Charismatic Fiat chief a ‘true, rare’ leader’
MILAN — Sergio Marchionne’s achievements as one of the automotive world’s most charismatic chief executives include the bold trans-Atlantic merger of Italian carmaker Fiat and U.S. No. 3 Chrysler after he restored both to health.
But Marchionne told analysts during a big presentation last month that his true legacy at Fiat Chrysler Automotive would be the culture of a corporation where “mediocrity is never, ever worth the trip.”
The Italian-Canadian always insisted a replacement would come from the ranks of his handpicked and tested team, managers who met his exacting standards. Asked if he planned to leave a script behind when he stepped down next year as planned, Marchionne said that wouldn’t be necessary.
“There is no script or instructions. Instructions are institutional and temporary,” he said. “FCA is a culture of leaders.”
Marchionne, 66, was hastily replaced as CEO of Fiat Chrysler on Saturday after the company announced that his health had taken a turn for the worse following shoulder surgery last month in Zurich, Switzerland. Details of the complications and his condition were not disclosed, but the company said they prevented him from returning to work.
The head of Jeep and Ram, Mike Manley, was picked to replace Marchionne. The Briton was a key executive on Marchionne’s team, growing the quintessentially American Jeep brand into a global marquee and giving it a belated foothold in China.
Fiat Chairman John Elkann, in a letter to Fiat’s 236,000 employees yesterday, called Marchionne a “true, rare kind of leader” and lauded him as “the best CEO that anyone could ask for and to me personally, a true mentor, partner, close friend.”
The Fiat-Chrysler merger remains the crown jewel in the 14-year Marchionne era, an accomplishment built on a series of daring plays.
In 2005, the trained lawyer who studied philosophy demonstrated his deal-making skill by getting GM to pay $2 billion to sever ties with Fiat as part of a failed crossborder tie-up. The money was pivotal to relaunching the failing carmaker.
Then in 2009, he secured a deal with a then-new U.S. President Barack Obama to take over bankrupt Chrysler without Fiat having to put a penny down in exchange for Fiat’s small car technology.