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Automotive Industry

The "Youth-ination" of the Auto Industry

Automotive Industries, April, 2001

Those immortal words of Peter, Paul, and Mary, "Where have all the flowers gone..." ring loud in my ears when I think about where all the experience has gone in the automotive industry. When I hear that a 40-year-old guy with two years on the job has replaced a veteran like Bob Rewey, head of North American sales at Ford Motor Co., I just have to shake my head.

I firmly believe that youth can bring a fresh perspective to any business. However, I still don't believe it's an acceptable substitute for the wisdom and knowledge gained through experience. We're losing our leadership base through the "youthination" of this industry.

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As the auto business heads into the first downturn in nearly a decade, we don't have the benefit of that experience base to help us through it. Many of the people in top jobs, both supplier and OEM, have never weathered a significant downturn. Those of us who have been here before know that we're in a cyclical business and that we have always come out of a downturn stronger, leaner and wiser. That's experience.

I'm now a veteran of the car wars. I have lived through oil embargoes and every significant piece of government regulation that has threatened the industry or its products in some way. I remember when gas was 25 cents per gallon in the 1960s -- and when we ran out of gas at the pumps in the 1970s before CAFE forced us into econoboxes with zero zip and no fun. I remember straight pipes and glass-packs before catalytic converters and emissions controls took the pure sound out of our cars. I remember when child safety seats were chrome and padded plastic, with little steering wheels and kiddy horns, before safety regulations dictated the way kids ride in cars today. The industry stepped up to these and other challenges through the experience of its leaders. And the cars and trucks are better today because of it.

I remember real car guys like Ed Cole, Bunkie Knudsen, Henry Ford II, Pete Estes, John DeLorean and, of course, Bob Lutz. But where are their counterparts today? It's not hard to find an executive from IBM, Levi Strauss, or Coca Cola who's gravitated to the auto industry, but it's getting rarer to find those who have grown up in the business who are in top jobs today -- and are not about to be put out to pasture, that is.

I'm serious. We're "youth-inizing" this industry and losing its base of experience. Certainly I'm not advocating an industry full of old fossils stalking the halls of corporate headquarters. But where's the balance?

When you hit 55 today, your days are numbered. That's 30 years in the business and you're no longer useful. Bull-pucky! But this isn't just the auto industry, this is every industry.

Last summer I was at an elegant dinner party talking to a VP of marketing from a California-based dot-com. When I asked her age, she told me that she was 26-and-a-half years old. I told her I had socks that were older than that. But when I asked her if everybody in her company was young she replied, "Oh no, our CEO just turned 36." No wonder so many dot-coms have failed.

We need to strike a balance between youth and experience. There's a lot of life left in a 60-year-old veteran. I think corporate leaders (and their successors) need to take a hard look at the talent, knowledge and experience that's on the retirement lists because once these folks are gone, they're gone for good.

Most of the men and women running the supplier and car companies today are younger than me. That's okay, I don't mind. I just want you to know that I'm here whenever you need the council and wisdom that experience brings.

Andrew Cummins is Publisher of Automotive Industries.

Automotive Industry

The "Youth-ination" of the Auto Industry

Automotive Industries, April, 2001

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