3 Questions Leaders Should Ask Their Team

The executive team at Ford Motor Company in the 1950s made one of the best decisions and then one of the worst decisions in company history. Our research and experience at the Wharton School tells us that the Ford team is not alone in its schizophrenic decision-making; even the smartest groups often make poor choices. Understanding why can help you ensure that you consistently get the best out of your top team. Let’s look at what went right, and then wrong, at Ford.

In the early 1950s, Ford’s leadership team drafted a plan to get rid of the V-8 engine in all cars. Many of the company’s top executives had spent years at General Motors and, since GM’s highly successful Chevrolet did not offer a V-8 as an option, they saw no reason why the Ford car should either. They were ready to move forward until a product planner, Chase Morsey Jr., asked to plead the case for the V-8 in front of the executive team. Morsey had loved the roaring engine ever since it powered his very first car, a Ford coupe. He touted data showing customers would pay more for the V-8 and that they could reduce costs with improved manufacturing techniques. Ford’s executive vice-president Ernest Breech, pressed Morsey hard, but the product planner had an answer for Breech’s every question. Eventually, he and the rest of the executive team voted to keep the engine, a decision which they later credited with helping them catch up to Chevrolet.

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