Iacocca An Autobiography

Iacocca Lee

Lee Iacocca was born Lido A . Iacocca , on October 25 , 1924 to Nicola and Antoinette , who were both Italian immigrants . His parents were hardworking people and his father Nicola believed that America was a land of opportunities . As long as people were willing to work hard , it America , it was possible to achieve anything . Lee followed his father 's work ethic and when he just a boy of ten years , he would take his wagon to the grocery store and wait outside . He volunteered to take the groceries of the

shoppers to their respective houses for a tip . When he turned 16 , he worked 16 hours a day in a fruit market . Lee confesses that the depression of the 1930s resulted in a transformation to his personality and he became a materialist . He graduated from college with the goal of earning 10 ,000 a year till he was 25 and then , he planned to work towards becoming a millionaire (Iacocca , 1984 . The depression also made Lee a less intolerant person towards waste in any form : food clothing or business and a conservative person in his investments . He always knew that disaster can strike any time . During his school days Lee also faced racial discrimination due to the fact that he was Italian . Moreover , he was pained by the fact that his two Jewish friends were treated worse than he was . When Lee was in Chrysler , he named Gerald Greenwald as the Vice President of Chrysler . He would be the first Jew to enter the top ranks of any of the top three automakers (Iacocca , 1984

After his graduation at Lehigh , he got a job with Ford . But he could not pursue that job at that point in time , because he won the Wallace Memorial Fellowship at Princeton . He Graduated from Princeton and started working for Ford in 1946 . Lee married Mary McCleary in 1956 (Iacocca , 1984 . Lee considered his family life very important and reserved weekends to spend time with family . Lee 's success in business was not only due to his hard work and education , but also due to his ability to adapt to any situation (Swinfin , 2006 . He was also a decisive man and had the ability to take innovative decisions . In 1956 when his district was the last in sales , he introduced a new program called "56 for 56 . This program made it possible to purchase a new 1956 Ford for 20 down and 56 .00 a month for 3 years . The program was a huge success and more than 75 ,000 ,000 cars were sold and his district secured the first place in sales . Lee also undertook the challenge of the Fairlane Committee , which was responsible for producing a new type of car . Lee analyzed the research data on demographics and buying capacity of Americans and concluded that the car must be small , but needed to hold 4 passengers . There would be a 2500 LB limit , and the cost could not exceed 2 ,500...