Meet Carla Bailo, former President and CEO at the Center for Automotive Research

[Transcript]

Jan Griffiths: 00:51

Today, you'll meet Carla Bailo, Carla has deep roots in the automotive industry. And she shares her amazing career journey from General Motors to Nissan to the world of academia into the role that she holds today. Some interesting stories about driving a semi truck across the country during the early part of a career when the last thing you expected to see was a young woman jumping out of the cab of a truck, right? She likes to push things to their limit. Literally she likes to push cars to their limits understand where the limits are. She likes to break the mold. And that is something that we most definitely have in common. And she likes to work with a blank sheet of paper she likes to create and recreate. And I couldn't think of a better person to be heading up the car organization right now, as the automotive industry stands right on the precipice of massive transformation and change. Carla Bailo, welcome to the show.

Carla Bailo: 01:47

Thanks so much. Great to be here.

Jan Griffiths: 01:50

It's great to have you and I cannot wait to hear all about your background. I want to know it all right from the very beginning, where you grew up your amazing career in this wonderful beloved automotive industry of ours and how you ended up leading the CAR organization, the Center for Automotive Research. So Carla Bailo, what is your story?

Carla Bailo: 02:27

Boy was elated like that, I hope you have a lot of time. But let me start in the very beginning. I was born in the Detroit area in actually in a community called Ypsilanti, which is just outside of Ann Arbor, and grew up in a house it was probably at best 750 square feet at least for the first five years of my life. My father was a tool and die guy always in the automotive industry. And his father was trolling die. My grandmother was actually a Rosie the Riveter back in the day, it was then turned into a GM plant. And my grandfather on the other side of the family was a sweeper at Ford. So I mean, just automotive is in my blood. And if you grow up in Detroit, you have to, you know, you love cars, at least I love cars. And I grew up at a very young age loving cars and even thought they had a personality. So I was really, really engaged in the automotive industry. And then I started school. And it's amazing how your path can begin to change. And you start to think differently about what you want to do and what's expected of you by society. And of course, I was thinking when I started high school, I would probably be a nurse or administrative assistant or something like that. But I always really loved math and science and just did really well all the time. In high school, I had a wonderful chemistry teacher who saw my capability and had two children going to General Motors Institute. And she said, I think you need to think about engineering, and talk to my parents and talk to me. And before I knew it, I mean, that was the path was really what made a lot of sense. General Motors Institute I mentioned earlier, you know, we we didn't have a lot of money growing up, so I had to pay my own way. And that was one way to pay my own way through through college. So I went there and then started in the automotive industry for GM then for Nissan and never looked back. always working with cars, always in product development, often much of that time on the Proving Ground driving and racing around and taking cars to their handling limit. All the things I still love. I still love it put me on a proving ground and I can go crazy

Jan Griffiths: 05:00

And then

05:03

I went to General Motors just shoot and started cooperating with GM trucking bus, which doesn't exist anymore. It became. Well actually, when I started, there was a GM GMC truck and coach that it became trucking bus. But I started working when I first graduated with my degree in mechanical engineering, started working on the big semis, the big 18 Wheeler, GMC generals and Astros doing ride and handling performance. So you can only imagine, you know, the outriggers on these products, you know, the shock absorbers, they were huge. And then we got out of that business. So no longer working in the heavy truck business. But I did get my class to operator's license. So I could go on test trips, I've driven semis across the country only had two scary points, which I have to talk about. The first one was when I went over the Mississippi River in a semi and when you're that high up, you don't see the guardrails, all you see is the water. And I wasn't prepared for that. That freaked me out, but made it over by just looking straight ahead. And the other scary point was at that point, you had to double clutch. And you were shifting through 14-16 gears. And I was going up one of the mountains in Colorado and I lost a gear. And I couldn't get the engine speed, right, I just kept getting going slower, and slower and slower. And finally I hit the gear and got out of it. But I think at that point, I was going maybe 15 miles an hour and I was just scared. I was never going to find the gear I'd be on the freeway stopped going uphill. And I thought oh my goodness, it was a dead of winter too because it was a winter test. So there was snow on the roads. And I survived it but it was really really shocking. And and then the third thing that was really quite funny when I was driving these these semis is when we would stop at a rest area. And Jan, I'm probably a little bigger than you but very small as well, five feet three at best and not a very large woman. So I would get out of these big rigs and walk into these truck stops with all these burly guys. And you could imagine they'd all be talking in the you know, or out around their trucks and outcomes, this little thing. And it just was unheard of back in those days. But you know, working on those big rigs was pretty amazing. And then we went out of that business I started working on the the big white whales as we call them the urban buses. And from there, then everything you got out of that business, I just kept getting smaller, then I went to medium duty trucks. And then I moved into

08:11

the M van at the time, the Astro van and and Safari van. And then eventually started working on full size trucks, just the silverados. And so I went when I first moved into the Silverado or into the you know, the smaller trucks, I looked at one of the shock absorbers and it looked like a toy, a toy part, you know, what is this thing because I'm used to these things, you know, being super big. And so anyway, that's how my career progressed there in GM. And about that time, it was early in the 80s. And I applied for and received a GM fellowship to get my master's degree, and went ahead and went on to the University of Michigan and got my master's in mechanical engineering. And I've always specialized in material science and polymeric materials, because I'm kind of a geek in the chemistry lab and love that kind of thing. Even though I've never in my life worked in materials, I've always worked on product. But I got my master's went back to GM for about two years after that. And this was the middle of the 80s. And it was a tough time in general motors and decided I really needed to move on. I didn't see any opportunity there. And that's when Nissan opened their R&D center here and I thought how great you know, to be part of kind of the first floor so we were developing product and at the same time building a company I was employee number five, we had no code of conduct we had, you know, everything was written in Japanese and we had to suddenly start developing product. So I just found that's when I discovered quite Frankly, that if I have a blank sheet of paper job, I'm in heaven. Give me something that's never been done before. Tell me to take a swing at the bat. And I'll I'll, I'll do my darndest to do it. But don't give me a cookbook and tell me to do it this way, or we're going to have a problem.

Jan Griffiths: 10:20

Yeah. So that had to be quite a challenge, starting with Nissan right from the very beginning. What was some of the challenges that you saw coming from more, you know, traditional American OEM type background?

10:35

Oh, it was, it was amazing. First of all, it wasn't just we were working on a product, but our product wasn't just Nissan's. Nissan had formed a joint venture with Ford. So the product that we working on was the Nissan Quest Ford villager. It was a joint small minivan product where Nissan had agreed to do the r&d and development to the product. And Ford was responsible for manufacturing that product. And we had, you know, certain volumes and agreements that had to had to be met. And when I got there, one of the first things was we had to establish what are the performance targets for this vehicle? What's the ride handling going to be like? What's the noise, vibration, harshness going to be like? What's the engine performance going to be like the seat comfort. So we got together with the other development engineers, and we had the Nissan's back they had their Ford's back. And what we found out was, we don't talk the same language, first of all about what defines these things. And secondly, our customers are different. And, you know, our strain gauges on our bottoms are different, you know, who when we when we say something is harsh in Nissan world, it's perfect in Ford world. So we found there was differences that we had to negotiate, it took hours sometimes to go through this and some of the things we finally said, you know, what, you're going to have to have a different spec than us on some of this. And because your customer is different. So if you want to seek comfort to be different, we'll have to have, you know, different seat cushions, blah, blah, blah. But that was one of the first things that we discovered, our customers were different, our way of evaluating the vehicles were different. Our performance targets were different in the ways of assessing them were different even in engineering speak. So you think engineering is engineering, but company by company is very different. So the art of negotiation, which I never knew I had a skill set or a bone in my body that could do that, because I was never very good at just agreeing with somebody, I really love conflict and arguments, we can talk about that later. But you know, just being able to to have those discussions and finally reach an agreement was was very interesting. The other thing was just the different ways that we do business as companies. The other part is just how differently we do businesses, organizations. And the way that we interact with our supply base as well, it was, it was really interesting to see how these two worlds came together. And, you know, the clashes that we had, as a result of that, and the misunderstandings that happened, we would all in from a Japanese company, we're very, very formal. So meetings are conducted very formally, but meetings are conducted just as a formal confirmation, the real meetings and discussions happen before and after the meeting. So we would sit in the meeting and agree to X, Y, and Z. But maybe we didn't really agree. And we come back and have a secondary discussion or a third discussion. So just to first of all, watch this dynamic between the executives of both companies because I was still very young, I was only in my late 20s was just really interesting to have a seat at that table. At that age, the amount I learned was amazing. I would have never had that kind of responsibility in a larger company or a more established company. But you know, to be able to sit there and then explain how the target performances were going to be assessed and how we were going to manage the development of the vehicle.

14:35

would house now there's over: 1100

Jan Griffiths: 17:42

So what happens then, so you launched this vehicle, and then what?

17:46

group, primarily until about: 2000

Carla Bailo: 22:39

And you had to report directly to Carlos cone every single month. And he would decide if your proposal was okay. And if he said it was okay, it went forward regardless who liked it, and they didn't like it. So this new president came in, he again, same thing called me in his office had to see me immediately and said, we're starting cross functional team number four, which is r&d. I want you to run it. So of course, I said, Okay. Not knowing what it would be. And his words to me, was, I strongly recommend that you decide who you want on that team, and get approval to get them on your team. Because every person who's being asked to be a pilot of one of these is being asked today. And all the good people because you know, in every company, it's always the same people that always get chosen for these things, because you know, they're gonna deliver. Get them on your team right away. So I did, had a great team, our team was the first one to make a proposal to Carlos cone, and I ended up making three during my stint as that as the pilot. And probably within two years after that, I get the call from head of HR asked me to go to Japan and become a program director for trucks and SUVs globally. Position never done by a female a position never done by a non Japanese. So of course, I didn't say Yes, right away this time, because I had, I had four children, a husband, and many things to think about when you think about making a move like that. And so my spouse has always been my my greatest advocate and supporter, and I called him and he didn't even blink. He said, We're going Let's go. And so I said, Are you sure? Are you really sure. But yeah, we took the opportunity. So I went to Japan, and it was supposed to be two years, it's an opportunity for three I was there five, from 2006 to 2011, was in charge of trucks and SUVs globally, which put me on the opposite side of engineering, even though it had part engineering. It put me on really the Profit and Cost Management side of the entire program. And all of our funds to do the program developments. I had to go before the executive committee of Nissan, which at the time was Carlos Ghosn, Saikawa-san, Shiga-san, all of you know, the top executive team. So a whole new world A whole new way of thinking, being in Japan and the heartbeat of the company. I think I grew up, I can't tell you how much I grew up during that time period, just being in the heat of things, having that kind of responsibility. While there, I directly reported to Carlos Tavares, who's now the head of Stellantis. And then after he moved back to or moved over to the US, I reported directly to Andy Palmer, who was the ex CEO of, of Aston Martin. So I just have, I had so many wonderful leaders to watch and, you know, try to try to learn from during my days in Japan well, even before that, we can get into mentorship and things later if you'd like, but went there, and I was there during the economic crisis. So on top of having, you know, this program director role, I ended up just getting crazy jobs there, I ended up being the head of HR for all of the planning group that was tacked on to my title. So HR in Japan, really interesting. I also was put on the recovery committee during the economic crisis, because we needed to find any way to save money, or be able to bring extra money in. And during that time, is when I proposed creating a new group, which became a business unit and still part of Nissan, that is always looking for these synergies with other companies either to help offset development costs and or, you know, allow us to have excess revenues by sharing our platforms or our components with another manufacturer. And I was put in charge of the strategic alliance, alliance with Daimler, which existed until just last year, it's it's pretty much going to be dissolved. And also, at that point, doing a strategic partnership with Mitsubishi, who is now part of the Renault Nissan Alliance. So that negotiation skill was put to good practice doing some of those things.

Jan Griffiths: 27:33

Well, that's a that's quite a career. And we're not we're not done yet

Carla Bailo: 27:37

We're not done. And then from there, I came back and was head of r&d for North and South America for for Nissan, and did that for a little over three years. From there was 2014. And I retired from Nissan. And within, within a year, I was working in academia, I went to Ohio State, they were looking for somebody to come in and do mobility research, business development for them, again, a white sheet of paper, nobody had ever done this job before. And they wanted me to look at everything related to mobility in the entire university, everything from exoskeletal work up to drones, because they have their own airport there too, and come up with one or two big ideas we could work on collectively as a university. And of course, get money to do that research along with it. And honestly speaking, because I've always loved working with young people always love mentoring, always loved learning. If I was going to have a secondary option, it was going to be in academia or in a research type position. So I did that and I really loved it. I loved working with the students. I started what's now known as Dr. Ohio in Ohio, I lead the Columbus Smart City challenge which Columbus won the money from the Department of Transportation. But academia is very, very cumbersome and slow. It takes forever to get a decision. For somebody coming from industry, that part was tough, but working with the students, oh my gosh, they were amazing. I have never had so much fun and had such such great staff and they were only working for me part time and you know, we pay students you know, working on campus, it's nothing but they just, they were amazing, and I still follow all of them that work for me. They often communicate back and forth. So just wonderful experience. But then I was asked to go to the Center for Automotive Research, which in my mind is the best blend of academia and industry. And also got me back to Michigan which Michigan is home were three of my four kids live. So I said, Yeah, let's do it. And again, this was another big challenge for me. Because, you know, coming into an organization, every time you come into an organization, it's a challenge, because the people don't know you, you don't know them, you have to get to know them, and then how you handle that those first few days are vitally important. And this particular group was renowned, it's a world class organization with some very intelligent people. So I was, you know, I was a little bit nervous, quite frankly, because of the reputation and I didn't want to do anything to upset that I certainly knew I wasn't smarter than any of them. So you know, had to find a way to come in and, and assess and then begin to guide, you know, as best I could to get the company ready to move on and, and continue to support the industry, as we've been doing so well, for so many years, but not just the automotive industry. But we need to be thinking about the mobility industry, those communications industry, all the, you know, all the corollary industries that are now part of mobility. So that's my story.

Jan Griffiths: 31:17

That is a fascinating story. Now, as head of the CAR organization, you have a pretty important conference coming up in August. Tell us a little bit about that conference, and particularly now that we're in, you know, is it too soon to say post pandemic, but, and a pandemic kind of timeframe? So tell us more about the conference. I mean, I've heard about MBS. Over the years, the management briefing sessions, and I attended many, many years ago, and years ago, it had a reputation of being a little bit stuffy. And I've heard that over the last several years, that's changed significantly. So what's going on with this conference, Carla?

Carla Bailo: 32:01

Well, I was also an attendee for several years. And yes, it was getting stuffy and getting stuff here. And as I began to look at, you know, some of the other conferences, CES, I had been to several out in the Silicon Valley, I had been to several through TRB. and saw the dynamic and how sometimes a more relaxed atmosphere really, really provided a lot better conversation and business discussions. I really wanted to have that same kind of aura associated with MBS. MBS has been in existence for 55 years. I mean, it's long, long standing, even before the Center for Automotive Research existed. It started as part of the University of Michigan, under Dave Cole, the the first CEO. So it has very, you know, a very storied history, so to speak. So I wanted to preserve that. But at the same time, I wanted to modernize and have those discussions that weren't what we what we get at a lot of conferences that are commercials or advertisements, I wanted to talk about the issues, make sure we had the right panelists there, without regard to what the title was, what their title was, I wanted to make sure they were the right person who could talk about that subject intelligently. debate it not and not be hindered so much, by what you know, the script said I also wanted to make sure that there was a lot of diversity. And of course, that means of course, gender and nationality etc. But beyond that, so diversity of thought to make sure you have the right panels and the panels themselves. I didn't want to just take last year's template and keep cookie cutting it because the industry was not staying staying stationary, we're moving forward. So what are those hot issues that we really need to be talking about? What are those that yes, people want to hear about? Maybe they don't want to hear about every year maybe every other year is okay if we supplement it with other things. And how can we make it more rapid because you know, two hour sessions in this day and age is unheard of, and people just don't have the patience or the time for that. So make it more rapid, but make it as deep and and as more as much knowledge as can be imparted. So those are the kinds of changes that I really sought to put into the program to for everybody to come out of there thinking differently and challenging themselves even more our industry needs more challenge. It needs more rapidity and it needs to have these discussions more and more special. technology just keeps changing so rapidly.

Jan Griffiths: 35:05

Carla, are you trying to break a mold?

Carla Bailo: 35:07

I think I've broken everyone so far, you know, in my life, I love to break molds. And you know, the only way to see if something is gonna work is to give it a world if it doesn't work, change it, you know, but you've learned something. But if you just stay with the same old, same old, you're gonna die. I mean, that's, that's just the way organizations are going, you have to change yourself, your customer is going to change. And if you don't change or evolve, and give them what they're looking for. The future isn't very bright.

Jan Griffiths: 35:41

There are CEOs out there in our beloved industry, who would believe that the way that we've been doing things, and I'm speaking specifically to the leadership model, the way that we've been leading the industry is just fine. And we're okay, and we're making money. So we don't need to break it. No breaking the mold here, we just need to go back to the way that we did things before and everything's gonna be okay. What would you say to that?

Carla Bailo: 36:10

I would say, Stop. Seriously, stop and take a look at what's happening. We have an entirely new workforce these days, even people who have worked for your company for 30,40 years are changed. You know, if you haven't changed from this pandemic, it's it's shocking to me, even if you don't realize it yourself, you've changed. I know when it first, when the pandemic first started, I said, I cannot work from home, I never can work from home. And now you know, I work from anywhere. And I would have never done this before. I felt very, you know, regimented in my way. And I found that, no, I can be just as productive another way. But if you're not going to adapt to the way people have changed, you're not going to have people anymore, because they're going to be able to find options and other places to go and and get the quality of life they desire. And I don't want to talk about the millennials, because we know you know the millennials disrupted but when you start looking at the gen y's, and then the gen Z's. That's another totally new way of thinking about things and they've lived through crisis's that other other population segments have not. And you're just not going to be able to attract people. And if you insist that everybody returned back to the way it was before, you're going to end up in an employment crisis. Because people have lots of options today about where they can go.

Jan Griffiths: 37:52

Yeah, you're right. And Gen Z is not going to tolerate the more traditional command and control model that we cling on to in the automotive industry. I'm sure I'm gonna be I'll get a lot of email back from that statement, but that's okay. So let's talk about authentic leadership. As you know, something that I care passionately about is authentic leadership. And Gravitas is the hallmark of authentic leadership. And I believe we need a whole lot of Gravitas in the automotive industry. And when they, I believe that this is an opportunity for authentic leadership, to come center stage, and thrive and now is the time to do it. In your words, and your experience. What is authentic leadership to you?

Carla Bailo: 38:45

For me, it's can be summed up is doing the right thing. And I know that sounds very vague, but always saying what you believe, always marching the path of what you're speaking. If you say something, do it, if you promise something, deliver it. It's no different. Being an employee versus you know, being you know, a supervisor, it's very much the same having that respect for others. If you respect them, you will get respect back. Finding a way to communicate but first and foremost is listening. You have to listen 80% and talk 20 if that if that number is even correct. I will always sit and listen and listen and listen. And I don't speak unless I feel like I have something important to say in all of you are my outside boards and things like that. I'm not going to be the one that's just going to hog the conversation. I listen, I listen to absorb data, and then I make my recommendation or suggestion. I I think the other thing is knowing what you don't know and not being afraid of what you don't know. So many I think so many people get wrapped up in, I'm the expert, I have to know the answer to everything. But it's okay, as a leader to say, I really, I have an idea, this is my idea. But I'm sure you have a better idea. And if we think about it, together, we'll be able to find a solution. But honestly, I don't have an easy answer to this. And I've been faced with that a lot during even this pandemic, at first it was, are we gonna close the office? I don't know, I don't know what everyone else is doing. Let me think about that, are we going to open the office? No, I don't think so until I know what I'm supposed to do, because I don't know what I have to do. So, you know, it's that kind of honesty, that, you know, promotes good discussion. You can be a leader, you can guide and advise, support, you end up making the ultimate decision, but you're listening, and you're taking in all the different, you know, information that you can, and then you make a decision. I think you can see evidence of authenticity, when you see somebody taking a new role. There are people who come in and immediately make their assessment and start changing people and start changing rules. And they probably don't even know how that particular department ever existed. And, you know, if you're an authentic leader, you're going to come in, and you're going to spend two weeks to a month just talking and listening. And understanding what that group does, what the complexities and the personalities of that group are like, so that when you do make those decisions, you're really looking at it holistically, about the best way to go forward. So for me, this is all being authentic.

Jan Griffiths: 42:06

I agree with you. And I can't tell you how many times I've seen that play out when a new person, a new leader comes into an organization, and they're concerned about fitting the mold, they have this idea of what they think leadership should be in their head. And oftentimes, it's, it's tough, it's aggressive. And it's, you know, get in there take charge show who's boss make a decision, whack a couple of people, and they're concerned about impressing the boss. Or they're concerned about impressing their peers. Or even worse, they're concerned about making their peers look bad and making themselves look good. And playing the gotcha games in the in the conference rooms, we've seen that play out a number of times. And, and it doesn't do anybody, any good. Whereas deep down inside there's some insecurity there, and it shows right away, and people can tell, they can feel that they can sense it. And what happens when a new leader comes into an organization and they start to behave that way, you withdraw. If you're reporting to that person, you start to be Oh, okay, I got to be careful with this person. I don't know that I'm going to share everything. Yeah. So you start to withdraw, you start to disengage, and then trust starts to erode. And then, you go down into a toxic culture, I've seen that play out time and time again. And you're right, authentic leadership is about the let's talk about when you start with an organization, shut up and listen. And be comfortable enough in your own skin to know that you are good at what you do. And other people will see that over time. But you have to create a safe environment for people, you have to bring people in to you, you will have to use, you know what I would call the force of Gravitas, not gravity, to bring people in to you so that you can create a High Performance Team. But so often, Carla, people just feel that if they come in, and they listen, and they're quiet, that that's a sign of weakness. And it's so isn't and there's so much work that we have to do to get that message out there.

Carla Bailo: 44:27

Yeah. And I think you know, even after that initial time, you still have to listen, because things happen. People change situations come up in the company. And if people feel like they can't come and talk to you openly, then you're not going to be in the heartbeat of the company. And if you're not the heartbeat of the company, there's problem there are walls up, people won't talk to you about certain things. When I was in the team at Nissan, even in Japan or in the US, I can't tell you the number of time executives higher than me would come to me and say, you know, so and so they're not performing like they should be what's going on? You have any idea? I'd be like, Well, yeah, they have a son that's having trouble in school. So they're probably not focused like they should be. They'd be like, how do you know that? Because I talked to them, I see them in the little store down buying a sandwich, I see them in the lunch line. Because I never let any, no matter how high I got up in the company. Nobody ever bought my lunch, I was in the cafeteria with everybody else talking and seeing what was going on. And I sat with everybody else at lunch, I didn't go sit anywhere else. Because that's how you get to know people. Or I just walk through the laboratory and just talk to people. But it was always interesting to me how all these executives would come to me. And finally, one day, I said, How come you guys always come to me? Because you always know, we don't know. And so why don't you know? Why don't you take time, you know, to talk to people. And if they would get this expression on their face, like, Oh, that sounds troubling. You know, and so they would just, it was easier, just go ask Carla, you know, she knows she talks to people.

Carla Bailo: 46:24

But

Jan Griffiths: 46:25

Because they're afraid to ask people how they feel.

Carla Bailo: 46:27

Yeah

Jan Griffiths: 46:27

And I talked about that a number of times, I call it my favorite f bomb, go out there and ask somebody how they feel.

Carla Bailo: 46:35

Because, you know, if you have a group of people that are not engaged, that they're working in, in a company of fear, or just do it and be quiet, your company is not going to grow. It'll be profitable, but it's not going to grow. And you're not going to get the best out of people. And you're not going to get people that are staying because they want to be there every single day and give you 80% because 80% is a darn good percentage.

Jan Griffiths: 47:01

Yeah, I think this is such a great opportunity for automotive to infuse and inject a whole new sense of energy and possibility and life. And quite frankly, I think that the conference is is pivotal, I think it's going to be a turning point, it's a great opportunity for people to put distance between the past and the pandemic, and start afresh with a restart. And I've been reading some research recently that talks about the importance of the restart. Because if you think about it, there's you know, Mondays we start a new week, we start a new month, we start a new quarter, we say things well, after my birthday, I'm going to do this right you know, New Year's, I'm going to do this, there's some psychological there's power behind that it can be transformative. So the conference being in August, we can say alright, the pandemic is behind us, this is a restart. This is where we're able to put distance to the past and start a new and I am thrilled to be taking the stage on day one of the event and talking about authentic leadership and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am that it's a hybrid event. And there will be real life human beings there. What's the thought behind that between the hybrid event?

Carla Bailo: 48:22

Well, we you know, we want everybody there in person and when we started planning this quite frankly, we weren't certain with the laws we're going to be how many people would be able to get there I mean, normally we have between 800 and 1000 and that just seemed oh my goodness knowing the space there and how close we are just seemed a stretch and we also knew budgets would be tight still some people would not be comfortable traveling so we said let's do a hybrid let's do it in person and and let's have people join virtually. Now I can tell you at this point in time 96% or more are coming in person people really want to get back out there they want to talk face to face. By the way I had my first face to face meeting yesterday, shook hands was able to chat see their face the full face was the best meeting I have had in months. I'll tell you I just for me, I've missed that desperately. Because I can't sense people. If I can't see their whole body. You know and Zoom, many times we don't even show our faces. And I do regardless how awful I look. If you saw me yesterday, I was jogging and I was a mess, but I don't care. I'm showing my face. I just think it's important but to be able to also see the body, the body language, the tilting the crossed arms, the comfort level, the openness is really, really important. So yes, people want to get back out face to face. I hope we will have some of the best conversations ever. Because we really as you rightly say we have a chance now To change things and start up and think differently and act differently and behave differently as an organization, or as the mobility space, we have the opportunity to change things, we were able to change things in nanoseconds during the pandemic, let's not go back to taking years. You know, we will, we'll go, we can't revert back or our industries, quite frankly, it's in trouble. We need to be aware of who the competition is, how quickly they're moving, what our customers demanding of us what our employees are demanding of us. And, you know, be ready to move with those ideas and realize it's not a one, one size fits all. It's really not. And these younger people that we're getting, let's face it, they've had every opportunity, they could do anything they wanted, their schedules were packed morning till night. They don't hesitate to argue with us, I can tell you a younger employee, if they don't like what you're saying, or they don't agree with what you're saying, they don't hesitate to tell you. And I think it's great, because I love these ideas. And I need them to change my mind and make us do something that maybe makes us uncomfortable. But we need to do it. And you can always change it. This is this is one of the fears I think a lot of leaders have if I if I let this happen, it's going to be that way forever. No, if it doesn't work, you can change it. I mean, look how you run your household, you don't make a rule. And it's that way till you die, you know, you could change it if you have to. So we need to be very flexible and not let fear or protocol guide the way we want to behave. And MBS we're going to have these conversations and more when talking about future proofing and risks in the industry today supply chain risks, when talking about what's happening, political trade and tariffs. All of it is going to be in there the electrification, are we really going to be all electric by 2030? So many of these hot topics we're going to delve into and I hope you know, not just during the sessions, but during the receptions in the evening, during breakfast in the morning. Let's continue to debate these. This is not a one time and done. We have to keep living this for, you know until we have MBS again in 2022.

Jan Griffiths: 52:26

Yeah, well, I can't wait to get into all the conversations, let let alone the deliver the keynote, it's about the conversations and the collaboration is going to take place when we're there. That's going to be great.

Carla Bailo: 52:39

You're gonna kick us off perfectly.

Carla Bailo: 52:41

I know it I've seen you speak and I think everybody after your introduction, I'm going to be a little bit scared to come up and do q&a with you. But you know, I'll manage somehow, and but it's going to get everybody in the right frame of mind to really, really make the sessions what we need them to be.

Jan Griffiths: 52:59

Yeah, and you got some great speakers there, too. You got two of my favorites. I know. Cheryl Thompson is a moderator. And she's the thought leader in the DI space in the industry, which we love the work that she's doing. And Jessica Robinson, who happens to be one of my personal favorites, one of the smartest people I've ever met, quite frankly, in the mobility space. So you got a great lineup of speakers, it's going to be a lot of fun.

Carla Bailo: 53:22

Absolutely. And you see some of the names that you just gave two are actually going to be moderating this year, we decided just to have to all be CAR people doing the moderating let's let's get some people here that are prominent in the space to ask some of the questions and, you know, be able then to lead some of the dialogue. Like I mentioned before, after the event, or in the evening, or whatever. Really opening the door to again, changing the way things have always been done. But But needed needed changes, I believe, to get the conversations at the level we need them.

Jan Griffiths: 53:59

Yeah, well, I'm all about breaking the mold of corporate leadership, Carla, and we're definitely going to do that in Traverse City in August. But I have to ask you, we've talked about authentic leadership and you know that I defined Gravitas as the hallmark of authentic leadership. So what is Gravitas to you when a leader has Gravitas? How do you know?

Carla Bailo: 54:20

It's hard to say? I mean, I think you can sense it, and you can see it in what they do. I can tell you what it's not it's not somebody who's pompous, who's a braggart who is directive. But it's somebody who is a collaborator, somebody who at the end of the day says Gee, I get did good. I did good for the company today. I did good for this person today. I'm leading the company in the right direction. Everything that came out of my mouth was true. And I meant it and I'm gonna still I'm going to do it. And I think it's hard to judge that from the exterior. I think if you have a leader with Gravitas that you work for, and if you do, you're very lucky, because it's really hard to achieve that level. You're going to feel valued, you're going to want to work for that person, you're going to want to give them everything you can give them, you're going to be challenged by that person. It doesn't mean you're friends with that person. You may not even like them very much. But you're going to respect them. And you're going to love what you do. You're going to know your voice matters. You're going to see adaptability, depending on the need, you're going to see openness to new ideas, openness to risk, and support if you fail.

Jan Griffiths: 55:50

Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. You're right. It's a feeling, right?

Jan Griffiths: 55:55

It's a feeling. It's like trust. Trust is an emotion. It's a feeling.

Carla Bailo: 55:59

Right

Jan Griffiths: 55:59

It's a feeling. Yeah, that's right. Well, you talked a lot about Gen Z, and you're right, Gen Z certainly have their no problem asking the tough question. And I love that. What advice would you have? Would you give to yourself? Age 25? So if you could talk to 25 year old Carla right now, what would you tell her?

Carla Bailo: 56:23

Oh, gosh, um, first thing I would say is, be let me just put a little context around this at 25. I was a welder. I'd been in industry since I was 18. Including my co-op days with GMI. And I was probably one of, I don't know how many women engineers very few, constantly being challenged. It was not a good environment in those days for a woman in the industry, deciding really, what was important to me and what things I was going to let roll off. Because if I didn't let some things roll off, I was going to end up with a huge chip. And I wouldn't be a pleasant person. Realizing that my path was to be technically competent, but knowing that I probably wasn't as technically competent as I should have been, or I could have been. So I didn't have a lot of confidence. Going back, I would tell that, that 25 year old, you are as confident as every other 25 year old person in this company, male, female, whatever. Don't hesitate to ask the questions. Don't feel bad and replay situations where you think us something stupid or didn't do something, right. Because I always wanted to be right. I always wanted to have the right answer. And I hated to be wrong. And I would just beat myself up relentlessly about it. If I could have all that time back, that I spent ruminating over what I thought I said something stupid in a meeting, or you know, I did something wrong. I could have been so much more efficient back then. And now I don't worry and I OTA about it. But I spent too much time doing that, then I wish I could tell her get your confidence. You know, be clear, speak up. You know it. If you make a mistake, shrug it off. Say I'm sorry. I'll fix it and go on. Because really, that's all your manager ever wants to hear is, Yeah, muffed up. I'll fix it. I'll have it back on your desk. You know, they they don't think about it like you think they're thinking about it. You know, like it's unrecoverable, because you screwed up. So those are the things don't rule. Don't spend that time. It's dear time precious time. Don't waste it. Thinking you did something silly.

Jan Griffiths: 58:59

Yes, you're absolutely right. I did the same thing ruminating over what was said and done and what I should have done. I should have said and what will this person think and what will that person think? And that's all it really is you don't have to worry about it. And guess what you can't control what other people think. And you definitely can't control what they do.

Carla Bailo: 59:17

They worried about what somebody said about what you wore, you know?

Jan Griffiths: 59:21

Yes, yes.

Carla Bailo: 59:23

And I have a great story. Do you remember when the candy shoes were the in thing the slides with the super high heels and of course everybody had to wear them. And I was working it was during my co op days and I was working in the executive offices in the PR department. And we had this windings marble staircase that came down the middle of the executive offices. This was back in the days of pomp and circumstance. And I'm coming down there to greet a guest at the visitor desk. I somehow slipped, fell down in front of all executives on the first floor who were standing there chatting about something, here, this young thing comes down the floor. I think I fell five or six steps, you know, just slid right down. And I must have worried about that for a month. But you know, the funny thing was they were all worried was I okay? And then after that, it was like, we were all good friends. You know, I had broken the ice literally broken the ice by falling down the stairs with all of these executives. But I was so mortified, you know, I thought I just ruined my entire career for life.

Jan Griffiths: 1:00:38

Ahah,

Jan Griffiths: 1:00:39

yeah, well, I got one little story that I will tell about that. It's, it's I was just telling this the other day to the accountability lab, was working third shift down in GKN manufacturing down in North Carolina. And I was running production production control manager. I had, they said, Oh, you know, you just want anytime with third shift, you got to spend time with third shift. I said, Okay, so I worked third shift for a week, which I will never do. Again, I have a lot of appreciation for people who work third shift now. So lots of time back in the day, I was a smoker. So lots of Marlboro lights and coffee later, you know, I'm walking through the shop floor with a third shift supervisor, talking to everybody. And I thought, okay, that's great. I'm doing a great job, right. And he says to me, I said, so how would I do you know what I do? Okay? And he says, Yeah, because this is just one thing. I goes, and I couldn't really tell you out there. And I'm like, what I was like, What are you gonna say? He said, your your zipper. Your fly was undone the entire time. You're out there. Yeah, that happens. Yeah. On the show, too. Great. Just great. On third shift, really?. Oh, but it didn't actually happen. So are you crying?

Carla Bailo: 1:01:59

I'm crying

Jan Griffiths: 1:01:59

People can't see you right now. All right, we need to take a person just a personal turn here. Before we close out our time together today. You've had such a successful career, you know, a thing or two about being successful in life, both professionally and in your personal life. So how do you start your day? How do you set your day up for success? What's your morning routine look like?

Carla Bailo: 1:02:23

Well, I usually start the night before, I'll be honest, because I'm one of those people that whenever I have a problem or need to think about something, if I look at it, before I go to bed, magically, my brain thinks about it while I'm sleeping. And I wake up in the morning and have all kinds of thoughts typically. So I look the night before, what's my calendar, and I get myself mentally prepared for the day. But I always start the morning the same way with exercise, I get up early, and just go walk, walk on the treadmill, walk outside, whatever it is, and that gets my blood going. And one cup of coffee is all I need. I don't need a lot of caffeine. And then I just go headstrong into the day. And what I if I don't take the time to look at my calendar the night before, I can guarantee you the next day because I have meetings back to back. The next day I'll go in and it'll be why I'm in this meeting what's going on, you know, and I hate to be that kind of person, I want to be prepared. I want to know why I'm there, have read the agenda and be ready to just you know, dig in and whatever the problem is roll up my sleeves and get going. So that's how my morning starts. And then I have meetings all day. I usually try to know especially during the pandemic, I get up and I walk I'm also a jogger, I usually do that at night. And on the weekends I run quite a bit. All the exercise I can get in is great. I also end every day with a crossword puzzle and a sudoku. I have to do that for my brain every day. That's how I relax so people find that funny you know crossword puzzles and Sudoku make you relax, but they do. I need that at the end of every day to just discharge. And that's it, you know. And now I'm an empty nester, so I really only have to worry about myself.

Jan Griffiths: 1:04:23

Yeah, I did not expect to hear the Sudoku coming but that's interesting

Carla Bailo: 1:04:27

And can-can-can too. If you've never can-can-can and you're like number puzzles. That's a great one.

Jan Griffiths: 1:04:33

All right. Not for me. No, no, no, no. Well, I have to tell you, Carla, it has been an absolute pleasure having you on the show. And I can tell that you and I are going to infuse excitement, passion and energy into this industry. And we're going to do it on stage in August in Traverse City. So thank you very much for your time.

Carla Bailo: 1:05:02

Oh, it's been a real pleasure and I can't wait. I almost wish we could go there now, and you know, keep this momentum going, but we're gonna spark them in the morning for sure.

Jan Griffiths: 1:05:13

Yes, Yes, we are. We are. Thank you.

Carla Bailo: 1:05:16

Thank you very much, Jan.