In a brave show of leadership, Ghosn laid out his revival plan just three months into his new job in Japan. Two years later, he had closed plants there, reduced staff numbers by 21,000 globally, halved the number of suppliers to around 600, and cut parts-purchasing costs by 20%. The result: Huge losses had been turned into a US$8 billion profit by 2005 and debts of US$23 billion had been eliminated. Ghosn has talked readily about his leadership methods Nissan was failing, he said, because there was no"profitability" mentality in the company, too much attention was spent on competitors rather than customers; sections did not cooperate; urgency was lacking; and any vision or long-term plans that existed were not shared with the employees. Drastic changes in management were needed, he said, but priority was given to a revival plan that leveraged Nissan's own great strengths as a global brand with top production and technology systems and quality employees. That, however, meant challenging some cultural norms.
Immediately after his arrival, Ghosn opened communications with workers at all levels. He had managers set priorities for each action and made them accountable. The same was done for frontline employees. Anyone whose performance was beyond the company's expectations was given stock options, regardless of age, race or gender Ghosn's communications mechanism also helped employees understand where the company was, and where it was heading, Workers had access to his own financial analysis and were told of his long-term vision and strategy. A general manager at an affiliate company was struck by the simplicity of Ghosn's first question during a meeting of all Nissan's affliates. "It was immediately after his very brief self-introduction. Tell me your responsibility and your goal. It was a very simple question, but all participants quickly understood what he was expecting of us." Ghosn went on to emphasize the need for dignity in managers in their dealings, to deliver on what they promised, and to be committed to the mission in hand. "For management in particular, he clearly mentioned that each manager had to leave his current position if he couldn't accomplish what was expected, the affiliate's manager said.