What does it mean to really care about what you do? How much should you have to compromise when building something great?

A few decades ago, John Coletti made a huge gamble to keep the rear-drive Ford Mustang from being canceled. Later, he ran Ford’s Special Vehicle Team. He chiefed the programs that produced the second-generation F-150 Lightning, the SVT Focus, the Cobra R and Cobra “Terminator” Mustangs, and the first Ford GT supercar.

Before we began taping, Coletti asked if we could keep our chat positive. Of course, I said—that's the whole point of the show. He smiled. But then, this is a man who once put his job on the line because he believed in something greater than himself. You'd expect nothing less.

Driven to Fail is a podcast about what happens when things go wrong. What we do when life falls apart, and what we learn when we try to put it back together.

Brought to you by the Hagerty Podcast Network.