Houston Independent Automobile Dealers Association March 2016 Issue: Floor Plans | Page 23

Lead - Follow Or Get The Hell

Out Of The Way

the hell out of the way of success. Leaders are committed to their goals and without commitment from everyone that works for you, leadership will become a true WTF. With the wild imagination you have, you can figure out what WTF means.

When I was a trainer at another organization, the rules stated that in every workshop I would wear a white dress shirt, not an almost white. No excuses that all my white shirts were dirty. Not a hey, I don't look good in white or any of that crap. I wore white, I wore white, I wore white. That’s what the leader expected. End of story. Leadership doesn’t always have to negotiate with their team. That was some 14 years ago and some of the great policies and processes that were in writing became who I am.

Leonardo Da Vinci had a great quote from hundreds of years ago and it went like this:

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Get your policies in writing, explain to your team what your expectations are, show them how to reach and meet them, inspect them often, develop a rewards and consequences if they are met or not. This is common sense. Keep It Super Simple = KISS - Maybe those politician’s who are playing high school games and name calling could use common sense as well. You see our country is afraid of person who is going to stand up and throw sand in your face, stomp on your ass if you attack us, and tell you how it really is, instead of a bunch of pussy cats who meow or tip toe in the dark so they don't lose their job. I would rather be broke, down on my luck, desper-ate then to be some pathetic weak suck who plays hide and seek. We need leadership, not some weak suck puppet.

21 Years in the business now and I can’t even count how many dealerships I have been to and told them that the problem is as the top, good people, but so afraid to lead from the front. Most are looking for some magic potion, to cure their ills. You can try Monster, Red-bull and Viagra together. At some point, you have to put your foot down, speak up, write up and remove those that aren't going to go with the program! Bye. See You. Later! Where will we find the new peo-ple, they are hard to find!

Watch 1941 You’re Hired on Youtube, by Chevrolet, its about 13 minutes long. Please look it up right now, watch it by yourself and then with your team. Impacting and real by the way. Besides technology, nothing changed. We've all been fooled. The car business is a people business. You have to admit technology is on steroids today. Yet, most cars are sold, belly to belly, same o, same o….. Come on folks, stand up, take charge. Say it with passion, a polished vocabulary is needed at the time. There isn't any room for rudeness, swearing, demeaning people or being a jerk or an A Hole. I don't care what the money is, I wouldn't work for one, or follow one. Swear-ing and cursing is the lack of a refined English vocabulary.

George it’s not that easy! Please tell me what is easy in life and I will tell you it’s not worth it. It is when you have things in writing and people are willing to stand up for what they believe is right and what’s in writing. There are so many great mom and pops dealerships and several of them have family members working in them. Can you imagine blowing out your mom and dad for low production or your brother Billy who can’t find a job even though unemployment is low today? Running your dealerships like a family dinner is tough. Develop some policies and pro-cesses. Put them in stone and have the guts to stand behind them with all you got. Moses did! They were called the Ten Commandments! Ten easy commandments, yet almost impossible for all to follow.

Today’s leaders need to run their business with facts, things in writing, people committed to do-ing their best to follow them, and knowing that perfection is impossible, but greatness isn’t. Only one person on this earth was perfect and he truly is still a great leader. WTF = Wow That’s Fabulous!

By George Dans

Worlds Greatest Closer Productions!

P.O Box 3047

Lake Arrowhead, CA 92352

909- 273 7622

[email protected]

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