THE whole is greater than the sum of its parts. So goes the ancient wisdom from Aristotle, further amplified by the philosophy of Gestalt, which appreciates the notion of several different parts working as a single unit.
Such could be applied to the components of a turbo-engine working on efficient precision to propel a car to start and speed up. Or better yet, on individuals comprising a successful team.
For Bertrand Lessard, Managing Director of Ford Philippines, never has the image of a single person, a champion, or a savior basking in pompous glory appealed to him. For the automotive industry veteran, there is no place for one-man teams.
“I hate heroes,” Lessard averred with a straight face during his recent sit-down with the BusinessMirror.
Filinvest City in Alabang was still sleepy shortly after lunch when we arrived at Ford’s corporate office in the Philippines to meet the French-Canadian executive. Unlike the dozy area lulled by siesta hour, Lessard enthusiastically engaged with us during that one-hour conversation.
He was as open as a book, like a classic car compendium, answering at length, in great detail and with tremendous passion. No one can really blame him for it; not when has much to share about his over 40 years with Ford Motor Company. It has been an illustrious career that, among many things, led him to challenge the concept of heroes and the notion it cultured.
“The reason I hate heroes is because,” Lessard continued, “I’d rather have a bunch of people who can work together to create something.”
For him, it’s the group over an individual; or, the collective effort over personal glory. Socialization has always been a strong suit of Lessard. Connecting with people comes natural for him as someone who rose through the ranks.
Tough start
HIS parents started out in the vast fields of Quebec, Canada. When farming could no longer sustain their family of nine children, Lessard’s father decided to work in the mines, while his business-minded mother moved to a village and opened a restaurant for his sisters to look after, as well as a car service station for his brothers to manage.
In the mid-60s, motor vehicles were the thing, according to Lessard, who was just around seven years old at that time. He saw at an early age how much cars meant to people and he saw them not merely as modes of transportation.
It was a brave new world reeling after the war. People considered cars as tools of liberty and as symbols of freedom. He holds that impression to this day.
Lessard’s task at the service station was to help with washing cars. He was the youngest of the siblings, after all. But he wanted to do more. His sights were fixated on the job of his older brother, who then was a mechanic. His level of admiration was at a high that Lessard wanted to take up a course to become a service technician. Eventually, he did become such, and a good one at that.
For some reason, his father would always own Ford pick-up trucks. After finishing the course and securing his license, Lessard applied at a Ford dealership in his hometown around 1976. He got accepted, and that was how his ongoing run with the Dearborn, Michigan-based global automaker began: as a service technician.
Rising in the ranks
LESSARD held that position in the dealership and service department for nine years. Toward the end of that period, he contemplated: “Do I want to be a mechanic for the rest of my life?”
He became firm in his resolve: “While I have a lot of respect for that, I wanted to grow.”
The automotive industry upstart tried to apply in a different department, but management looked for more education to go with his mechanical license. Lessard took the turndown as a challenge.
That year, he took on night classes and applied once more. He got denied again. The third application proved to be the charm and he finally got to work in the Ford Quebec regional office in 1985. There, he met a challenge.
He was assigned to sales, and admitted that he “hated” it.
“I thought I did something wrong,” Lessard said of the move, before letting out a chuckle.
But the last laugh did belong to him. He realized that his background in parts and service was his professional edge, and he used every bit of it to his advantage in sales.
When it came to products, nothing can be said to him that he had no knowledge about, because he had been a mechanic. Eventually, he was named assistant regional sales director.
Everything seemed to be coming up roses, but Lessard was never one to rest on his laurels. He wanted his career to advance and sought out a diploma.
Thus, the logical move was to pursue one in Business Administration from HEC Montreal, followed by an internship in International Marketing in Hong Kong and topped it off with an MBA degree in International Marketing, also from HEC.
In 1994 Lessard received his appointment as Director of Advertising for the dealer network at Ford Canada’s Oakville headquarters, where he supervised all of the company’s corporate advertising in Canada.
Expanding horizons
THE following year, Lessard was given a Middle East assignment and was transferred from sales to marketing in Dubai, where he became Regional Director and Vice President, handling operations in nine countries. A few years after, he was on the move anew, this time to Asia, to work for Ford Vietnam to establish a formal sales and distribution network in the market.
What followed that whirlwind of sequences was what he calls today “an experience I wouldn’t trade anything for in the world.”
Ford eventually asked Lessard to come back home to Canada and lead the launch of company’s “Auto Collection program.” It was the company’s experiment in the late 1990s to establish a retail network of the brands it represented at that time.
On top of finance, he had to deal with dwindling customer satisfaction while uplifting the morale of almost 200 employees. Lessard had his fair share of challenging times, but soldiered on. He utilized his experience from all those years in dealership to restructure dealer networks.
After working a 15-hour, six-days-a-week shift—including flying from Quebec to be with his family in Toronto for that lone day off—and living that routine for three-and-a-half years, the dealership got back to positive bottom line, and Ford was able to find a buyer for it.
Trumpeting team effort
“I WASN’T the reason of the success,” he said, deflecting the credit as usual, as a hero who hates heroes.
“The success of the organization is the organization itself, which is the sum of each individual. It’s not one person who can make a difference.”
He added: “Being able to orchestrate it… Now that is extremely rewarding.”
Lessard points to his passion for the automotive industry and his passion for people as his drivers through those trying times. He recalls telling people to savor victory—no matter how small, and to remember the feeling of winning, so that they work hard, or even harder.
It’s this level of connection with people and the commitment to empower them that Lessard plans to bring to the arm of Ford in the Philippines. Upon assuming his role as country lead last August 1, he made his vision clear from the get-go.
“I told people here, ‘I don’t want you to do what I want. I want you to want what I want.’ Because when you want what I want, then you won’t need me. I want you to not need me some years from now so you could do it on your own,” he declared.
And what does Lessard want exactly?
To win, of course. But instead of topping the field, he wants Ford to “beat” itself; or simply, to better its best. When that happens, he said everything would follow.
With Lessard’s leadership, Ford Philippines is optimistic to end the year, in motor racing parlance, “with a podium finish”. To ensure the streak continues this year and beyond, Lessard plans to impart his strengths in the dealership business.
He believes pricing is not the “be-all” and “end-all” of the automotive industry. If that was the case, he argued, there would only be one vehicle maker, and it would be the cheapest one.
The auto industry veteran pointed out that customers have individual preferences. Numbers alone do not dictate the competition. Other factors play a hand as well, and that is where they plan to capitalize.
“The car business is roughly 120 years old, so all the tricks have been tried and exploited in some way,” he said. “What I want to develop here is for us to connect to customers in a different way. People have a tendency to say ‘yes’ to a friend more than to a stranger.”
Going further with people
IN the short time that he has been in the country, Lessard likes what he sees so far. He was quick to dispel the notion that the Philippines is a third-world country, but loves the Filipinos’ festive mood and looks forward to explore more of what the archipelago has to offer.
As far as business is concerned, he is impressed with the Philippine automotive market, maintaining a positive outlook, even at the face of the implementation of the new auto excise tax next year, which is seen to take a toll on the industry in general.
With numbers in check and a vision laid out, Lessard emphasized that the future is bright for Ford in the country. Take it from a former auto mechanic-turned-executive who is unwavering on his faith and confidence in his employee and dealer teams to make Ford ultimately go further in serving its Filipino customers.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano