The one percent.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. I often comment about the True Believers in this business, the people who bring a consistent focus and discipline to work with them every day. But being a True Believer means much more than that. In the True Believers you see an attitude that goes beyond professionalism, one that ascends to a higher level of commitment and a willingness to not only do things the right way but to do them exceptionally well. 

And there’s one more ingredient that the True Believers bring with them to work every day too and that is genuine passion and a belief in what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

Now as I’ve often mentioned, being a True Believer hard at work at a car company doesn't necessarily mean that you’re a believer in the current executive regime at the top - you only have to look as far as the leadership at Fiat-Chrysler and General Motors to understand that – but it does mean that their belief in what they’re doing and the way they go about their business doesn’t change one iota, because the True Believers still bring the focus, the consistency, the commitment and the passion for what they do to work with them every day no matter how deficient and embarrassing that leadership is at the top.

But today I’m going to describe an entirely different level of True Believer. These are the True Believers with something extra. These individuals are at times considered misfits, irksome rabble-rousers who go against the grain while decidedly marching to their own cadence. These people question and push and say “what if” even if the path seems to be a dead end. These are the people who bring an entirely different level of intensity and creativity to the proceedings, and with a palpable edge too. These True Believers are the one percent.

It seems strange to be describing these one-percenters as part of an industry that has oftentimes deserved the reputation for being moribund and set in its ways, yet it’s exactly these one-percenters who launched this industry and delivered the highlights for this business throughout history.

Henry Ford was a one-percenter. So was Alfred P. Sloan. Ransom Olds. The Dodge brothers. Louis Chevrolet. Gottleib Daimler. Walter Chrysler. Boss Kettering. Ferdinand Porsche. Louis Renault. Billy Durant. David Buick. Ettore Bugatti. Henry Leland. Enzo Ferrari. Harry Miller. Zora Arkus-Duntov. Harley Earl. Bill Mitchell. John DeLorean. Bunkie Knudsen. Larry Shinoda. Ed Cole. The list goes on and on.

These were driven individuals, to be sure. In some cases they could be wildly difficult and cantankerous pricks too. They fought with their bosses, their bankers and even their own trusted lieutenants and they didn’t suffer fools, gladly or otherwise.

But they brought something extra with them and to their pursuit every single day. They pushed, cajoled and demanded excellence of everyone around them, but not nearly as much as they demanded and expected of themselves. They took risks and they took chances. They reveled in visionary thinking. They dared to innovate and explore and go down different paths but most important, they dared to dream. Of going faster or doing it better. And in the course of that they achieved greatness.

Some would say that there’s a dearth of one-percenters in this day and age, that the massive bureaucratic wasteland that defines these companies rewards the classic “go along to get along” mentality and punishes those who would deign to color outside of the lines, and for the most part that is true.

But there are exceptions and the true believing one-percenters do manage to get their due now and again. Lee Iacocca was a one-percenter who managed to achieve the top rung. Bob Lutz is certainly a walking, talking example of it too. And there are many others operating in that capacity today in this business, many of whom I happen to know personally.

I will admit that it’s far more difficult to pull off these days, especially in companies where management is suspect (or flat-out paranoid) and the agenda isn’t necessarily one of producing great cars and trucks or being the best, but one that puts ego idolatry and bootlicking before everything else. And unfortunately you don’t have to go far in this town to see that most unsavory side of this business in action every day.

But thank goodness for the one-percenters who can be found in design, engineering, product development, marketing, PR and yes, on the rare occasion, even in accounting today. They keep the fires burning. They’re creative in thought and relentless in the pursuit of excellence. They keep striving for greatness in an era when mediocrity is not only expected, but also rewarded. They don’t shy away from “blue sky” thinking but instead embrace it in the relentless push for unexpected solutions.

And most important, they keep the dream alive.

The struggle between those who revel in mediocrity and those who strive for excellence is a never-ending battle in this business. Some car companies get it and nurture creativity and bright thinking from their True Believers and the true believing one-percenters. Other car companies squash their true believing one-percenters like bugs. It’s part of the game and it’s an ever-present and at times ugly reality.

But as long as there are True Believers and those true believing one-percenters in this business, there is hope for this industry.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.