I Want to Work For Bill Ford Too

Now that I am an elite business free agent (like my new term for unemployed bum?), I have many options to consider before joining a new organization. Really, if you were to remove the no income factor, this really is an ideal situation. I can examine what I really want to do with my next career move (Human Resources), and I can choose the type of organization I want to work for (bigger business). I can weigh all of the factors together including pay (I want lots), time off (I want lots), and benefits (I want lots).

In addition to this, I can hope to get a great boss. Now this is where things get tricky. In most situations, I will simply have one or two meeting with my new boss (sometimes fewer) before starting to work for them. In this brief period of time, I am going to hve to size up my new leader, and all I can hope for is that he as good a boss to me as Bill Ford has been to Matt Millen.



When you look at the qualities of a good boss, words like understanding, patient, and loyal come to mind. Honestly, Bill Ford has shows all of these qualities in dealing with employee Millen. Lets quickly look at all three.

Understanding - When you hear the word understanding, you think of a boss who allows for an employee to make mistakes, and treats him with a soft hand even still. Well, Mr Ford has show this excess with Matt Millen. Since taking over as President and CEO of the Detroit Lions in 2002, Matt Millen has made a plethora of mistakes. He has drafted player who don't play very well (Charles Rogers, Joey Harrington, Mike Williams). He has fired one of the most respected coaches in the NFL (Steve Mariucci), and he has signed high priced free agents who have not panned out (Kenoy Kennedy, Dan Wilkinson, Damien Woody). Now most bosses would expect the GM of a pro-football team to draft good players, keep good coaches, and not sign high priced busts, but hindsight is 20-20, and Mr Ford has showed Matt Millen understanding.

Patients - In today's NFL, there is an exceptional amount of pressure on coaches and front office leaders to put a winner on the field and to do so now. Just look at the state of the league. In Arizona, the Cards fired Denny Green after only three seasons. Why? He has too much talent to not be pushing for the playoffs. In Atlanta, the Falcons are searching for Jim Mora Jr's replacement. Why? Their trip to the NFC Championship game 2 years ago, was exactly that, 2 years ago. In Miami, Nick Saban just resigned. Why? 'Bama flashed security and the pressure in Miami was building after being two games under .500 during his first two seasons. Coaching and GM tenures in the NFL are starting to resemble the length of a Pamela Anderson marriage. Except of course, in Detroit. Matt Millen has been shown more patients in Detroit than any other league executive. In a league where winning is everything, Bill Ford has shown an amazing stomach for losing. Each year it seems, the Detroit Lions are amongst one of the league's 10 worst teams. This year, they have fallen to the second worst team in the game. Is Bill Ford fretting? Absolutely not. He knows, like all good bosses, you have to show patients with your personnel. You just know, that if you show enough patients, those employees will turn into the superstars you always knew they would be, and you will be vindicated. In a league with a short fuse, W.C. Ford has shown Matt Millen more patients than a Gray shows to a team of strung out managers in a college bookstore.

Loyalty - This trait is probably the most rare in business today. It is even more pronounced in the NFL. Today we see player jumping from team to team, just to make a few extra bucks. We watch GM's deal franchise players to "cut payroll". We watch player cut the throats of coaches, and coaches back stab each other, all to keep their own hides in tact. Well, that may be how it is most places, but Detroit is not most places. Bill Ford will have none of that low class, fan pandering that seems to go on in most franchises. He made a decision back in 2002 to hire Matt Millen, and by gosh, he is going to stand by his man. Through thick and thin, fan abandonment and media joke, Bill Ford has shown a loyalty to Matt Millen only rivaled by the Bookguy's dedication to a whiney, ass kissing, two-faced, lying, Director of Operations, who only has time to be the Director of Retail Selling that no one outside of Louisville will follow anyway. (Sorry for the Rant). Seriously, when Bill Ford told Matt Millen he had his back, he really meant it.

So, in my search for a new career, I have to find a boss like William Clay Ford. I need a guy who will stay in my corner, and show me understanding and patients. I want to join an organization that is lead by a man who in the face of all evidence, will stand by his decisions, and his right hand man. I need a boss like William Clay Ford. Then again, I am having this "been there before" kind of feeling. Of course !!! Now I know why. It seems that I just got finished working for a William Clay Ford type of personnel retard. Maybe one time around, following a blind man who justifies blatantly piss poor leadership, by claiming to be a "man of character" was enough for me. Fuck William Clay Ford. Does anyone know if Genghis Khan is hiring?