In 1956, Iacocca came up with an inventive new way to sell cars when he developed the “56 for ’56“. The policy meant that any customer that bought a new 1956 Ford should be able to do it with a 20 percent down payment, followed by monthly payments of $56 for three years. After the idea was applied across Ford, Iacocca was thought to be responsible for the sale of an additional 75,000 extra cars. Iacocca’s initiative meant that his profile was enlarged resulting in a big promotion to Dearborn, Michigan i.e. headoffice as the head of car marketing. Here, he met Robert McNamara who was one of the Whiz Kids brought in from the Air Force Statistical Strategy team by Henry Ford II to provide managerial talent at the top of Ford.
When Lee worked at Chester, Pennsylvania as a desk Sales rep, he witnessed corruption when reps took bribes, gifts and favours from dealers in order to get a larger allocation of cars into various dealerships. He worked in sales for over a decade being patient with his colleagues. Fleet sales meant allocating new cars to dealerships, since Lee was in sales, and there was a backlog of cars, this gave him a lot of power at an early age. Others would play fast and loose with the truth to create larger bonuses for themselves. Iacocca did not.
This is a synopsis & analysis based on Iacocca: An Autobiography and other miscellaneous research sources. Enjoy.
Thatcher supported the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) program which stipulated an aggressive weaponization of space. Reagan’s objective was to rid the world of nuclear weapons, according to Thatcher. Thatcher, however, disagreed (nuclear weapons are a deterrent to war in Thatcher’s estimation) but she knew that she must always remain a staunch ally of the US. Russians didn’t like the SDI proposal because they were concerned that the US shield would end the deterrence against US attack. For Thatcher and others conservatives, the SDI programme was central in the victory of the West during the Cold War. The causation is deterministic in their opinion. SDI = weakened USSR.
The SDI opened up new complications and dimensions to the American and British nuclear deterrence strategy. SDI had implications for Cold War agreements about the weaponization of space. The technological advances would be helpful. The Russians had already begun experiments with tracking systems to repel an American attack. Thatcher believed it made sense to go forward with SDI in order to deal with indirect accidental launch at the very least. The MAD deterrence was the primary reason there had not been a nuclear war according to Thatcher. She didn’t care that Russia felt the SDI reduced deterrence. She felt that it was part of scientific development; it must be carefully controlled and regimented. For Thatcher, science cannot be stopped. She even argues that the Russians will develop this system as well but if they can’t then they deserve to be destroyed.
Thatcher and Reagan agreed on the principles of SDI treaty with Russia at the Iceland Summit (Reykjavik Summit) that stated:
1) the US and Western nations would not aim for superiority but stability with Russia,
2) SDI development would have to coincide with treaties negotiated,
3) the aim is to enhance deterrence,
4) East-West should try to reduce systems on both sides. The Reykjavik, Iceland Summit was crucial in ending the Cold War.
Gorbachev became the leader of the USSR in 1985. He recognized that the USSR economy was in terrible shape and would require massive reforms. The USSR laid a trap for the US during negotiations at the Iceland Summit: they made concessions on British and French deterrents not being included in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). Those reductions in nuclear arms could occur on hard numbers NOT IN percentages which would disadvantage America with its larger stock-pile. Gorbachev said he would agreed that his nuclear arsenal would be halved in 5 years time. A huge concession! Gorbachev then sprang the trap: SDI must NOT continue….Reagan rejected the deal with Gorbachev since Gorbachev was making concessions he could not retrieve at its conclusion. It was obvious that Gorbachev had wilfully released the numbers on nuclear weapons as a concessions with the trap in mind ie end SDI. Even Trident would have ended had this proposal been accepted according to Thatcher. In these skillful negotiations, Reagan “had written one of the last chapters on the ‘Evil Empire’ that was the USSR which would be relegated to an ash heap in history” according to Thatcher. An INF agreement would have been given priority by Thatcher although she rejected full nuclear disarmament as impossible.
As part of his first experiences at Ford, Lee worked on an assembly line where he attached a cap to a harness inside a Ford truck repeatedly…over and over again. The work was not difficult but it was extremely boring. Soon, Lee discovered that engineering no longer interested him. When tasked with drafting a new design for a clutch spring, Iacocca lost all motivation, so he asked to be transferred to sales or marketing. The transition was not easy because Iacocca had to secure the role through his own perseverance. Finally he got a sales role in Chester, Pennsylvania.
According to Iacocca, learning the skills of salesmanship takes time and effort, you have to practice those skills over and over again. Motivation is key. Expect to make mistakes along the way. Sales required time, effort and diligent practice until it becomes second nature. Only through exhaustive practice can a good salesman succeed. There are no naturals in sales. You need to qualify a buyer, which means asking the right questions that might lead to a sale. Most customers do not know what they want, and the sales reps role is to help them figure that out. You need to understand who the car is for in their family and who else is driving it? The most important lesson Iacocca learnt was from his manager in Chester, which was to “make money, screw everything else.” Mistakes are a part of on the job training; they cannot be avoided, but you have to hope that they won’t be too expensive and that you won’t make the same mistake twice. Always own up to your mistakes whenever you make them.
This is a synopsis & analysis based on Iacocca: An Autobiography and other miscellaneous research sources. Enjoy.
LET’S SAY THAT BUSINESS IS RATHER LIKE GOVERNMENT. In the case of the USSR’s space industry, the government was in the business of captivating the imagination of a nation, to inspire young children to study science, and to make the USSR a interplanetary power. Okay, that’s a bit extreme. Great art is used to evoke feelings of pride. However, like Pets.com or many other startup business, the Soviet Space program rushed launches before sufficient tests were conducted; comparable to a company buying an office before having any cashflow. In Silicon Valley, the running joke was that a startup that bought this highly stylised chair at $600 each was doomed upon purchase. In London, there are still startups with decorations, mascots but no cashflow. It’s important to dream imaginatively, but art is supplementary rather than complementary. The USSR should have invested more in testing the N1 Rocket and computer technology and less on the propaganda around it. By the 2000s, the Russian space program became the dominant channel for delivering supplies to the international space station…
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In 1956, Iacocca came up with an inventive new way to sell cars when he developed the “56 for ’56“. The policy meant that any customer that bought a new 1956 Ford should be able to do it with a 20 percent down payment, followed by monthly payments of $56 for three years. After the idea was applied across Ford, Iacocca was thought to be responsible for the sale of an additional 75,000 extra cars. Iacocca’s initiative meant that his profile was enlarged resulting in a big promotion to Dearborn, Michigan i.e. headoffice as the head of car marketing. Here, he met Robert McNamara who was one of the Whiz Kids brought in from the Air Force Statistical Strategy team by Henry Ford II to provide managerial talent at the top of Ford.
When Lee worked at Chester, Pennsylvania as a desk Sales rep, he witnessed corruption when reps took bribes, gifts and favours from dealers in order to get a larger allocation of cars into various dealerships. He worked in sales for over a decade being patient with his colleagues. Fleet sales meant allocating new cars to dealerships, since Lee was in sales, and there was a backlog of cars, this gave him a lot of power at an early age. Others would play fast and loose with the truth to create larger bonuses for themselves. Iacocca did not.
