21 Leadership Traits You Need to Lead Today's Automotive Industry

[Transcript]

[: 00:00:00

This episode is brought to you by Lockton. Lockton redefines business insurance and people solutions with a personal touch. Their global team of 11,000 is driven by independence, not quarters, to tailor success for your business. Discover the Lockton difference, where your goals become their mission. Independence is not just how you think but how you act.

Today, I'm going to focus on the 21 Traits of Authentic Leaders. In every episode we record on this podcast, I ask every leader which one of the 21 Traits of Authentic Leaders resonates with you the most and why? And I've received a few questions lately; people have been asking me, well, what exactly is the 21 Traits of Authentic Leaders? Where did it come from? Well, today, I'm going to tell you where it came from, how it came into being, and exactly what the 21 traits are. Let's go back to the beginning. Why do we need such a thing? Why do we need a structure, and why do we need 21? Well, when I started my business, I went back and thought about all the leadership traits that I thought formed some definition around this idea of authentic leadership. Too often, we throw around these terms, and nobody knows what it means. So, I thought we needed a structure to define authentic leadership. It is what I believe to be true and correct and to be the foundation of true, authentic leadership: leadership from the heart, servant leadership, whatever you want to call it. And so, I sat down, and I thought about the traits that I liked in myself; I don't like all of them, but the ones that I liked, what I saw in other people that I liked, and I put them all together, and I came up with I think it was 20 when I first did the list. And then, as I thought about it, I thought, you know, Gravitas is that feeling, it is that feeling that draws you into a leader, and that is the hallmark of authentic leadership. And so, I took my experience, what I've learned from others, and certainly, what I have learned from all the wonderful guests that I've interviewed on the podcast to form the 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership. Then, this document took on a life of its own, and it became the basis for our online course. And now, we have a full-blown online course behind it, which we mix in with experiential workshops to make it more meaningful because, of course, 21 traits to one company are different from 21 traits to another.

So, here we go. Let's start off at the bottom, shall we? Because I want to leave Gravitas as number one, right at the very top, for obvious reasons. It is the name of my business, and it's a word that I love. Let's start off with number 21, resilience. What does resilience really mean? If I asked you as a leader, are you resilient? You're going to tell me yes, but I don't believe it's something that you have, and you say, oh, I'm a resilient leader, and you move on. I think it's something that you have to work on constantly throughout your leadership journey. It's your ability to bounce back when things are unplanned and it requires a great deal of emotional strength, courage, professionalism, and a lot of emotional intelligence and self-awareness. To me, what resilience really means is when something happens, you don't dwell on your past mistakes; you learn from it, you stay positive, and you move on. How many times have you seen a situation where people dwell on the past and then they look to blame other people and they waste time and energy and create a toxic environment? That's not resilience. Resilience is about saying this has happened; we will put a plan together, and we will move on. That's what resilience is. And the quote that I selected for resilience comes from Nelson Mandela, and he says, "Do not judge me by my success. Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up."

Number 20 is Cognitive Diversity. Now, I've been asked a few times why cognitive diversity, why not just diversity? Because, to me, cognitive diversity makes you think a little deeper about diversity. It refers to including people on the team with different viewpoints. You might have racial diversity, ethnic diversity, different age groups, different backgrounds, and all kinds of diversity contributing to those viewpoints. But the important trait for an authentic leader is to recognize cognitive diversity and to really make sure that we bring out those voices that are sometimes quiet. How often have you been in a meeting where three or four people dominate the discussion? You know exactly what I'm talking about. That's not encouraging diversity and inclusion of all voices. So, to have a true high-performance team, a leader takes great care to make sure that they have cognitive diversity. And the quote for cognitive diversity comes from Malcolm Forbes, and he says, "Diversity is the art of thinking independently together." Think about that one.

Number 19, a Supportive Coaching Leadership Style. We know that command and control is dead. We cannot control people to do the things that we want them to do. We have to embrace a more servant leadership approach. So we show our humility over authority. We foster a team to unlock potential and creativity. We invert the pyramid of the conventional hierarchy, and we see ourselves not at the top, commanding and controlling and sending orders down, but more at the bottom, supporting the team and recognizing and nurturing potential. That's what a supportive coaching leadership style is. And Nelson Mandela said, "Lead from the back—and let others believe they are in front." That's how you create a team that's engaged and inspired, and ready to take on the world.

Eighteen is focus on long-term results. Now, this may seem intuitively obvious to all the business leaders out there, particularly in automotive; you're going to say, well, of course, we need to focus on long-term results, but do you? We all know how hard it is to keep our eyes on the tactical, in the day to day, and then beyond into the long-term results. And if we don't keep some part of our attention and focus on long-term results, we're not going to get there. And great leaders know how to balance that. Authentic leaders don't get distracted by day-to-day issues and minor setbacks. It doesn't work that way. Authentic leaders don't allow that to completely derail them. They keep looking onward and upward. And yes, is it a struggle to try and get that balance right every day? Yes, it is. But that's the challenge of a great leader: to be able to do both. And my favorite quote for this trait comes from Simon Sinek and he said, "Leaders who embrace an infinite mindset build stronger, more innovative, and more inspiring organizations."

Number 17 is energy, my favorite and the one that I'm known for. Authentic leaders demonstrate an infectious zest for life. It infuses any room and engagement. The passion just comes through, and they have this tremendous energy, and people want to be around that. They want to be a part of that. So, energy is important for an authentic leader. Now, I will be the first to admit that you can't have that on energy 100 percent of the time. And I've learned to manage my energy. I have learned that there's a period of time in the morning that I am most productive and most effective. So, I take on the big tasks early in the morning, but I also know that I need time to myself early in the morning. I need time to myself. At 5:36 AM, I'm up, and I'm moving, and I'm walking or working out, and I need that time. For me, to get up and go straight to work doesn't work for me. We're all different. So we have to manage our energy and do what works for us and the team. And I provided the quote for this one, and it's simply this, "You have the power to change the room. And you really do with your energy when you walk into a room."

Sixteen is mindset. The best leaders display a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset. You'll be familiar with the growth mindset book by Carol Dweck, and basically, fixed mindset people believe that their basic qualities like intelligence or talent are fixed, and they create a certain amount of limiting beliefs that prevents them from moving forward. I'll give you an example: podcasting is a great example. I knew nothing about podcasting when I started, but I have a growth mindset. I knew that I may not have those traits or that skillset and that experience at that point in time, but a little word I like to add after a sentence is yet. I don't know anything about podcasting yet; that was certainly the case four years ago. Now, I'm actually giving presentations on podcasting. So, it's how you view yourself. Your mindset is everything. It sets you up for the day. It can set you up for success and it can set you up for failure. Sometimes my mindset is it's go time, let's go. It's all about execution. And I've got all the energy behind me, and I'm ready to take on the world. And other days, I'm in more of an assess and organize kind of day. But it's setting that mindset and declaring your mindset that's important. And knowing that you have the power to do that. Several years ago, I went to a Tony Robbins seminar, and he said, "Where focus goes, energy flows." So, when you declare your mindset in the morning, you're declaring your focus, and that's where the energy is going to go.

Fifteen is kindness. I'm not sure that I would have thought of kindness as a leadership trait in the automotive industry 25 or 30 years ago, certainly not when I started. But I see it now as an important trait. Doug Conant, who I often quote, former CEO of the Campbell Soup Company, says, "You have to be tough on standards and tender-hearted with people. Not either, or. Both." There is a way to be kind to others and to the people on your team. It doesn't mean that you're weak. In fact, it shows strength to show that you care about somebody, to care about your stakeholders will actually get you further than if you take more of a command and control, hierarchical type of position. And Amy Cuddy, the Harvard Business School researcher, shows that kindness in the workplace not only enhances health and emotional well-being but also boosts energy levels and fosters a positive outlook. So, it acts as a kind of trigger to release serotonin, and it promotes calmness and self-esteem. Now, you've all met those leaders who lead with competence before they lead with warmth, and that doesn't work; that doesn't build trust. To build trust with people, you need to lead with warmth and kindness and then competence. It's something to think about. Tommy Spaulding provides a quote for kindness. And he says empathy makes an act of kindness more than a transaction.

Fourteen is trust. Trust is a feeling. It's very difficult to define. Try and define it, it's hard, but you know it, don't you? You know, when you walk into a car dealership and you pick out the person that you want to talk to, because somehow there's a sense of trust with that person. It inspires a feeling of confidence, and it is born out of character and competence. It includes all of those things like integrity, motive, intent with people, capabilities, skills, results, and track record. All of these things are dimensions of trust. Authentic leaders know that trust is a foundation to create psychological safety, which, by the way, is the number one trait of a high-performance team, according to Google Project Aristotle. Trust is everything in business, with stakeholders, with people. And if you want the data behind it, Stephen M. R. Covey, the author of the book The Speed of Trust, has multiple sources of data to support why companies that have a high trust environment simply outperform those who don't. When you have trust, speed goes up, and cost comes down. It's a little difficult, I think, sometimes, to get your mind around that, but I've seen countless examples of it over the years of my career. So, trust is something, it's earned, you earn it. And it starts with every little thing that you do. If you say you're going to call somebody back by the end of the day, you know how sometimes you convince yourself that, oh, tomorrow will be fine. Well, it isn't. You're not doing a good job of building trust if you don't follow through on the commitments that you make to others, no matter how small, let alone the commitments you make to yourself. According to Dr. Stephen R. Covey, he says, "Trust is the highest form of human motivation." The highest form of human motivation.

Thirteen is vulnerability. And you know, Brené Brown, she is the expert on vulnerability. I used to think that showing vulnerability was a weakness, and I was dead wrong because I had this image of what leadership was in the automotive industry. And it's not the leadership model we need to take us forward. Vulnerability is a strength. It's the courage to be yourself, to be somewhat emotionally exposed, and not afraid to fall on the sword when you make a mistake. I've done that several times, and it's freeing. And then, when you do that with your team, you actually give them permission to show vulnerability, and it bonds people to you. When you show that you are indeed human, that you don't have all the answers, but together as a team, you're going to get them. Authentic leaders see vulnerability as an opportunity to deepen human connections. So, when you think of vulnerability as a weakness, think again. It is very much a strength. And according to Brené Brown, she says, "Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection." And leadership is all about connection. It's about deep connection with people, inspiring people to do their very best and to do things that they never thought possible.

Twelve, ownership, responsibility, and accountability. Yes, I had to lump them all together because I do see them all related, but they're all slightly different. I like the quote from Jocko Willink, the Navy SEAL who now leads a leadership company, and he says, "Extreme ownership. Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame." And I chose this quote because so often, I have seen people point the finger and blame others because they simply didn't feel a sense of ownership, responsibility, or accountability. So, they thought it was easier to blame others. Any leader who thinks that they make themselves look good by making others look bad is dead wrong. That is not authentic leadership. I don't know what kind of leadership that is, but it isn't one that will inspire a team of people. And nobody really wants to work with you if you're that kind of person. I've worked in cultures where that type of leadership was actually encouraged, and it's not a pleasant place to be. It creates a toxic workplace. Authentic leaders take pride in their work and they're responsible for the quality of the work and the success of their work. Accountability really is a word that I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with actually. I used to hate the word accountability because I always thought of it as blame. How many times in your career have you heard somebody say, "I'm going to hold you accountable for these results." I mean, it makes me shiver even to this day. To hold somebody accountable to something makes me feel like if something goes wrong, you're going to blame me. And that blame is not going to be pleasant. You're probably going to fire me at the end of the day. And I don't like that. So, here's a different way to frame accountability. If you're talking about accountability in the past, it's blame. But if you're talking about accountability in the future, it tends to have more of a positive connotation to it. And I've learned a lot about accountability from people that I've interviewed on the podcast, and a few of the lessons that I've learned is simply this: to get accountability, you have to have clarity. Don't give people on your team or assign responsibilities that are vague. Make sure that you have the very first step for accountability, which is clarity. And then, co-create the agreement with the person that you're working with to develop clarity around the task, and what accountability actually looks like. So, what I mean by that is when there are due dates or check in points, have the person who is responsible for the task. Generate, those ideas and co-create them with you together. Then you have total buy-in for the task, and you can get accountability, and it's created in a positive way. It's also important to think about your accountability language. Here's the one that I stumble on all the time. I say things like close a business. Well, when you're dealing with an organization, a global organization, you can't say that. What do you mean close a business? What does that mean? What time exactly? Is that midnight? Is that five o'clock? What time zone? It goes back to clarity and making sure that your accountability language is there. One of the things I've heard time and time again in my career is I'll try my best. I'll do my best to get that done. What does that mean? It means it's not going to happen. You know, it's not going to happen, but yet when people tell us that, we go, okay, and we move on, don't we? You can't do that. If somebody says they'll try their best, no, no, no. You have to drill deeper to get an agreement on what can and cannot be accomplished. If somebody is uncomfortable with the task for whatever reason, it's better to uncover that sooner than later.

Number 11 is consistency. Authentic leaders are stable, focused, and reliable. You've heard the term that sometimes you get a different answer from the leader based on the last office that he came out of. I'm sure you've heard that term. I've worked for a few leaders like that in my past, where their opinion of somebody would be influenced or changed because of the last conversation they had. That's not being consistent. You know, being consistent means that you're not swayed easily; you balance both sides of a situation or of an argument. You don't just take one piece of information and fly off the handle or make a decision. You've got to provide stable, focused, and reliable behavior to help build security for the team. The team needs to feel safe. It's called stability anchors, providing a stability anchor for the team. And it nurtures a sense of safety and trust.

Number 10: empowerment. Oh, here we go. Empowerment. If I asked every leader that I talked to, do you empower your team? They'd all say yes. And then, you go in, and you talk to the team, and you find out that they're the biggest micromanager on the planet. Understand, please, what empowerment means. It means letting go. It means giving people the opportunity to fail. Yes, fail. So often we're afraid to let people take on the task or do something for the first time, or do something that they may not have the experience to do because we're afraid that that failure will come back on us. And yes, it will, but it's much more important to give people the runway, to stretch people, to help them thrive and grow and give them the support to be successful and be there to help them when they stumble and fail. That's what empowerment is. It's letting go. When you empower your team, you can take on the toughest challenges. And yes, you can get much further toward that elusive high-performance team. The quote from empowerment comes from Bill Gates and he says, "As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others." Think, please, about empowerment. Are you really, really empowering your team? And if you're not, what do you need to do to make that happen?

Number nine is transparency. We have to strive for open communication at all levels. Transparency doesn't mean telling everybody everything all of the time. There are issues of confidentiality, and yes, I understand and respect those, and so will your team. But there are so much about the business that's happening in the business that you can share with your team. When you do that, it helps the team see the impact of what they're doing, and it helps you make better decisions because now everybody is dealing with the same information, and you can have valuable input for all of your team members. The quote for transparency comes from Jack Welch, and he said, "Trust happens when leaders are transparent." People aren't stupid. They know when you're hiding things from them, or you're trying to shape something a certain way or manage the message to tell them something different. People can see right through that. So, just don't do it. Be honest and be transparent.

And that leads us to number eight, which is communication. My favorite quote comes from George Bernard Shaw, and he says this, "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." Think about that. How many times have you said, well, I told them what to do. I told him what to do. I told her what to do. I've said it three or four times. I don't know what else I could do. I have communicated the issue. No, you haven't. You can never over-communicate. Remember, the single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place. You think that you communicated it clearly, but the person on the receiving end hasn't received it exactly the way that you intended. So, cutting through complex communication with clarity is important, it's a critical trait of an authentic leader, and authentic leaders typically stay away from corporate speak. They tend to talk in a more human-to-human conversational tone and terms. Try to stay away from corporate speak and talk to people as if they're people. That's it. That's the best tip I can give you on communication.

Number seven is the other side to that, and that is listening skills. I will share with you, many years ago, I had a 360 done on me, and I would have said that I was a great listener. I always listened to my team, and the results came back, and nothing could be further from the truth. This is what was happening. I thought I was a great listener, but my team said that what happens was they would say something, and I would be so excited to jump in and either share my opinion and perspective or jump right to the action that I would wait for them to take a breath. They hadn't finished their thought, but I would wait for them to take a breath, and then I would jump in. And I have to work on that every single day because it's a matter of managing my enthusiasm. And I know that some of you out there listening to this suffer from the same thing. And you think you're a good listener, but you're not. People need to get it off their chest. They need to fully articulate the thought, even though you may think you've got it and you're ready to move to action and move on. No, they're not ready. They haven't fully been heard. So, listening skills mean making sure you hold space for the other person that you're communicating with and listen to what they have to say. Listen with a view of absorbing their perspective, their information, and what they're trying to say. Don't listen with the view to respond as quickly as possible, because that's something that we all do. This is something I need to work on every single day and probably will do for the rest of my life. Here's a quote from Dr. Stephen R. Covey, "Most people do not listen with the intent to understand. They listen with the intent to reply." You can try and remember that quote. It will certainly help.

Number six: Honesty and Integrity. And we go back to Brené Brown, and she says, "Integrity, choosing courage over comfort; choosing what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy; and choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them." There's a lot in that quote. Honesty and integrity, I think we've all got a different idea of what that means, but authentic leaders truly have unquestionable integrity and strength of character. They're the cornerstone elements of an authentic leader. They say what they mean, and in turn, they earn respect. And people trust them because they keep their word, no matter what it takes. They practice personal accountability. It's really a hallmark of their personal brand. It starts with how you talk to yourself and the commitments that you make to yourself; that's where integrity starts. When you get up in the morning, you've heard the military leader provide that commencement speech, and he talks about when you get up in the morning, make your bed because you're making a commitment to yourself and you're following through on that commitment and you're training your brain to follow through on commitments. How many of us hit the snooze? We say, when we go to bed at night, we're going to get up at a certain time, and then the alarm goes off, and we hit the snooze. Right there, and then we're starting to give ourselves an excuse. Now, I'm not suggesting that you're a terrible person if you hit the snooze every morning; of course not, I do it. But just think about the narrative that's going on in your head right now, when you make a commitment to yourself that you're going to do something, but then you talk yourself out of it. Something to think about.

Number five: Heart First Leadership. If I had seen this 25 years ago, I probably would have laughed. I would never have thought that it was an element of leadership. But authentic leaders prioritize leading from the heart instead of relying on their competence or positional authority. And I learned this over the years in my career, and it really does give you a unique sense of warmth, courage, and empathy. Best leaders know that compassion and empathy really are strengths. People know when you are well-intentioned, they just do. They know when you're doing something because you feel like you have to do it or you're trying to fit a mold of leadership that the company wants that really isn't you. People can see right through that. So, lead from the heart means be you. John Maxwell says, "To lead yourself, use your head; to lead others, use your heart." There it is. Thank you, John Maxwell.

Number four is self-awareness. Authentic leaders know the impact they have on other people. They know how their behavior impacts others, and they're aware of their leadership style; they know their personality, their strengths, and their weaknesses. And they're always looking for feedback. That's what self-awareness is. They're always working to overcome their fears and they really lean into their strengths. And I've learned to do this. You've heard me say many times that I do not like spreadsheets. I don't like numbers. And people would say to me, "How on earth did you lead supply chain organizations for so long, and you don't like numbers and spreadsheets?" It's not my thing. I don't like it. And for many years, I tried to hide that fact, but I'm never going to like spreadsheets. But the one thing that I did was I always made sure that I hired somebody on the team who had a passion for numbers and spreadsheets. That's my self-awareness coming into play. It's something that I'm never going to be passionate about. Lean into your strengths. It's a much better way than trying to fix all the things that you know you're never going to be passionate about. Here's something that I like about Gary Vaynerchuk. in the auto industry, you might not be familiar with Gary, but he's a bit of a marketing guru; I guess that would be the best way to describe Gary Vaynerchuk. He's very raw. I'll warn you right now: if you listen to any of his videos, be prepared. But I like this quote that he says, and he says this, "When you know who you are, everything changes." It took me a minute to really understand that. I think I understand it now where I'm at in life, but it took me quite some time to get there.

Number three: Celebrating Success. Oh, we're not good at this in the auto industry. We're going to have to get better at this. We're so good at focusing on the problems and beating a problem to death that we don't see the opportunity to celebrate even small successes. And I think it goes back to this: many years ago, I remember wanting to celebrate the success of a team. And I remember my boss telling me, "Oh, no, no, no, no, don't do that. You just need to keep raising the bar." And that this accomplishment that they have just achieved is just the basic expectation of the job. You know, they're just meeting expectations. And I don't agree with that anymore. I did at the time because, quite frankly, I don't think I knew any better, but celebrating small successes will get you much further. It's much more motivating and inspiring than it is to just keep telling people they're never good enough and they're not good enough, and the performance needs to be better. You've got to celebrate every success. And I learned that certainly in the last few years of my career, I started to do more of that, and you will see what that does to invigorate a team. Now, don't overdo it. I'm not saying have a pizza party every day, of course not. But when there is a behavior or a result that is a success, make sure that you find a way to celebrate it. And this quote comes from Mia Hamm and she says, "Celebrate what you've accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed." And it is okay to raise the bar, but you do it when you build so much positive momentum, when you celebrate the small successes along the way.

Two: Vision and Purpose. Oh, automotive industry leaders. This is something that we have got to spend more time on. We have got to give people a reason for being part of the team, being part of the company. We've got to set a vision. As leaders, we have to, yes, manage the day to day, but we've got to raise our gaze onward and upward and bond the team together. We need a rallying cry. It's no longer good enough to say you're going to be the world-class manufacturer of a widget. There's got to be something more than that. People have to have a purpose. When I started my career, I couldn't care less about the vision and purpose of a company. I just wanted a job, a paycheck, and a career ladder to climb. Now, the generations that are coming up today do not think like that. They want vision and purpose. They want to be part of something bigger. There are five generations in the workplace right now, and we have to spend more time talking about our vision and our purpose and do it with the team. It's not something that you've got to do on your own, do it with the team, do it together. Everybody will be bought into it. You'll co-create the vision together, and it will be so powerful. I actually did this in my last job and it was incredible. It became our rallying cry, and it guided everything that we did. So, please spend more time. on vision and purpose. Another Simon Sinek quote you can tell I like Simon Sinek, "Great leaders must have two things: a vision of the world that does not yet exist and the ability to communicate that vision clearly." There's a lot that leaders have to do; there's no cookie-cutter approach to leadership. I created this document to help you, to guide you. It certainly would have helped me along the way when I started my leadership journey and even as I worked through the decades in the auto industry.

But this all culminates in number one, which is Lead with Gravitas. Gravitas is the hallmark of authentic leadership. It encompasses all of these traits and you know it when you feel it. And it is that boss that you once had that you would do anything for. I know if you're listening to this, you've got that person in your mind right now. That person always has your back. Always, always your best interest at heart. Gives you tough feedback, but it's coming from a good place. They encourage risk, encourage failure. They see failure as learning and provide that safe environment for growth. That's what Gravitas is. Leaders with Gravitas not only live by their values but they lead with them. They're really in touch with their values. They know what they are. They fully embody the essence of authentic leadership and they demonstrate a profound understanding that true leadership nurtures rather than controls.

That's it. That's the 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership, and we will put a link in the show notes if you want to download the document; you most certainly can. If you have any questions on the 21 Traits of Authentic Leaders, give me a call or pop me an email; my contact information is in the show notes.

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.