The Automotive Leaders Podcast

Meet Nick Skislak, Nick comes from the small town of Sparta, Michigan and learned very quickly how to rock Google ad words like Gary Vaynerchuck. Nick made the bold decision to launch his business in 2008 in the metro Detroit area and he’s never looked back. Nick is a Millennial leading a company of multi-generational employees and he embodies all the traits of leadership we need for the future.

In this episode, you can expect to hear how Nick made the shift from being “in the weeds” on everything to trusting, delegating and letting go. He talks openly about having “the tough conversations” with his team and his thoughts around “radical transparency” and what that really means.

We go deep into trust, safety, complacency, vulnerability and the creative process. Nick sees his role as a guide and mentor.  “We’re here to make each other better” and “We’re arm in arm” are quotes driving his leadership philosophy. 

Nick is passionate about breaking down silos and you’ll hear why and how he does that.

One of his favorite quotes comes from The Andy Griffith Show, “I’d rather be nice than right”

There are valuable insights to share as we pursue our quest to find GRAVITAS.

Download the 21 traits of authentic leadership e book

Meet Jeneanne Hanley, a leader with over 25 years’ experience in the automotive industry culminating in her position as President of the E Systems division at Lear Corp, a business with revenues over $5B, 50 sites and 70,000 people. It’s clear that her mission is to match “people with purpose”, she leads with a firm belief in “modeling behavior” and “we win as a team”.  A self-confessed “strategy zealot” and a “list person” Jeneanne takes us through many facets of authentic leadership.

In this episode, you can expect to hear how she engages a team around a new technology play specifically in the EV space, how they embrace innovation and execute in troubled times, particularly when “there’s fear in the air”. The transition to a company with a Silicon Valley based culture and more.

You’ll hear insights gleaned from her interview with Mary Barra CEO of General Motors and Jocko Willink, the Navy Seal and co-author of the book “Extreme Ownership”

There are valuable insights to share as we pursue our quest to find GRAVITAS.

03:01 Jeneanne’s story

08:01 The Mary Barra interview

11:02 2010 – the year of the Volt

12:27 Fear in the air

16:08 Innovation – allowing people to experiment

18:37 Engineers must have a seat at the table

19:58 Working for a Silicon Valley based company

22:16 Connecting hearts and minds

25:59 The Jocko Willink interview

30:52 Personal accountability

32:36 Authentic leadership

40:21 Gravitas

41:34 Fun and the corporate offsite

44:31 Advice to my 25-year-old self

47:08 What’s your legacy?

Mentioned in this episode:

Download the 21 traits of authentic leadership e book

Meet Kevin Browett, Kevin comes from a one red light town in Pennsylvania he rose through the corporate ranks to head up an $18 Billion P&L  and then……..the pivot, a magazine? tune in to hear his story it covers toys, drugs, start-ups, martial arts and more.

In this episode you can expect to hear about a man who was born to serve, it’s in his DNA, it started with the community he grew up in and continues to be a driving force in his life today as he unites the community. Kevin supports the philosophy of “no man left behind” and practices servant leadership in his professional and personal life.  He holds several board positions, supports charity organizations and is proud to put family first, all of this with a strong sense of personal accountability and a strict workout routine starting at 3AM !

Kevin speaks openly about failure, lessons learned from the experience and standing up in the boardroom to take the unpopular stand.

There are valuable insights to share as we pursue our quest to find GRAVITAS.

03:41 Kevin’s story

07:11 We want somebody like you

08:45 Financial bonus or something else - incentives

11:47 It’s about trust

12:27 Staying true to yourself when others are not

19:09 Failure and lessons learned

21:44 The pivot

32:06 Personal accountability – 3AM ?

37:09 Boards, charities and making it all work

41:59 The GRAVITAS factor

43:54 What’s your legacy ?

Meet Renee Harmon, they call her “coach”  and they acknowledge her with a slight tip of the head as they pass her by in the hallways and wide open spaces at United Wholesale Mortgage and you can feel the level of respect and warmth toward her servant leadership approach.

In this episode you can expect to hear more about the coaching culture at UWM and the training program that supports over 500 + leaders and placed UWM in the top #5 ranking of training teams across the country.

How technology plays a part in improving employee engagement and a very different approach to the traditional performance review.

“We’re not the culture police” states Harmon

There are valuable insights to share as we pursue our quest to find GRAVITAS.

01:38 Renee’s story

03:37 The leadership development program

05:58 People are our greatest asset

06:31 Did she say retention rate of over 90% ?

09:34 Not the culture police

10:12 The team huddle

12:50 Automotive culture – impact ?

15:07 Service level agreements

16:46 Where did the dance party idea come from ?

23:28 Nurturing psychological safety

24:54 Technology and the impact on employee engagement

27:43 Advice to your 25 year old self

28:24 What’s your legacy ?

Meet Laura Lawson, an authentic leader who takes her skills and creativity from her Hollywood job on the Ellen show and becomes the “chief architect of culture” for a mortgage company in Michigan hiring over 3,000 people in 2019.  Laura exemplifies the servant leadership model of leadership and practices it every-day at UWM.  Tune in to hear what this culture is all about and how they make it a reality at UWM.  Yes, there is GRAVITAS in Pontiac Michigan, a city once known for car production.

01:33 Detroit – the mortgage town ?

03:20 Laura’s story

05:33 The pivot

08:18 Our first meeting

09:28 Ascending to the C suite

12:16 Culture

14:30 Blame culture

15:25 Fun and friendship

16:45 Coming from automotive ?

19:44 On-boarding

21:18 Thumb pointer

22:47 Coaching

24:23 Technology

28:05 Your time

31:50 Dance party ?

35:42 What about the metrics ?

39:01 Advice to leaders going through cultural transformation

42:47 Does Mat Ishbia have GRAVITAS ?

45:40 Legacy

Meet Don Akery, a man who walks the talk when it comes to authentic leadership, a man who knows what it takes to take care of all of his stakeholders, customers, suppliers, owners, and most importantly, employees. We will explore today exactly how he does that and stays true to himself.

When people come to work at TTI they tend to stay.  The values statement at TTI talks about providing a home and it hasn’t changed in 40 years, the culture has evolved with the times and retained its core values.

A real southern boy from Atlanta Georgia who sold subscriptions to the Atlanta Newspaper and now runs a Berkshire Hathaway company, Don has valuable insights to share as we pursue our quest to find GRAVITAS.

02:20 Don’s story

03:49 Technology and leadership model changes

05:40 Attracting Millennials

07:07 Embracing social media

13:09 The executive roadshow / with a waiting list ?

20:52 That irresistible quality of leadership

21:36 The TTI story / the American dream

23:18 Working for Warren Buffett

29:48 Positional power vs supportive / coaching leadership

34:33 Creating a home for people

40:07 Advice to your 25 year old self

43:14 What’s your legacy ?

In this episode, Jan provides the background on her transformation from farm girl to Automotive executive and her passion for authentic leadership. You’ll hear about the questions that will be asked and answered during the podcast series and the type of guests we can expect to hear from as we launch the quest to find GRAVITAS

00:27  Jan’s background

02:45 Moving to America

04:04 Dial it back, tone down the personality

04:52 The dream job

06:10 Now what? aligned to purpose?

07:04 Start my own business, are you crazy?

07:50 Launching Gravitas Detroit

09:34 What is authentic leadership?

12:28 Have you given yourself permission to lead?

13:18 The industrial revolution model

15:18 The types of guests you can expect to hear from

16:06 Staying true to yourself

Welcome to the Automotive Leaders Podcast, where we help you prepare for the future by sharing insights, stories, and skills from leading voices in the automotive world.

I’m your host, Jan Griffiths — that passionate, rebellious farmer’s daughter from Wales with over 35 years of experience in the auto industry. 

I’m on a mission to create a more authentic leadership culture, one in which people can thrive.

“Command and control” as a leadership model is DEAD. Authentic leadership is in.

It’s time to break the mold.

So what exactly is authentic leadership and how do you practice it? What are the challenges facing auto industry leaders today?

We’re in a transformational time. EVs and autonomous driving are entirely new product portfolios. But have our models of leadership and business culture evolved to meet the moment?

You can’t have one without the other.

In this podcast, you’ll hear in-depth interviews, powerful insights and fun facts from the people at the forefront of these groundbreaking shifts in the auto industry. 

We publish a new episode every 2 weeks, one long form guest interview between 40 and 50 minutes followed by a solo episode where I’ll deconstruct the guest interview and go deeper into the leadership traits discussed.

As a listener, you can also access the 21 traits of authentic leadership pdf  to help you on your leadership journey.

Download the 21 traits of authentic leadership e book

Start your journey into authentic leadership today by digging in to our library of episodes with thought leaders such as Stephen M.R. Covey where we focus specifically on the automotive industry and explain why the C & C model is well and truly dead , the author Daniel Pink on the Power of Regret and how this applies to leaders in the auto industry, Sandy Stojkovski CEO of Vitesco, Steve Kiefer former head of global purchasing for GM and Stefan Krause former CEO of Canoo and a recognised leader in the mobility space and many more.

You can find a complete list that’s easy to navigate on our website, theautomotiveleaderspodcast.com. 

Easily navigate our back catalogue of episodes

Each episode has robust show notes to help you navigate the episode along with a full episode transcript.

If you prefer to watch a video rather than pure audio you can find us on the Gravitas Detroit  YouTube channel 

Learn more about your host, Jan Griffiths in this short video

Stay true to yourself, be you , and lead with Gravitas, the hallmark of authentic leadership.