In 2006, The Ford Motor Company, at 103 years old, found itself floundering, lacking leadership, and near insolvency. It had lost 25% of its market share since 1990 and lagged behind some of its competitors in innovation and design, all the while burdened with drastically increasing legacy and operating costs. The company’s Board of Directors recognized that bold leadership is required if Ford was to be saved. In September 2006, although faced with much skepticism for its decision to seek external candidates for its top job, decided to hire Alan Mulally, an executive from Boeing Corporation without any automotive experience, as its Chief Executive Officer. Eight years later, not only is Ford profitable again and on the path to continued prosperity and growth, but Mr. Mulally is considered as one of the five most significant corporate leaders of the last decade by Forbes magazine (2014), and one of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune magazine (2015). Through this case study, I will explore and discuss Mulally’s leadership approach, traits, and attributes, relative to the principles of leadership characteristics and attributes, leadership ethics and values, and leadership behaviors as taught by Bordeaux (2015), and Hughes (2015).

Leadership
Although there are various definitions for what leadership is, there seems to be common attributes among those who are considered effective leaders, past and present. According to Hughes (2015), “defining leadership as the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals, is fairly comprehensive and helpful.” Even though leaders tend to be preoccupied with power, the leadership function is necessary in any organizational setting or group, to not only prevent disarray, but to also guide the group towards its desired and/or required objectives. The effectiveness of a leader lies in