In the car business, we are motivated by management to strive to make money.

But money isn’t what motivates some people.

I had a GM that I still consider a mentor. In fact, I just talked to him a few weeks ago. And it has been 20 years since I worked for him. There was a practice that he performed religiously. Every payday, he would get every paycheck and personally deliver them to every… single… employee, thank them and shake their hand.

This simple act let his staff know that each of them were appreciated. From the porter to the GSM. I don’t know how anyone else felt about this but I can tell you that this made me want to work FOR him. Even went he got a promotion and moved to another dealership (within the same group,) I chose to follow him even though my 5-minute commute to work turned into a 2-3 hour (sometimes) commute.

If you can discover what motivates each of your individual employees, you will have employees following your lead. And that’s what being a leader means. It’s not about leading. It’s about people wanting to follow you. And the only way to get them to want to follow you is to make them happy.

“The Noblest Art is Making Others Happy” – P.T. Barnum

One of the most repeated (and funny) lines from the movie “Airplane.”

These instances are not the parts that stick out to me. You know what does? It’s when the anonymous voices outside of the airport are arguing with each other. You know that announcement you hear at the airport “The white zone is for loading and unloading only,” while the other voice is saying that the red zone is. Eventually, they start to argue over the PA system.

It is definitely a small part of this hilarious movie but it illustrates a point in my mind. There are plenty of times when people find themselves arguing. In this case specifically, while a comedy bit, they work for the same company but are obviously not on the same page.

Rather than argue with others about the same thing, come together with a single solution that everyone can agree on that is consistent with the task at hand.

Solutions get solved faster & more efficiently when everyone is on the same page. It’s much more comfortable to disagree with someone & come to a solution.

How many times has a customer of yours that bought a vehicle from you turned around and bought a new one from your competition? What happened?

In the car business, loyalty is hard to achieve but easy to lose. Think about what it takes to earn the customer’s loyalty.

Ask your customers. They will tell you.

Ask your staff. They will tell you.

Then make changes.

Today is that day. The day when many are flocking to grocery stores and looting flower and greeting card displays.

No judgment.

If you don’t have anyone to celebrate with, that’s not true. You should love yourself and, if you do, then you can show yourself love and be your own Valentine.

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” – Charles Schultz

Happy Valentine’s Day.

As it is Super Bowl Sunday 2022, it is fitting to bring up a line from the Oliver Stone movie “Any Given Sunday.” In that movie, Al Pacino gives a locker room speech in which he says “We either heal as a team or die as a team.”

That’s not just football. That’s your businesses’ company culture. That’s your marriage. That’s your relationship with your children. Your team is your family. It’s your mom. It’s your dad. It’s all of the people you care about. That’s your team.

Either make sure that you are committed to your team… or it will lose.

Throughout history, there are many examples of inventors that have created things that nobody liked. In case you didn’t know, the person credited in history with creating the automobile is Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot in 1725 who created a steam-powered, self-propelled road vehicle for the French Army, according to the Library of Congress. In 1832, the first electric vehicle was created and in 1885/1886, the first gasoline powered internal combustion engine was created. These were all actually created, not simply invented or thought of. If you want to include “thought of,” you would have to go all of the way back to 1478 as Leonardo DaVinci was sketching out cars, helicopters, submarines, tanks, robots, the parachute and the suspension bridge, all while painting the Mona Lisa (in his spare time, Im sure.)

Fast-forward to Henry Ford. 431 years after DaVinci rolled the Model T off the assembly line, people didn’t like or want them. His most famous quote (at least in my opinion) is “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

And now, here we are. I think people like cars now.

Don’t be afraid to get creative. Don’t be afraid to dream. Don’t listen to naysayers or people that try and distract you from those dreams. Do what you believe the world needs, not what they believe that they do. The innovative technology in our business exists only because someone dreamed it and made it. Only AFTER it was made was it adopted by dealers [think websites… wink wink.]

Do your thing.

[P.S. A famous rumor is that the first car accident that involved two cars was in Detroit, Michigan. There were only two cars in existence on the road at that time but they somehow managed to run into each other. You can Google it. It can’t be verified but there is always some fact in different stories.]

In the not so distant past, I was looking for that “special” gift for my wife. After being married for 24 years, I had run out of ideas. BUT, I found one! Of course, it is only sold in another country and, even then, you have to be wary of fakes.

What I did was contact a friend whom I knew had a connection in that country to ask for help securing this gift. During a conference call with the dealer, my friend and I, the dealer told me a story… the story of the Ghost Dog.

He shared the classic excuse that many are familiar with that “the dog ate my homework.” Then he went on to explain that there are excuses for everything. From F&I didn’t get a deal bought because they messed up or forgot the paperwork, to a salesperson forgetting an important form in the deal jacket. You get the picture. (BTW, not trying to pick on F&I or Sales. Just examples)

Then he shared a tattoo that he actually had illustrating his philosophy.

He killed the dog.

Now it’s a ghost dog and nobody can blame the dog.

He even shared that 12 of his employees agreed with the reasoning behind it that they chose to also get the tattoo. I, personally, was also so motivated to do so. And I did it. That day.

Excuses are ghosts. Either get the task done or ask for help if you need it.

Stop blaming the dog. He’s dead.

(P.S. My tattoo looks more like E.T. on Halloween wearing a bedsheet as a costume. You know what? I don’t care. I know what it means and why I got it in the first place and that’s what matters to me. If you ever meet me in person, I will show it to you.)

I was watching a movie last night and a quote from that movie stayed with me. “You have to do what you have to do in order to be able to do what you want to do.” In my experience, many people I’ve interacted with want to jump straight to the top without earning it first.

That doesn’t happen.

If you’re not willing to dig ditches, chances are that you’ll never achieve what you want. Go out and become the best ditch digger ever and you’ll find that doors open for you by themselves.

(P.S. That quote came from a new movie titled “American Underdog” and shares the trials, tribulations and journey that Kurt Warner overcame in his career. I highly recommend it.)

As one of the most famous quotes by Shakespeare, it has lived the test of time and is still relevant today.

We are all faced with problems in both our personal and professional lives daily. Rather than blaming outside forces for them, introspect and ask yourself “Could I have done anything to prevent this problem?” If the answer is “No,” then your only choice is to find a solution.

Prevent problems by understanding that you cannot control everything. Once you realize that, burdens will be lifted from your shoulders and you can focus on solutions rather than problems. And you will find a happier and less stressful life.

I have had the opportunity to meet and interact with a lot of people in my life. My goal in life has always been to help others achieve their ambition of the “spotlight” (or whatever help they needed) while I’ve always been a “behind-the-scenes” person.

While others have wanted to get exposure, attention, jobs, needed personal help in their lives or whatever, I have always tried to help or be supportive in any way I could. Sometimes it didn’t happen. Sometimes it did. And sometimes it was wildly successful even beyond my belief.

I cannot take credit for any of these outcomes other than connecting dots in a world filled with them. The tale of the dots relied on themselves.

Achieving success is subjective. You can be successful in whatever way you define it. Great dad? Make lots of money? Be a thought-leader in your industry? Write a book? Build a charitable foundation?

It’s up to you what makes you feel as if your life is successful. Not what other people say or think. Do you need to be in the spotlight to feel that you’re successful? I certainly don’t.

What hurts the most (and is the lightbulb that illuminates above your head in your own version of Spidey-Sense) is when people that claim to be your friends ask for advice or help when they want it but then you never hear from them again… until the pattern comes full circle.

My wife loved the Oprah Winfrey show. One year, I bought her the entire library of her shows and felt obligated to watch them with her. The most important thing (in my opinion) that I learned is that you should always lend people money (or anything) with the expectation that you will never get it back. By thinking that way, you never lose friends or family members over anything.

I use this same advice when I think about helping people who ask me for it. I don’t expect anything in return.

Cheers!