Take off with Natarajan

Source:::: “THE HINDU”….A success story of a business man without an university degree for a management profession qualification…..

Natarajan.

Michael Boneham, president and managing director of Ford India, began his successful journey as a village school teacher

University degrees and top grades might be great points to have in one’s resume. But do you really need them for most of the things you want to do in life?

Michael Boneham, president and managing director, Ford India, is neither an engineer nor an MBA, considered to be prerequisites for such a post. He is one who relies more on his dreams, his instincts and intuitions. No wonder then that he left the village school in Australia, where he was teaching, and took off on a backpacking trip to Europe.

“I went away for eight months. When I came back, I thought I needed a new challenge. I could have gone back to teaching, but that wasn’t going to be for me for the rest of my life,” says Boneham.

That was when Boneham chanced upon an advertisement. “It was from Ford, an HR position for an assembly plant in Sydney. I applied and was surprised to get the job. I always had an interest in cars and also studied HR for some years. So it was not that I had no background,” he says with a smile.

Boneham got an opportunity to move into manufacturing. “This was something unusual in Ford for someone to move into manufacturing from HR. Again it was all about focussing on leading and managing the people.”

For the 27 years and a little more that Boneham has been with Ford he has been responsible for purchase, manufacture, and management operations till he moved into this post four years ago. “Well, I think leadership is all about interacting with people and being able to be passionate about what you’re doing. It is to bring people with you and being clear on what you want as a leader.”

In his present position Boneham believes that he needs to be just a businessman who understands what drives a business. He confesses that most of his learning was on the job. “University is important. But the experience of the 27 plus years cannot be undermined. You get to see how leaders perform, you watch the things that really catch you and put them into your own tool kit. This can be done only by experience and on the job. Degrees are important. An MBA is important and you can have the best one in the world, but if you don’t deliver and perform in the work place that degree is not worth it”

Another aspect that Boneham has realised is that people need to keep minds open to new possibilities. “Young people should not be narrow in their dreams about what they can do. They should be open to new possibilities that will open new doors.”

Tracking the highpoints in his career with the automotive company, the Aussie points to some important decisions he was part of. “Supervising the manufacture of the third generation of the iconic Range Rover when Ford took over Land Rover from BMW was very exciting. I was plant manager for the Michigan factory that rolled out the latest generation of Mustangs, the great vehicle.”

The Indian challenge

Coming to India and doing what the company has done so far, Boneham thinks was another challenge. “Ford was not a big player in India; we were an interesting niche player. Then we found a way to deliver Figo in a segment where more than 70 per cent of all car sales happen. It was not easy.”

Boneham also oversees the company’s community efforts in India. ‘Operation Goodwill,’ as the programme is called, focuses on enabling sustainable development and improving educational infrastructure. The company has already invested 125,000 dollars in the project that aims to develop skills among rural women, improving educational infrastructure, basic sanitation and hygiene, and enabling higher learning outcomes in schools at villages. The company is also the highest voluntary blood donor in the industrial segment for the past ten years.

“This Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative has been part of what Ford is all about globally. Henry Ford said that a business that just makes money is poor business. We try to follow that in CSR. We believe it is our obligation to give back, particularly in the communities where we have operations,” rounded off Boneham.

Keywords: Michael Boneham, Ford India