Revolving Door of "Leadership" - Anonymous employee FordDirect Employee Review

2.0
Aug 2, 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Compensation and benefits. Work/life balance depending on your role. Highly skilled employees at lower levels. New CEO who brings a new sense of passion and perspective - a PROVEN leader who can hopefully turn the ship around.

Cons

A string of different C-level management teams throughout the years has left the company with remnants of non-leaders in leadership positions. Culture is generally undefined, although we will soon have our 4th set of core values, mission statement, and value proposition in as many years. I think of the amazing leaders who have left FordDirect in the past few years that were pushed out by egos or because they wouldn't fall in line with those who were self-serving. We have lost so much. Do yourself a favor and look up where those ex-employees are now. They are thriving. They are pushing new ideas to those who will listen - or they have branched out on their own in order to execute a vision that FordDirect's "leaders" couldn't tolerate since it was not their idea. I have seen people rise through the ranks of FordDirect because they were willing to be the loudest person in the room - not necessarily the most informed, professional, or qualified. I have watched as the company has brought in outside talent to help move us forward, only to see that talent leave or, even worse, stay and drag down morale and culture. HR and previous management has done a terrible job of appointing the right people to lead. I am not saying that all of the leadership level is unfit, because I have had great experiences with some of them, but I will say that the majority of the team are in positions to lead people that they know nothing about, instructing them to complete tasks that they themselves know nothing about, and promoting their own position in the company by scooping up the worker bees ideas and touting them as their own triumphs. Then, those same leaders turn around and squabble with one another about ideas that they don't fully understand - simply to defend their own kingdoms that they have built within the company. HR is on an island - seemingly unable to put people in positions where they will fit or move employees up who have earned the right to grow into more prominent roles. Legal is run with an iron fist and won't listen to even its own constituents. I have personally heard Marketing berate employees and make them feel inadequate. Having Dealer Solutions, Partnerships, and Digital Strategy in the same room is bound to be a cat fight - and they don't seem to care who else is in the room or what collateral damage they cause. Finance, Tech, and Dealer Relations seem to me to be the only areas of the business where our leaders are leading. Dianne Craig has my attention and allegiance. She seems to be the most competent leader at FordDirect in many years. I hope she is able to dig into what the true culture of this company is and bring it to the leadership level. For far too long, highly intelligent people have simply been the shoulders on which people who desire titles and power have stood on. There is so much intellectual value here. It is time to stop worrying about being right and start worrying about being valuable to FMC and the Dealers.

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Pros

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Cons

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2.0
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Pros

At FordDirect, it's always the people we work with that makes this place great.

Cons

Over the years, I've seen forddirect change from a company that does the right thing by its employees to one that does whatever it takes to make a few extra dollars. Cutting long standing benefits in 2025 like tuition reimbursement along with their live well work well initiative is just the most recent of the slashed benefits.

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