HE WAS ONE OF A KIND
I’ll remember Marchionne for both warmth and coolness. Warmth in personal chat, coolness in the brilliant, witty eloquence he always deployed when chatting or answering questions.
He never tried to be conventional or fit a mould. I don’t believe being part of the herd ever even occurred to the man. His legacies will be the years-long rescues of Fiat, Chrysler and Alfa, his certainty that big-note corporate car industry mergers would have to continue — hence the audacious but unsuccessful attempts to join up with GM — and an abiding impression that on the corporate stage he was somehow more sure-footed than the rest of them.
His press conferences could be amazingly informative, because he was lightning quick at anticipating the direction of questions and always met them straightforwardly.
They could also be hilarious. He seemed especially to dislike German financial journalists and their often laborious questions about financial sensitivities or pension provisions, so far removed from the job of making a big business percolate, his first love.
Marchionne was a workaholic; it would be nice to think he’d have been rewarded with a little time to relax. On the other hand, given the immense amount of ground he covered and the order he created out of unprofitable chaos, it probably benefited many people that he worked at top speed right to the end.