Learn from the Best

I remember, one of my bosses at General Motors, we're in a meeting, there's 20 of, us VPs and all this stuff and, he loses his head and he storms out, slams the door, of course, being at General Motors, way back then we didn't move. And he came back in five minutes later. And he goes, "I just wanna apologize to all of you. "And, there's no excuse for this. "And I am a horrible role model. "I just wanna let you know, I'm sorry." And he walks out. And it's like, wow! I mean, we would follow that guy to the end of the earth, right? And it's that level of authenticity, and transparency, right?

It is, I mean, I have a great recollection of being in a meeting at Ford Motor Company. And having this iconic leader that I was working for in his organization, he is now retired. And, he loves 6am-7am meetings because it was manufacturing. So remember, sitting down it was a big round wooden table. And we would have operating reviews in that environment. And one day, there was an envelope on all of our desks. So we sat down. And I remember leaning over, and the guy next to me said, "I bet we're not being invited to a party." Probably not. And so, start the meeting. He basically says, "Now, I'd like all of you to open the envelope." Okay, so we opened the envelope. In the envelope, there's a mirror, round mirror. "Okay, now, hold the mirror up to your self." And the learning of that situation was that it's not talking about every other organization and what everybody else needs to do, it's what a we as individual leaders gonna do.

Right.

And what's our self reflection on what we need to do better in our teams and our organizations, to solve that problem. And that had a profound impact on me.

Can you look at yourself in the mirror.

Right, can you think about what you need to do better as a leader?

Yeah.

Can you think about what your organization needs to do better in terms of outcomes.

Right.

And this is the same person as well that used to have us go work the line. So, the assembly line. So I remember being, early on in my career and spending three days working the assembly line, attempting to install windshield wipers with this wonderful employee that was kind of my coach and thinking, "Goodness gracious, this is such a hard job." To get these things to snap in and actually stay in position. And we had like 30 seconds to do the installation for every single one. And it's like, this is the hardest job on the planet. And I tell you, it taught me a lot of about how do you design for manufacturing, how do you design the engineering right so it can actually be produced?

Right.

What do the employees that actually have to deal with these products live on a day to day basis? And how hard are those jobs?

Right, it is a tough job and, that's another thing we have in common because my first job at General Motors, I was a production foreman in second shift, Chassis Line, Clark Avenue plant, Cadillac, right? And, I had 30 of the biggest guys working for me and, when the lines going, Cadillac was going by one a minute, and the guy would bounce the tire, adjust it perfectly, the lug nut and one of the guys said to me, I'm just starting out, now he's called me at a white shirt and tie, right? And, they go, "I bet you can't do that." I go, "Oh, man, I can do that. "I played basketball, right?" Oh my god! It was a mess. I mean, it looked like the I Love Lucy thing and then they had to press the button to stop the line. You know when that happens

Yeah yeah

That's like Code Red. And, that was a humbling moment. They were just laughing. But, and after that, they were just great friends. And it's really getting your nose dirty in a ring and give it a shot, right?

Get go work in the day in the life.

Go work in the day in the life.