What does it take to run three struggling companies simultaneously and to lead them successfully? Carlos Ghosn, who has been the CEO and Chairman of automakers Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi Motors for more than 20 years, has a simple answer. “If you don’t know how to prioritize, if you’re not very disciplined, if you cannot plan and organize your work, you’re dead,” he tells Fortune.
Ghosn, who born in Brazil, raised in Lebanon, and educated in France, heads up the alliance of these three big automakers that are based in Japan and France, and conduct business in 200 countries. Not only is he the embodiment of a global chief executive, who thrives in the cultural diversity and geographic reach of his job, he has also been a successful business leader. He has turned around the business of Renault and resuscitated Nissan from near bankruptcy to profits. A year ago, he agreed to do the same for money-losing Mitsubishi Motors that is struggling from a scandal of faking fuel economy test data.
Ghosn says he is most proud of what he did to turn around Nissan. When asked what he wants people to say about him and his legacy, he replies, “He was a good CEO.”
Watch the video above for more from our conversation with Ghosn.