The great Jerry Useem—that’s how we referred to him when he worked at Fortune a publishing world eon ago—has a marvelous profile of Ford CEO Jim Hackett in the March issue of The Atlantic. I recommend it for its delicious nugget of insight, that Hackett is effectively a new kind of industrial-company leader, the “UX designer” as CEO.

Hackett is a proponent of design thinking, the approach to product design that says user experience, or UX, is paramount. Features are great so long as users use them. Otherwise they aren’t so great. That Ford would put a guy in charge of the storied institution whose chief virtue is his intellectual framework for listening to customers speaks volumes to the ascendancy of the concept. (I covered some similar ground in my own profile of Hackett about 18 months ago, shortly after the former Steelcase executive was tapped to run Ford.)

Profiles of Hackett tend to end with the ultimate “to be sure” derogation. To wit: To be sure, no matter how clever his ideas Hackett has yet to distinguish himself financially. Ford’s stock is off nearly 30% since I wrote about the company, compared with a 10% jump in the overall market. Ford Chairman Bill Ford, a former CEO himself, personally recruited Hackett as chairman. Still, Hackett can only last so long if the company’s stock remains a single-digit embarrassment. (It trades below $9 a share.) Many have noted that Ford is worth less than Tesla on the stock market. That delta is a shocking $15 billion (including debt, however, Ford is still worth almost triple Tesla).

It’s a good day to talk about design thinking, by way. This morning in Singapore Fortune’s Brainstorm Design conference began. It’s a conclave of businesspeople who apply design in their work. It’s also a fascinating collection of people, and you can follow the proceedings at Fortune.com.

伟大的杰里·乌希姆——这是他很早以前在《财富》杂志工作时我们对他的称呼——在《大西洋月刊》（The Atlantic）的3月刊上有一篇关于福特（Ford）首席执行官吉姆·哈克特的出色报道。我之所以推荐它，是因为它敏锐地洞察到哈克特实际上是一位新型的工业公司领袖，是一名“用户体验设计师型”首席执行官。

哈克特是设计思维的拥护者，这种产品设计的理念将用户体验，即UX，放在最重要的地位。只有用户愿意使用，才说明产品特色优秀。若是无人问津，情况则相反。福特愿意让一个最大优点在于倾听消费者的人来负责这家传奇企业，充分说明了这一理念的优越性。（我在18个月前写的一篇有关哈克特的报道持有类似看法，当时这位前Steelcase公司的高管刚掌舵福特不久。）

哈克特的报道都倾向于以最终“肯定”的减损作为结尾。也就是说：诚然，无论哈克特的想法多么聪明，他还没能在财务上出人头地。自从我上次报道福特以来，该公司的股价已经下跌了30%，而整体市场在同期却有10%的上涨。福特的董事长比尔·福特之前曾经是首席执行官，他亲自邀请哈克特来当董事长。然而，如果公司的股价仍然尴尬地保持在个位数，哈克特也就只能到此为止了。（目前福特的股价不到9美元。）许多人指出，福特的市值还不如特斯拉（Tesla），而且差值达到了令人震惊的150亿美元（不过算上债务，福特的价值仍旧接近特斯拉的三倍）。

顺便一提，今天也是讨论设计思维的好日子。今天早上，《财富》的头脑风暴设计大会（Brainstorm Design conference）在新加坡召开。这是将设计应用于工作中的一群商界人士的聚会。这也是一群富有魅力的人，你可以在Fortune.com关注大会议程。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正