Ford CEO Jim Farley has long been known as a car guy and is a rather successful amateur racer that also somehow finds time to drive rally cars, help the homeless at the Pope Francis Center in Detroit, and take others for a spin around the track for a good cause on the rare occasion that he has a spare few minutes of time. Despite all of that, Farley – who was recently named Newsweek‘s Executive of the Year and MotorTrend‘s Person of the Year – is venturing off on another endeavor – hosting a new podcast on Spotify called Drive, which debuts on May 25th, according to Bloomberg.
On the weekly 20-25 minute show, Farley will conduct interviews with a host of celebrities, fellow executives, royals, professional athletes, and race car drivers including actor Dax Shepard, late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz, YouTuber Emelia Hartford, the Duke of Richmond, Girls Auto Clinic founder Patrice Banks, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, to name a few.
The concept behind Drive, as the name might suggest, isn’t all about cars however – it’s about Farley finding out what drives each of these folks to be successful in life. Farley reportedly conducted all of the interviews in his spare time on Saturdays from a conference room at Ford’s Dearborn headquarters, but the automaker isn’t contributing any money to the production or turning it into any sort of advertising venture.
Rather, Spotify is paying for the podcast, with the help of sponsor Salesforce. Spotify reportedly originally approached Farley with the idea a year ago, but he declined at that time before later changing his mind. “I told them I love cars, and I’d love to talk to people about cars. And I don’t want this to be work,” Farley said. “So we kind of co-created this idea with Spotify. There’s a lot I learned personally as a leader. I never did it for that reason, but you know, I need to get out of Detroit.”
We’ll have more on Jim Farley soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for non-stop Ford news coverage.
A rather bold claim, indeed.
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Wow, so the guys a top level CEO, I don't think that means that he should shackle himself to the headquarters building and never leave! Glad to see that he's finding both enjoyment and fulfillment outside the job.
hes making his money-we are done being ford fans-the past year they have really showed how much they care about customer service. WE PAY HIM FOR DOING WHAT??? HE SHOULD BE ON OUR END
Maybe the guests can show him how to do his job. Maybe even how to fix Lincoln the "damaged brand" that is not a full line brand like MB, Cadillac, and BMW.
LOVE TO SEE HIM MAKE FORD A NAME TO RECON WITH ON THE TRACK WITH THE EV RACING. TRUCK AND CARS
Recalls are nothing new. We'd all like it if there were none, but every month, virtually every brand has recalls (just look at autoevolution's recall list), and while Ford is no Honda at this stuff, Farley is the first CEO at Ford I've ever heard even address the fact that Ford needs to improve quality, and has even hired an outsider to oversee these improvements.
Considering Farley worked for 17 years in Toyota - one of the least recalled brands on earth - and was considered highly respected by Japan, I don't think he's the problem. It will take a while to correct the system at Ford and clear out the middle-management clowns that are bogging down the company, which Ford engineers have been complaining about for years.
And news flash: it's 2022, and you don't need to go to Hollywood to make something like this. As the article states: "Farley reportedly conducted all of the interviews in his spare time on Saturdays from a conference room at Ford’s Dearborn headquarters, but the automaker isn’t contributing any money to the production or turning it into any sort of advertising venture."