A New Year, A New Approach to Leadership

[Transcript]

[00:00:00] Jan Griffiths: Welcome to the Automotive Leaders Podcast, where we help you prepare for the future by sharing stories, insights, and skills from leading voices in the automotive world with a mission to transform this industry together. I'm your host, Jan Griffiths, that passionate, rebellious farmer's daughter from Wales with over 35 years of experience in our beloved auto industry and a commitment to empowering fellow leaders to be their best authentic selves. Stay true to yourself, be you, and lead with Gravitas, the hallmark of authentic leadership. Let's dive in.

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2024 is coming to a close, and, oh, what a year it has been in the automotive industry, hasn't it? We've had many, many challenges this year, but you know what? We're a resilient bunch. We really are. We have come through so much in this industry. We have come through COVID-19, massive supply chain challenges, shortages, chip shortages, UAW strikes, you name it, on and on and on. But my fear is, well, maybe it's not a fear; my concern is that 2025 will have even more challenges.

We are seeing the industry not only transform but completely reinvent itself. And as John McElroy said way back on episode 100, and we're now up to episode 141, he said when we talked about leadership and culture, that the alarm bells are not ringing loud enough. And he's right. When I talk about culture, I use that term in its broadest sense. So, it's about who we are as an industry, who you are as a company, as a tier one, as a department, who you are as a leader, how you do things, but that also goes all the way into the processes that we use. It's what we do and how we do it.

To me, culture is all of those things put together. And never, ever before has there been a more important time for us to examine our culture. It's not one of those soft, nice to have HR kind of things. Oh yeah, we just all want to get along together. Oh no, no! It is much more than that. It is absolutely paramount to our survival in this industry. If we don't figure out the path to EV adoption, what it looks like, how we will get there, how we will operate with speed, how we will handle all the new technologies, how we will attract and retain talent, how we will stop playing those stupid, bullshit political games in the conference rooms, you know what I'm talking about, that waste time and energy. How we will stop operating in silos and start trusting ourselves, our people. And yes, operate as authentic leaders, questioning everything we do and why we do it, and the answer had better not be, "Well, we've done it that way for 10 or 20 years." Oh, this is the spec that we use for an ICE vehicle, and now we need to use it for an EV vehicle. I learned that from Terry and CareSoft in the MEMA conference this year. I can't believe that's happening.

So, yes, this is a time for us to, first and foremost, look back on our accomplishments for 2024. They are there; you know they're there. It's important to bring them to the forefront and celebrate them. Celebrate the behaviors that have led to the results. Celebrate the cultural aspect of getting those successes in 2024, but then quickly transfer your attention over to 2025 and let 2025 start with your identity. Who are you as a company? How are you as a leader? And when I say who are you as a company? Yes, that goes right into company branding, but remember, a brand determines how you feel about something. Typically, it's a product, but you, as a company, have a brand. You, as a department, you have a brand. You, as a leader, you have a brand. What is it? What is the identity that you want to have as we go through this period of invention in our beloved auto industry?

And I used to say, "Who are you as a leader?" But I was corrected by Daniel Goleman, the psychologist and author of the emotional intelligence books. And he said, "No, no, no, it is not about who are you as a leader. The question is, how are you as a leader?" The mission and the purpose of the Automotive Leaders Podcast is to bring to you examples and stories of leaders who truly practice authentic leadership, who understand the massive transformation that's happening in this industry, and how they need to adapt their leadership style. It may not have been the leadership style they grew up with. Command and control is dead. Authentic leadership is my friends, very much in. And if you want to know what it means, we will put a link in the show notes so that you can download the 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership.

I am often asked if there were a few podcast episodes in the Tier One space that talk about authentic leadership and how to practice it, who would it be? It's so hard for me to choose, but here goes: I would say John Husby, President and CEO of ADAC, how he drives a positive culture. Yes, he drives for results, but he knows how to bring the people along with him. Marques McCammon, President of Karma Automotive, listening to his story and how he came through in his early career, as I did, many doubters. He would be in a room, and people discounted him and doubted what he said, but how he worked through that and rose to be President of Karma Automotive and the culture that he drives at Karma. And then Hadi Awada, President of Global Mobility Coatings at Axalta. So many people over the last few years have told me about this guy and what a great leader he is. And so I had to get him on the show. And it's important to talk to these leaders in the Tier One space. These are CEOs or presidents in the Tier One space, so they have evolved through command and control. They've seen command and control around them in their early years, what they liked and what they didn't like about it. And they have chosen to be the authentic leader, to understand who they are, and operate within their values. And it's very powerful to hear their stories.

I like to bring you stories and episodes that help you understand what's going on in the world around you, that sometimes maybe you don't have time to really focus on all these things. It's hard, I know, when you're leading a department, or you're leading a Tier One company, to find the time to read all these books and listen to all these podcasts. I know you do. I know you do. But my mission and objective is to be able to bring on not only leaders that practice authentic leadership but anybody who's got something to contribute to the cause such as Ted Serbinski, he is the Chief of Staff and General Manager at HAAS Alert, but he's the guy that started Detroit TechStars when he moved back to Detroit in 2011 working with Dan Gilbert. He's one of the original founders of our wonderful startup ecosystem in the mobility space. So, he brings a different perspective. And then, of course, Kate Vitasek. Kate is part of the faculty at the University of Tennessee, and she is the author of The Vested Way, and she understands how to break out of our silo thinking in this industry and our win-lose mentality and truly create collaborative agreements. And I love to bring Kate on the show to talk about the UAW situation. We brought her in 2023 to talk about the UAW strike, but we brought her back to talk about what was happening and what broke down in the agreement with the UAW and Stellantis.

Then, I like to bring a different perspective from different generations. We've had several episodes this past year from our Gen Z: Listening to the Gen Z perspective, episode 134 with Victoria Shubelyak and Andrew Stocke. That's a good one to get a different perspective. And, of course, in 2024, I launched Auto Culture 2.0. I've never published a book before in my lifetime, but I have to tell you, it was the best night of my life seeing all of my industry colleagues around me. It felt like that was exactly where I was supposed to be in life, to talk about my commitment to architecting the new culture that we need in this industry.

You know, there's two big changes that have happened with leaders in our industry this year, and I want to talk about both of them. One of them was a guest on the podcast. One of them will never be a guest on the podcast. You know, I'm very picky about who I select as a guest on the show. They have to be a truly authentic leader. People have to enjoy working with them. They have to be successful. They have to know how to do it all, to bring the people along, and get the results that we need in this business. And they have to have a long term vision and an understanding of what this industry is transforming to. So, let me start off with the one that will never be a guest on the show and that is, of course, Carlos Tavares. And I have been railing against Carlos for many, many months. I said a long time ago that he should step down. This idea that it's, you know, he's very much a commander control dictator. He himself calls himself a performance psychopath. And that used to be the model that we love to have in this industry. Didn't it? The tough guy at the top telling everybody what to do. That doesn't work. We know from all the news articles that have come out recently that he did not listen to his team, and look what happened to the results of the business. He did not collaborate. He did not listen. He did not promote a culture of positive accountability. It was very much a blame culture. We saw him take legal action against suppliers and even threatening legal action against the UAW. The dealer's body turned against him. The Italian government turned against him, his people turned against him, and the results speak for themselves. Sales in the overall company sales globally dropped over 20% and a big part of that was the sales in North America. But the overall share price dropped 43% in 2024. What? Why? Why did that happen? I will say that it directly, directly goes back to leadership and culture, that is the root of the decline of Stellantis and the situation we see Stellantis in today.

So, let's go to the other side of that. I want to talk about a leader who we've had on the show. He really is an authentic leader, and he has now been promoted to a much larger role in a major Tier One, and that is Martin Fischer. Martin Fischer was previously the President of ZF Americas. I didn't expect him to be a truly authentic leader. I'm just being honest here because maybe it's the stereotype I have in my head of what a leader of a German Tier One is like. I still feel and expect them to be very much command and control, very much dictatorial, a lot of hierarchy. And that's my fault; that's my bias and my experience coming into play, and I need to give these guys or ladies a better chance and keep an open mind. So, that's a lesson to myself. But when I met Martin Fischer, you know, nothing could be further from the truth. He's not a command and control guy. Yes, he drives for results, but he's also very people-focused and people-centric. And he left ZF, I think it was mid-2024, and recently, he has just been announced as the Global CEO of FORVIA, which is a big step up in responsibility.

So, look at this: we've got Carlos Tavares, commander control dictator, out. Out completely. And now, you've got a guy like Martin Fischer, who truly understands and practices authentic leadership being vaulted into an even bigger role. To me, there it is; it tells me that authentic leadership is the way to go. But before you get into all of that and the culture and the culture workshops that I do with Tier Ones, always talking about who they are and what they need to do to move their culture forward. What do they need to do to move quickly, to move with speed, to be able to transform their Tier One businesses?

One of the things you really have to know is who you want to be as a company and as a department. What is your identity? What is the identity that you want? Because remember this: it is identity that drives behavior that gets the result. So, if you don't have a clear vision of what you want your company culture to be, how you want them to operate, it can't be some pithy statements or just a few fluffy words; it's got to have meaning. It's got to have an emotional connection to it. So please take some time to understand what your company identity is. What is your company's brand? How do you want people to feel about your brand externally and internally? Because it is identity that will drive the behavior that will get the results that we all crave.

This is the perfect time to think about it as we close out 2024 and go into 2025. This is the time to bring your team together and have this discussion. If you need some talking points to talk about culture, then read my book, Autoculture 2.0. It's a quick read. There are calls to action at the end of each chapter to help you open up dialogue with your team. So, use the book, use the 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership, and reach out to me at any time. If you need help or want to have a conversation about how you can reinvent and transform your culture for the very challenging year that we have in front of us in this industry for 2025, I'm all ears. And I am all in in giving you the content that you need to hear in the Automotive Leaders Podcast. If there is some content that you particularly think we need to be focusing on or guests that you think we need to have on the show, then let me know, and I'll be glad to talk to them. But, remember, I have a pretty strict standard for the guests that we have on this show, but I would love to hear from you. And I wish you, your family, and your teams a wonderful, happy new year and a successful 2025. We're all in this together. So, from me, Jan Griffiths, and the team at the Automotive Leaders Podcast, happy new year. And as we say in Welsh, Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.

Thank you for listening to the Automotive Leaders Podcast. Click the listen link in the show notes to subscribe for free on your platform of choice, and don't forget to download the 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership PDF by clicking on the link below. And remember, stay true to yourself, be you, and lead with Gravitas, the hallmark of authentic leadership.