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of People & Strategy Winter 2015 Vol. 38 Issue 1