Having climbed aboard an American icon at one of the most difficult points in its history, Keith Wandell has been driven by an overriding thought: Don't let Harley-Davidson become General Motors.

Now, nearly a year into the job, Harley's chief executive officer has cut millions of dollars in costs, eliminated thousands of jobs and brought a sense of urgency to the world's largest maker of heavyweight motorcycles.

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Some of the changes, particularly the job cuts, have been painful. But in his first extensive interview since taking the reins, Wandell told the Journal Sentinel last week that the actions he took were necessary and designed to keep Harley relevant and profitable in the long term. "There is not one of us who wakes up in the morning and says, 'Wow, this is another opportunity to ruin someone's life,' " Wandell said. ". . .  But you cannot turn your head and look the other way when there are issues that are going to ruin the company. I wish we could be totally clear about that." Given that the global economy was in a tailspin a year ago, Wandell was a logical choice for Harley's top spot. In his previous job as president and chief operating officer at Johnson Controls Inc., he was responsible for controlling costs and answering to Wall Street. He had testified in Congress, along with Detroit auto executives, when the automakers were seeking federal loans to keep them out of bankruptcy. So after joining Harley-Davidson, he absolutely did not want the 107-year-old Milwaukee manufacturer to behave like General Motors. And he was taken aback by Harley employees who worried that his experience at an auto-industry supplier such as Johnson Controls might be a bad thing - a close tie to an industry that had fallen into deep trouble. Look in a mirror, he told them - Harley was already so far down that same path "it wasn't even funny."

Harley still rolling despite setbacks

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