Page 67 - The Way to the Top

Richard E. DAUCH

Cofounder, Chairman, and CEO of American Axle & Manufacturing

In 1990, when I was Executive Vice President of worldwide manufacturing
at Chrysler, Lee Iacocca, the Chairman and CEO, thoughtfully shared with
me advice that set me on a course to become Cofounder, Chairman, and

CEO of American Axle & Manufacturing, the tenth largest tier-one
automotive supplier in North America and the twenty-fifth largest in the
world.

Mr. Iacocca’s advice was complex in its simplicity. He said that if my
ambition was to be the leader of a significant industrial corporation, I

would have to do what he had done more than a decade earlier, when he
completed a legendary resurrection of Chrysler as it spiraled toward
bankruptcy. I would have to make my own mark at a different corporation.

I would have to either resuscitate a floundering automotive company as he
had done or create a new one. Given Mr. Iacocca’s renowned success, I
took his advice to heart and decided to create my own company.

Mr. Iacocca arrived at Chrysler Corporation in dire straights, but he got
right to work. He surveyed the situation, developed a plan, and then hired

the right people with the right automotive design, manufacturing,
marketing, finance, and applied engineering experience to get the job
done. He convinced the federal government that he had a sound business
plan and obtained government loan guarantees, which Chrysler was able to

pay back seven years early. Mr. Iacocca and his team succeeded in saving
tens of thousands of jobs and an automotive nameplate that might have
been lost forever. I am proud to have been part of that distinguished team.

Mr. Iacocca’s advice inspired me to retire early from Chrysler
Corporation, giving me the time and energy to focus on an automotive-