Sheryl Connelly – Manager, Global Trends, Ford Motor Company

By Muriel Vega

“For the past few years, we’ve talked about the rising power of women from a global standpoint. According to recent research, by 2020 half of the world’s billionaires will be women.” says Sheryl Connelly, manager of global trends at Ford Motor Company. “Women are at the forefront of change that’s contributing significantly to an increase in their progress and power.” For the last six years, Connelly has identified and tracked consumer trends that lead the company’s future activities.

“My job is to look outside the industry – to look at the trends shape and influence consumers from a non-automotive perspective. The work feeds directly into a broad range of functions – design, engineering, corporate strategy, HR and IT,” she says. Her team includes people from different areas of the company as well as from around the world. Her passion for Ford Motor Company has remained unshaken despite the hard times the industry has seen in the last couple of years.

Here, she talks to PINK about having it all without being at the top – and about going green.

PINK: How do you identify which trends will be effective for Ford?
Sheryl Connelly: I read, I read and I read… and then I read some more. We try to be observers of human nature in the marketplace and we try to understand what motivates people. We look at customer values and behaviors. When it comes to trends, there are several different sources we can pull from such as syndicated reports. It ranges from daily periodicals and new books to conferences. This helps us see the world through a different lens. We also reach out to other companies, to talk about what they are observing and discuss strategies. One of the trends we have recently been talking about is “information addiction”. Consumers want more information and greater control. We are trying to understand what’s underneath that and how other companies are responding.

PINK: How is Ford embracing corporate responsibility?
S.C.: Consumers want to know what your company stands for. Ford manufactures automobiles, but we also build communities and foster educational opportunities. Ford was one of the first companies to write a global report on the implications of HIV/AIDS and developed a comprehensive report on the implications of climate change. We participate in an annual sustainability report. We also have a wind plant in Europe. Many of our plants have green alternatives, like rain water collectors and recycling facilities. Many times these things get pushed to the background as we often talk only about miles to the gallon.

PINK: What’s your success secret?
S.C.: Many people left the automotive industry due to its ups and downs in the last five years. If you think about anyone that remained, they stayed because they have a passion for automobiles and they feel an emotional connection to the company. Any success I’ve enjoyed comes from the fact that I really love what I do. To truly be successful, you need to have elements of work, play and love. If any of those three things fall out of balance, it’s hard to be happy. My advice is don’t only concentrate on your career, look at the big picture. I grew up in the wake of the women’s movement and the popular ideal at the time was that women can have it all. You can run a successful household, you can be CEO – there’s nothing stopping you.  Those are not my priorities. I have to keep in mind what’s important to me. I have to be realistic. If I become CEO, I would have to make sacrifices in terms of my husband, my kids and my whole life that I’m not prepared to do. There are definitely women who can do it but, personally, I’m not looking to have it all.

PINK: How do you motivate your team?
S.C.: It’s actually really exciting because people love doing this work. We try to get out of the day-to-day and think of the big picture. There is a video which shows  six college students playing basketball. – three of them wearing black t-shirts and three of them wearing white t-shirts.  When people watch the video, no one ever agrees on the number of passes that have occurred. But what is most interesting about the video is the part when someone in a gorilla costume walks into the middle of the basketball game and slowly walks off the screen. Most people never notice the gorilla on the screen. I love this video. It reflects the work that I do everyday. Many people are responsible for figuring out ways to make better vehicles, get higher fuel economy or be greener.  Employees become so focused on the task that they never look up and see the gorilla. I have to tell them, did you know that there was a spike in the Asian population or that people are growing increasingly dependent on information. I bring those trends and how other companies are responding and we try to understand what that means for Ford, how this impacts vehicle design or engineering.

PINK: What’s your leadership style?
S.C.: I think it starts with me. Whenever I talk to anyone, personally and professionally, I always try to face them with honesty, integrity and sincerity. I am genuinely interested in people and what they have to say. This is important because my job requires constant collaboration. I identify and track outside trends and take them to different parts of the company to show how they impact consumers, from someone in the vehicle design community to an engineer.

PINK: How do you handle Life/Work balance?
S.C.: I make lists all the time to keep me organized – errands that need to be run, things that need to be cleaned or emails that need to be answered. If I get through half the list, I consider the day a success. Always keep in mind that tasks are going to take longer than you think. [When I’m frustrated], I just think that there are people out there who feel the same way. I’m also really lucky. I come from a really large family. I’m one out of six children and all of my siblings live near me. I also have a fraternal twin sister and anything that falls through the cracks that my husband doesn’t catch, she catches for us. She watches my kids a couple times a week, our kids go to the same elementary school and some of them are in the same class. I have two daughters, ages 6 and 8. My sister has two boys, who are also 6 and 8. I know it sounds like a freaky twin thing but we just wanted to start our families around the same time.

PINK: What do you do to relax?
S.C.: I spend as much time as I can with my kids. We love to lie on the floor and color together or wrestle. I love spending time with them.

PINK: What’s your workplace pet peeve?
S.C.: When I encounter people that are close-minded to new ideas or different perspectives.