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In 2009, in his first speech to Chrysler employees, Sergio Marchionne invokes the Zulu greeting "Sawubona."
It means "I see you". And the traditional answer is "sikona", or "I am here".
"The sequence of the exchange is important," said Marchionne. "Until you're seen, you do not exist, I can just tell you that I see you, I'm glad you're here."
They were happy to be there too.
Chrysler employees suffered several months of crisis that led to a government-controlled bankruptcy.
The speech was quoted in a book written by Steven Rattner, who worked with Marchionne to rescue Chrysler. The words certainly meant the world to its beleaguered workers, who had suffered during months of crisis that ended in government-controlled bankruptcy.
No other automobile executive would have presented himself thus. But then, few others could have done what he did. Marchionne, who died Wednesday at the age of 66, was an industry outsider who rescued not one but two car companies.
Related: Sergio Marchionne, the CEO who saved Fiat and Chrysler, dies at age 66
Marchionne became Fiat's CEO in 2004, his entry into the auto industry.
He quickly reversed a series of quarterly losses at the Italian automaker, and reintroduced the tiny Fiat 500, a model that now sets the brand on a global scale.
A reinforced Fiat becomes the savior of Chrysler, with Marchionne as CEO.
As a result of the 2008 financial crisis, Chrysler's competitiveness had suffered from the years of its merger with Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz, and the participation of Cerberus Capital Management.
During these years, the quality of newly introduced products by Chrysler has deteriorated to the point that some were not competitively remotely. Marchionne himself would later call the Dodge Caliber car "an abomination".
When the US economy collapsed, Chrysler needed help to survive, and Fiat seemed to be an ideal partner.
Fiat wanted to enter the US market, and Chrysler needed good little cars. Marchionne was also the good man.
He resurrected Fiat and Chrysler by never thinking of himself as an insider.
that require care in their selection and maintenance. As CEO, Marchionne still wore black sweaters. The sweaters are easy to maintain and easy to pack, and no decision making is needed just to get dressed for the job. It does not matter that no other automotive executive dresses that way. He did what made sense.
He took the same turn with the companies he was running.
He was lucid and frank. Often brutally.
After taking over Chrysler, he quickly announced a new management team, and a few months later he fired two of his senior managers and rearranged things again.
In Marchionne's unusual management structure, some people were given multiple roles. Ralph Gilles, for example, was originally both CEO of the Dodge brand and head of product design for Chrysler's entire company. Fred Diaz has been named CEO of the new Ram Truck brand and marketing manager for the entire company. (Gilles is now responsible for the design of Fiat Chrysler, Diaz left the company and is today CEO of Mitsubishi North America.)
When he was dealing with the media he Was expecting discipline from those who worked for him. exhibited refreshing little of itself. A press conference with Marchionne has always been an interesting and entertaining event.
He freely criticized the products and performances of his own company in public forums. He once admitted that the launch of the Dodge Dart, a car designed under his direction, did not go well. The car was not originally offered with the engines and transmissions that the Americans would have preferred, he said. In the long run, the Dart was pulled off the market because, in the end, Americans were largely diverted from small cars.
While other captains of the auto industry boasted of their enthusiasm for electric cars, Marchionne conceded that they were expensive to manufacture and that there were, at the time At present, there are few opportunities for them.
In 2013, he complained openly that Fiat was losing money on the Fiat 500e, an electric machine that California rules required it to sell there.
When reporters wondered what would become of Fiat Chrysler without Marchionne, he expressed his confidence in the people he expected to take care of for him.
"I think leadership will be good leadership and that's all that matters," he told the Detroit Auto Show in January.
He does not give up control of the company that he helped to build in the way, or at the time, that he had planned. But at least he could leave things in his hands that he helped to choose.
– Peter Valdes-Dapena covered the automobile industry for CNNMoney during 18 years
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