You’d
think after 28 years of working for the same company that nothing would
surprise me. I’ve been fortunate enough to work for Ford across many
amazing teams on many exciting assignments, most recently leading
development of the next-generation Mustang.
But
earlier this year I received a call that would challenge everything I
thought I knew about Ford and our future. I was asked to lead product
development for a brand-new team, Ford Team Edison, focusing exclusively
on electrified vehicles for both Ford and Lincoln. And to be
successful, this new team had to be willing to challenge every truth and
every process we had developed over the course of our careers.
Having
just taken delivery of a Shelby GT350R, those in the dark about
electric vehicles might think that they chose the wrong guy in that I’m a
Mustang enthusiast. But as my team and I have quickly found out, the
new generation of electric vehicles is just as exciting — only
different. Different can be good. Very good. And it’s opened our eyes to
a whole new Ford. The stakes are high. The challenge higher. We are
being tasked to set the future trajectory of the company, and Team
Edison is up for that challenge.
With
Ford, I’ve had the opportunity to work around the globe — in Germany,
India, China, South America and my home in the U.K. — and this new role
with Ford Team Edison has allowed me to fully leverage my global
experience.
The
electric vehicle market overall is accelerating at an exponential rate,
with each individual market presenting its own unique challenges. It’s
an exciting time to be bringing forward a winning portfolio of
electrified vehicles. My team and I are both proud of and energized by
the company’s $11 billion investment to bring 16 fully electric vehicles
within a global portfolio of 40 electrified vehicles through 2022. All
of us here have unknowingly prepared for this our entire careers.
We’re
a dedicated team who has been lucky enough to be chosen to pilot the
future of Ford from an old factory in the heart of Corktown, Detroit’s
oldest neighborhood. It’s open, airy and encourages collaboration. But
don’t be fooled that new desks and an open office floor plan alone
creates change. It’s the shift in mindset that is truly creating change
at Ford, and giving license to the team to operate in a completely
different way.
Change
doesn’t happen overnight, but for our team, things are moving quickly.
The team is cross-functional, and on any given day you can find yourself
sitting next to someone working to market our electric vehicles,
someone looking at the profit potential of our electric vehicles, or be
on a coffee break with someone involved in our charging strategy.
We’ve
been tasked to move fast and come together quickly to solve common
problems — what we like to call “cross-functional sprints,” and we’ve
embraced a “no stripes mentality” to encourage that ideas come from
different viewpoints.
The
other big change is the human-centric approach in everything we do.
There isn’t a ton of historical data to look at for electric
vehicles — meaning you can’t just look back at what happened before and
use that as inspiration for what to do next. The world is fundamentally
shifting, and we have to listen more than ever to really understand our
customers and how they are evolving.
For
example, on a recent trip to Shanghai, we looked at how extended
families use their vehicles. We all wondered what on earth we were doing
watching families get in and out of a three-row vehicle. I, of course,
assumed that kids would go right back in the third row — but I was
wrong. In China, children usually go straight to the second row, as it’s
deemed the best place since the child represents the future. The
grandmother generally rides up front and the grandfather climbs into the
back. Goes to show you can — and should — always be learning something
new that can be applied to improve the customer experience. We can take
these insights and ensure we’re really designing vehicles in a way that
is human-centered and right for each unique market.
Prototypes
also play a big part in what we’re doing, allowing us to pivot along
the way to deliver the best products and services possible. Having the
flexibility to learn and iterate is a huge enabler. What I’ve come to
learn is that design has to be intuitive. I only have to watch my
6-year-old twins play with my iPhone to know what intuitive design looks
like. Gone are the days of shiny, expensive prototypes. Customers don’t
care about that — a low-fidelity cardboard prototype is enough to get
feedback.
This
way of thinking is all part of our new, fast-moving team mantra. In
fact, as a reminder of this, I’ve kept one of our first prototypes of
the infotainment system for one of our new electric vehicles. It’s
literally cardboard, with a piece of a plastic cup stuck to it with
tape. What I’m trying to demonstrate is that innovation does not have to
be expensive. It has to be smart. And I’m surrounded by some of the
smartest people I’ve ever worked with.
Electric
vehicle customers are buying into the future and our team is 100
percent focused on not only delivering vehicles they will love, but
providing an entire electric vehicle ecosystem that works flawlessly.
It’s exciting to know that my stint leading development of the
next-generation Mustang actually comes full circle as we get ready to
launch our electric Mustang-inspired utility. I, for one, can’t wait to
have one — side-by-side — with my Shelby GT350R.
