Wolfgang Bernhard says he "wanted to learn the business hands on, rather than be a remote-control, distant manager." So when he was sent by Daimler-Chrysler executives in Germany to help steer their struggling Chrysler unit in Detroit, Bernhard worked three days a month on the company's factory floor. Bernhard's innovations paid off: the company was the only U.S. carmaker to pick up market share this year. But when Bernhard opposed giving the troubled Mitsubishi unit an injection of $2 billion, he found himself without a job. Volkswagen quickly offered Bernhard a high-powered encore: as chairman of the company's VW brand. That...
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