• The Wall Street Journal , Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:46 AM

The top 300 executives at Chrysler are expected to turn off their BlackBerrys today and begin three days of in-house management seminars aimed at putting customers first in all of Chrysler's operations. CEO Robert Nardelli himself is scheduled to lead a session on the corporate culture of a customer-driven company.

The event is the centerpiece of a broader, yearlong effort by Nardelli to overhaul attitudes at Chrysler. "The traditional way of running the company got us where we are now," he says. "So we're trying to break some of the old paradigms."

The Chrysler CEO is also scheduling what he calls "fireside chats" with 10 or 12 executives one or two evenings a month to discuss the company and its challenges. One possible impediment to the campaign's success is Nardelli's brusque style, which hasn't always gone over well with Chrysler employees. While some embrace his new ideas, others brush them off as consultant-speak.

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