Ferrari’s Luca di Montezemolo and Apple’s Tim Cook met this week at Stanford University’s View From the Top lecture series. The two brand and business icons were discussing views in product passion, design and brand management. Cook and di Montezemolo had a meeting to discuss their companies, methodologies and products that the Ferrari president termed as “friendly”.
“When you’ve got a leader in a company like Steve Jobs,” di Montezemolo said, “people have big respect and big gratitude for what he’s done.”
Speaking to Stanford’s MBA students, di Montezemolo described his own management style saying,
“Vision is something crucial for your people.” di Montezemolo said. “Give them clear goals, clear priorities and give everyone the possibility to grow up [internally].”
You’d have to say that Ferrari F1 team boss Stefano Domenciali is an example of growing up internally at Ferrari and that di Montezemolo actually may practice what he preaches.
The thought of Apple and Ferrari working together, I have to admit, has a certain element of awesome to it. Two iconic brands that have defined their particular cultural impact on the world and retained their integrity through passion, innovation and hard work. Ferrari recently announced its new KERS technology for their new Hy-KERS system:
What about an all-electric car from Ferrari?
“To do electric you need big batteries,” di Montezemolo says, citing both weight and technological concerns. “I believe a lot in the hybrid. I want to [build] cars that have performance and can travel far. I want to drive from here to New York if I want.”
The similarities between Ferrari and Apple are obvious but perhaps they actually depart with the customers they serve. Most notably, is a Ferrari customer an Apple customer at heart or vice versa? Perhaps di Montezemolo says it best when he says:
“Ferrari has to remain a dream and has to remain a car with very innovative technology,” di Montezemolo said, “It must remain a hedonistic car.”
Is the iMac or iPad a “hedonistic” computer or tablet?
