​Alan Mulally took over as CEO of Ford Motor Company during the roughest stretch in the auto industry since the Great Depression and restored it to profitability without taking a government bailout. How did he do it? With some common sense ideas that are totally foreign to the Detroit auto industry. According to a recent article by Chris Woodyard and James R. Healey which appeared in USA Today, Mr. Mulally rewarded honesty about the status of projects, came down hard on those who tried to hide problems, treasured team play and got executives to work together instead of against each other. This is considered a novel approach in Detroit, but it’s business as usual in highly successful companies like Google, SAS Institute and W. L. Gore & Associates. The rest of the Detroit auto industry would do well to follow Mr. Mulally’s example.