How top execs use their personal computers

Automotive Industries, Feb, 1998 by Paul Eisenstein

Ask some of the brass how to surf the Net and they'll send you to Hawaii. Ask others and you'll find out they're computer geeks. Today, they're the majority.

Deep in the bowels of Ford Motor Co.'s Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Mich., a young stylist sketches out what may become a new "world car." As he moves his "pen" across an electronic drawing tablet, an image begins taking shape on his high-definition monitor. Even before it's time for lunch, he'll have an image so life-like the engineer sitting around the comer will be able to run some preliminary tests on the virtual prototype.

In the 20 years since automotive designers began working on the first, primitive CAD/CAM systems, computers have become a ubiquitous part of automotive life. They've simplified the design and engineering process. And they've expanded the reach of marketing and customer research. Whether in Stuttgart, Dearborn or Toyota City, it's hard to find a desk that doesn't have a computer sitting on top of it. But that doesn't mean that everyone is readily embracing this silicon revolution.

Nowhere is this division more apparent than in the upper ranks of the automotive world. There are those "wired" senior managers who wouldn't dream of traveling without a laptop computer tucked into their briefcases. They extol electronic mail and see the Internet as a valued research and communications tool. Then there are the technophobes. They can't distinguish between a Lotus spreadsheet and a World Wide Web site. Send them an e-mail and it's likely to languish in the digital dead-letter office.

Just a few years ago, the techno-resistant clearly dominated the industry's top ranks. But Borg-like, they're finding resistance is futile, whether it's because they've discovered the benefits of being wired or simply gotten hooked on Video Solitaire.

Whatever the case, fewer top managers seem to be shrieking at the sight of a mouse these days. Here's a decidedly unscientific look at how some senior execs are plugging in and turning on their computers.

Chrysler Corp. Chairman Bob Eaton lets his computer support his management style. "I'm a real heavy computer user," Eaton proudly declares. "There's almost never a day I'm not on the computer I couldn't live without Lotus 1-2-3 and Quicken," which he uses to handle personal finances. At the office Eaton maintains a portfolio of data files and spreadsheets. They help him make competitive assessments, and track rising talent within the Chrysler organization, "So I can see where I think they are going next."

On the other side of the technospectrum is Chrysler Vice Chairman Bob Lutz. Don't send him e-mail. He won't read it Stick with an inter-office memo, thank you very much. General Motors Chairman Jack Smith will read your e- mail, but only after someone prints it out for him. Its not that Smith dislikes computers. "I use one on a personal basis," he says. But there are better ways to use his time. And besides, "I get good service from the secretarial core," he admits. Ironically, Smith probably has more keyboard time than most senior executives. In his early years at GM, he was a computer programmer. "But I've been obsoleted for a long time", he says with a broad smile.

"CEOs have little use for computers because the vast majority of the job is deliberative, as opposed to operational in nature," says Daniel McNicholl, GM's chief information officer. Like Smith, most already have a handy information system that McNicholl has dubbed Mindyware. "It's easier to say Mindy, get me this data than to get it themselves," he says.

But old dogs can learn some new digital tricks. Just ask former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca. Some years ago, he was given two computers by Apple founder Steve Jobs and former Apple Chairman John Scully. "I gave them both away," Iacocca reveals. This time he bought one for himself, and concedes he's finally learned how to send e-mail. It's probably time, considering his foray into the world of high technology as founder of an electric bicycle company.

If you look up "computer literate" in the dictionary, you're likely to find a picture of Buick general manager Bob Coletta.

Whether he's sitting in his office or racing to a dealer meeting in Phoenix, there's likely a computer sitting somewhere nearby. "It means I can be far more productive," Coletta explains, noting that he starts his day by slipping out of bed and checking e-mail. "It's something I would normally have to wait to do until business hours. It gives me total flexibility." There are trade-offs, Coletta admits. He probably works longer hours now, especially when he's on the road, "but those hours are more productive. And I can carry files around without having to lug a forest of paper. With the portability of a laptop, your office is always near you."

Tom Scott doesn't like the burden of carrying a laptop, but he's decidedly wired. There are those who refer to Scott as Fords "guru" of high technology. Indeed, this Scottish-born senior designer spends more time reviewing computer hardware and software these days than he does actually puffing (digital) pen to (virtual) paper One of his pet projects could have been lifted from a Star Trek script Within the next five years, Scott hopes to put into use a new generation of holographic, or 3-D, display screens so life-like "that until you (try to) touch them, you'll think they're real."