Highlighting that he once sat in a very similar position, former Chrysler CEO Robert Eaton told KU students Thursday that they should pursue their passions in life.

A KU engineering alum, Eaton spent 30 years at General Motors, rising to become the president of GM Europe for four years before joining Chrysler in 1992. He served as the company’s chairman and CEO, and as the chairman of the DaimlerChrysler management board after the company’s merger. He retired from the corporation in 2000.

He’s in Lawrence to serve as the grand marshal of KU’s homecoming festivities this weekend.

Robert Eaton, a 1963 KU engineering graduate and retired chairman and chief executive officer of Chrysler, speaks to a gathering of engineering students and faculty gathered in the Spahr Classroom of Eaton Hall on the campus of Kansas University, in October 2010.

Robert Eaton, a 1963 KU engineering graduate and retired chairman and chief executive officer of Chrysler, speaks to a gathering of engineering students and faculty gathered in the Spahr Classroom of Eaton Hall on the campus of Kansas University. Eaton, who will serve as the grand marshal for Saturday's homecoming parade, gave the students some background information about himself and also talked about strategies for success in engineering.

Students asked the Arkansas City native a number of different questions ranging from job searching advice to how he approached strategic management decisions — one student thanked him for the building the event was held in. Eaton Hall serves as classroom and office space for KU’s engineering program.

He said the federal government’s recent bailout of the auto industry was necessary, if the industry was to be saved.

“It would’ve been an adverse shock to the economy, so I don’t think they had much of a choice,” Eaton said in an interview after his talk with students.

He also said that he predicted that the auto industry in 20 years would look much like it does today — with electric cars and hybrid vehicles struggling to pick up ground with consumers because of high costs.

The technology is there to create the vehicles, but consumers haven’t stepped up in droves to buy them, Eaton said.

The savings on fuel is often not enough to overcome other expensive maintenance, like replacing batteries over the life of a vehicle, Eaton said.

“I can’t imagine why people are not more focused on the total cost of ownership over the life of the vehicle,” he said.

The industry continues to face an increased amount of competition from global players, he said, who are making better and better cars while American companies face higher labor costs and government regulations that drive up costs, as well.

To students, he stressed that in school, he never had ambitions to become a CEO of a major corporation and that he got there by being unafraid to take risks.

Today, he’s enjoying his retirement — he spends a lot of time with his family in Naples, Fla., and he does some golfing, hunting and fishing on the side, too.

He’s an investor in a start-up social media company, Engage Networks, and he does some unpaid consulting-type work for them, and he serves on the board of Chevron, but other than that, he said he typically declines all other opportunities that come his way.

It’s by following your passions — no matter what they may be — and working hard that students will truly find success, he said.

“It doesn’t matter what turns you on, if you’re happy, that’s what really matters,” he said.