The Servant's Quarters

Welcome to the new Ford Motor Company.

I wasn't prepared for how different it was going to be.

At about 5:45 AM, I walked into the Ford Fitness Center in Dearborn. There were about half as many people as there normally are. I couldn't believe it. To check myself, I asked the lady behind the desk, Lori, if the place seemed empty to her. Oh yeah. She told me that numbers were down drastically since yesterday.

"Welcome to the Way Forward," I said as I walked towards the locker room.

Although my office didn't seem quite as abandoned, it did feel a lot more lonely than it did yesterday, when I said good-bye to several colleagues, some of whom I've been friends with for years. The first thing I noticed when I approached my cubicle was the two huge stack of file folders that were on my desk. They were left there after I had departed for the day by a departing co-worker whose job I'm going to be doing from now on. (How I'm going to do this, I have no idea.)

Attendance is sparse today, and empty offices are everywhere. Right now, I'm visiting another building for a meeting. The same lack of people is evident here, and the atmosphere of loneliness is enhanced by the fact that not all the lights in the building are on. Obviously, fewer people allow you to dial down the lighting in order to save money. The guy that I'm meeting with commented that it's like a Friday, with people taking time off and the work activity really slowing down.

Earlier this morning, I noted on the front page of the Detroit Free Press that our CEO has scored an additional $1 million in stock options. I don't begrudge him his amazing salary and bonuses. If we want a good leader, we need to pay him. But man - what a day to make this announcement to the media!