Tom Brady Taught Ford CEO Jim Farley How To Be a Better Leader

Ford president and CEO Jim Farley is spending his free time talking to celebrities. On weekends for the last six months, Farley has booked time for conversation with one of the stars of El Camino Christmas, a late night talk show host, a woman changing the vehicle service game and a man generally regarded as one of the greatest NFL players of all time.

The conversations are part of his new Spotify podcast, Drive with Jim Farley, which premieres May 25 on the streaming service.

Spotify originally came to Farley with the idea for a podcast over a year ago, proposing a business theme. "I really didn't want to spend my Saturdays doing that," Farley told Newsweek.

Following months of discussions that changed the direction of the podcast, audiences will soon be able to enjoy a conversational interview-style podcast that covers a bevy of topics.

"I think for me as a CEO, it's very important for me to recharge my energy and this was one way to do that ... Also, to learn, to keep learning on the consumer side and remind myself why our product categories are so special - road trips, and first cars, and all the crazy stuff that happens on cars.

"As CEO I can get isolated from the pure joy of driving cars. I personally did it, honestly, just to learn and to bring people's stories out to a larger group - something I knew about them that most people would not imagine."

The list of guests was curated by both Spotify and Farley himself.

Actor and "Armchair Expert" podcast host Dax Shepard; comedian Jimmy Kimmel; automotive content creator Emilia Hartford; Harley-Davidson president, CEO and chairman of the board Jochen Zeitz; Charles Gordon-Lennox, 11th Duke of Richmond; Patrice Banks, founder of Girls Auto Clinic; and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and future Fox Sports commentator Tom Brady each get their own episode alongside Farley.

Episodes roll out weekly though the first week of July.

Farley has learned much from his interviewees over the last few months, chiefly influential among them being the Duke of Richmond and Brady.

"Charles, as he preferred to be called, is a complete disruptor. He completely redesigned what an auto show is, completely changed the marketing model in our industry," Farley said about the Goodwood Revival founder.

"You go to his event and literally every hay bale, every corner, every thing at his event is executed with the idea that you're on a movie set and that you are completely suspended from your normal life. It is such an incredible execution challenge to not only come up with a new concept, but to be that thorough in your execution ... I have learned so much from Charles."

Farley was named Newsweek's Autos Executive Disruptor of the Year for 2022.

"I learned a lot on leadership from Tom Brady, his definition of humble servant ... that his teammates were most interested in advancing the team and not their own notoriety. That was very impactful for me at Ford. That's something at the top of these big companies that you're always sorting through. What kind of people do you want on your team? What is their true north?"

Becoming a podcaster has its challenges, especially for someone not originally in the communications space. Farley had to adapt.

His interview style matches his industry reputation for being driven and methodical but light-hearted when appropriate. "I started a development process. I first do a lot of research on the person ... so I can get at the things that most people would never ask them about. I then go to people who are passionate about them and I ask them to give me questions. I have a go-to list of five or six questions I intend to ask every guest. I don't over-prepare, quite frankly, because I don't want to be robotic," Farley said. "If something was really rich, I keep going back to that area."

One of the guests Farley was most intrigued by was Brady. "I was fascinated with his complete obsession with throwing the perfect pass. It turns out, this is something that he has been working on since high school. He had a coach who was his sister's softball coach who taught him how to throw a football just a certain way.

"He's a guy, arguably one of the greatest football players that we'll ever see in our generation, and he still is working on perfecting that one single motion - throwing the football.

"How could someone at the top of their game still be disappointed with their technical understanding of throwing a pass? I wouldn't have predicted that. As soon as I heard that, I knew I had to go down that rabbit hole."

Farley says that the two guests that were the most eye-opening for him were Banks and Hartford. "Patrice [Banks] was really interesting. She's in Philadelphia and runs the first female garage for female customers. I found that interesting because I kind of knew about the male bias of our industry but I never heard it so starkly portrayed.

"Her personal story and the prejudice of our industry was intriguing to me. I learned a lot that day."

Hartford impressed upon Farley the importance of social media and new media channels. "Emilia is like a next-generation of digital car people who can create a brand on YouTube and make a really good living at it. I found her business model of co-creating the product, naming the cars, and then having fun with them and creating digital content that other people found interesting ... I found it a fascinating business model.

I also liked her very curious selection of cars ... I've not met a lot of people who say, 'I want to make a race car out of a Prius.'"

From Hartford, he says he also learned that, "it's okay to mix things in cars in the execution. So, when I go in the design studio, it's fine to say, 'Can we make an off-road version of the Mustang Mach-E?' ... It gave me permission to ask my team to study things that I would have never done without [talking to her]."

Farley set out to personally make the podcast, but its influence has crept into how he manages Ford's business. "I never even thought about 'Hey, let's help the company.' That's not why I did this," Farley said. "But, did it effect my work? Yes.

He also cited learning about the growing importance of social media and diversity are for Ford's journey as a company.

"I came out of it learning a lot that you can't help but have impact your whole life," Farley said.