Leadership in America- Harley Davidson CEO speaks

One cool thing about the training program I am in with the Navy is that they have a "Leadership in America" Distinguished Speaker Series. This is where they bring in famous and influential American leaders to speak about leadership and business. Among some of the many past speakers are Billy Joel and some Redskins player (Im not a sports fan). This week, Jeff Bleustein, retired CEO of Harley Davidson, came to speak to us.

He spoke about the history of the Harley-Davidson company, and all of the rough times. He described what leadership in the company did to make the company a leader in motorcycles. It was sort of like a huge business case study. As an industrial engineer, I know about the things you can do to save money and increase efficiency in manufacturing, but it was interesting to hear the business side of it. Among many of the things were dealer makeovers, starting the H.O.G. program, and improving the quality. He was also a relatively funny guy.

At the end, he signed glossy photos of the "soft tail" motorcycle (named so because of the shock absorbers, compared to the "hard-tail" which when you went over a bump was "hard on your tail"). I got one signed for me and one signed for my dad! It says "Ride with pride!"


Stay tuned in: Next week is Katie Couric, from CBS News, talking on "Media's Role in the Government."