I had an email from a former colleague “back in the days” at Ford Motor Company. He left for a senior role in a financial services company, then was recruited into another large company. The last role didn’t work out and today he’s looking for work. It’s a shock to go from a top-level role to unemployment.

I also had a “didn’t work out” job after Ford. I joined an agency in New York and didn’t fit. Maybe I was shattered goods - maybe they were the wrong firm. Regardless I was out - and floundering.

When I first arrived in Detroit the long-timers at Ford said I’d never fit in. Car companies are that different - very few newcomers make it. I lasted five years and worked really hard to integrate. But looking back maybe Ford should have been the one trying harder to help a newcomer fit in. Their reliance on set ways and approaches made them inflexible - and not an employer of choice.

At the time I felt humiliated and disabused. I tried but didn’t make it in Detroit. I couldn’t wait to get out. But hindsight’s a wonderful thing, no? Especially today as Ford and GM and Chrysler all teeter on the brink of oblivion.

Life after Ford wasn’t easy. But the issues the company faces today means we all may face a life after Ford. That company needs to reinvent itself or join the ranks of Pan Am, Enron, TWA, Bear Stearns and other “too big to fail” once-were-giants.