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AutoCulture 2.0 Book Launch
Episode 122 • 25th April 2024 • The Automotive Leaders Podcast • Jan Griffiths
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In this special episode, we'll take you through the electrifying launch event of the book AutoCulture 2.0: Leading with Gravitas, where Jan Griffiths, the visionary force behind Gravitas Detroit, takes center stage.

Jan shares a heartfelt reflection on the significance of the book launch. Surrounded by industry veterans, friends, and supporters, she describes it as the best night of her life, where everything in her career and life converged. 

Jan starts her speech by diving straight into the core issue: the automotive industry's transformation. She highlights the flurry of discussions around technological advancements but questions the neglect of culture in these conversations. Jan challenges the traditional leadership model and advocates for authentic leadership rooted in trust and inspiration, drawing from Stephen M. R. Covey's wisdom.

Jan weaves in stories from influential figures like Sandy Stojkovski, Dr. Andy Palmer, Stefan Krause, and Jessica Robinson, illustrating the essence of authentic leadership. Through their experiences, Jan underscores the urgent need for a cultural revolution in the automotive industry.

Jan reflects on Tesla and BYD's remarkable journeys from skepticism to success. She warns against the Blockbuster fate, urging a culture that nurtures innovation instead of stifling it with outdated practices.

With unwavering determination, she calls on the audience to take action and become agents of change in an industry on the verge of a revolution.

Themes discussed in this episode:

  • Revolutionizing leadership and workplace culture in the automotive industry
  • The essence of authentic leadership and its significance in driving positive change 
  • Learning from visionary leaders in the automotive sector
  • The importance of creating safe spaces where employees can freely express their ideas without fear of judgment or backlash
  • Confronting the common challenges entrenched in traditional corporate cultures
  • Transitioning from top-down management to a more people-centered approach
  • Cultivating an environment that nurtures innovation
  • Elevating the voices and contributions of every employee through inclusive communication and community-building efforts

Your Host

Jan Griffiths is the architect of cultural change in the automotive industry. As the President & Founder of Gravitas Detroit, Jan brings a wealth of expertise and a passion for transforming company cultures. Additionally, she is the host of Automotive Leaders Podcast, where she shares insightful conversations with industry visionaries. Jan is also the author of AutoCulture 2.0, a groundbreaking book that challenges the traditional leadership model prevalent in the automotive world. With her extensive experience and commitment to fostering positive change, Jan is at the forefront of revolutionizing the automotive landscape. Reach out to her at Jan@gravitasdetroit.com

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Episode Highlights:

[03:16] A Warm Introduction: Ashok kicks off the event with a lively introduction, setting the stage for Jan's speech.

[06:22] Culture Matters: Jan starts her speech and talks about why culture is so important in the evolving automotive industry.

[09:51] Following Her Heart: Jan recounts her journey—from feeling stuck in her dream job to daring to redefine automotive culture.

[15:06] Building Gravitas: Jan takes the leap into entrepreneurship with Gravitas Detroit, realizing the need to amplify authentic leadership in the automotive industry.

[24:01] Embracing Change: Tesla and BYD's journeys from skepticism to success and why we should create an environment for innovation to thrive.

[28:25] Shout-out to Sponsors: A quick nod to the sponsors who helped make the event happen.

[30:32] Call to Action: Jan concludes her speech with a powerful call to action, urging listeners to join the movement toward a cultural revolution in the automotive industry.


Top Quotes:

[07:12] Jan: “Every day, we're busy in this industry. We talk about EVs, right? We talk about the adoption rate. We talk about autonomous driving. We talk about software-defined vehicles. We talk about batteries. We talk about charging infrastructure and on and on and on. And technology and technology, right? What about culture? Does anybody in this room seriously think that the leadership model that we followed in this industry that got us to where we are today is going to take us into the future?”

[08:31] Jan: “We have to move away from position and power and look to people and potential. We have to move away from this mindset of compliance because in our industry, oh my God, do we love compliance? We love rules and we want to make you follow those rules. And what happens when you don't follow those rules? Bad things happen, right?

[13:10] Jan: “We have people in our organizations today who are full of great ideas. We have a responsibility as leaders to create an environment for them to grow, an environment for them to flourish, and to banish the fear that we're so known for in this organization. I can't tell you how many times, as direct as I am, that I was afraid to put my voice forward because I was afraid of judgment. I was afraid of being fired. And so, I didn't. I kept those ideas in. Now, how are we going to grow this industry and transform this industry at the rate that's needed if we don't create that environment? We all have a responsibility to do that.”

[25:43] Jan: “We have to create an environment for innovation to thrive. We cannot talk about innovation as it relates to product and technology at one side of our mouth, and then have a culture that kills it on the other. That has to change.”

[26:40] Jan: “We cannot continue with these small little bits of incremental improvement with our culture. We think we're doing some good things, but we're not doing enough and we're not doing it fast enough. We need to do more and we need to do it not only to make sure that we don't become the next Blockbuster, but for our legacy, for our children and for the people coming into this industry. We have to leave it in better shape than the day we walk in the door to walk into this industry.”

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is sponsored by Lockton, click here to learn more

Transcripts

[Transcript]

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Stay true to yourself, be you, and lead with Gravitas, the hallmark of authentic leadership. Let's dive in.

This episode is brought to you by Lockton. Lockton redefines business insurance and people's 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 is a special episode. It is the actual recording of my speech at the book launch for AutoCulture 2.0. And I have to share something with you. It was the best night of my life. That might sound like a really strong statement to make, but it really was. And let me tell you why. I felt as if I was exactly where I needed to be. Where I'm supposed to be in life, it's as if everything that I've been working on in my career and my life all came together at that moment, at that night. As I looked out into the crowd, I saw people I've known for decades in the industry. I saw old friends, new friends, people who are in the industry, people who are not in the industry, and people who have genuinely supported me through every single phase of my life. And then, I was able to give this speech that came totally from the heart. There were no notes, no slides, just me, my thoughts and my beliefs pouring out in me. And I got to tell you, it felt great. So, please enjoy the speech, and please if you haven't checked out AutoCulture 2.0 yet, please do so. I'll put a link in the show notes. It's an easy read. It is a tool to help you open up the discussion with your team about culture because, my friends, the time is now to make some dramatic improvements in the culture of our beloved auto industry. Here we go.

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So, with that, I'd like to introduce Jan to the book launch of AutoCulture 2.0.

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It's not; we know what we don't want. We know that command and control is history. It is. We're less clear on what the leadership model is that we should be working with Thankfully, Stephen Covey helped us out. And he wrote a book called Trust and Inspire. And I interviewed Stephen on my podcast through the lens of the auto industry. And he totally gets it. We have to move away from position and power and look to people and potential. We have to move away from this mindset of compliance because in our industry, oh my God, do we love compliance? We love rules, and we want to make you follow those rules. And what happens when you don't follow those rules? Bad things happen, right? Stephen's book is called Trust and Inspire, but it is all about the principles of authentic leadership. It is the model of leadership that we need to shape the culture of this industry. Stephen said it best when he said, 'Using command and control in our current environment of transformation is like taking a golf club to a tennis match.' So true, right? So, true. He also said you cannot win in the marketplace without also winning in the workplace. But I do not believe that we have enough attention. The alarm bells are not ringing loud enough on culture. We have to do more.

I'm going to take you back to my story, not going to take you all the way back because we'll be here all night. I want to take you back to a moment that you will all, in this room, you can all relate to. About six years ago, I'd achieved my dream job, running a supply chain for a global organization. I was in my element, right? But I would sit in these meetings every Monday and feel the life force draining out of me—PowerPoint after PowerPoint. One month, I saw you laughing, Moriarty; I wasn't talking about you. But, months after months, one number would be tweaked. And you would say, please God, can we change this agenda? No, this is the way that we've always done it, and we are not going to change. So, most of you that know me well, and if you're in this room, you probably do. I like to go to Starbucks in the morning, and I would go to work later and later every single day. It was like walking through molasses. I had lost that joie de vivre, whatever you want to call it. That drive, it had gone, it had left me. But how could that be? I was in my dream job. I had everything I could ever imagine, but something wasn't right. I wasn't living and leading my life in line with my values because, in the automotive industry, we have a mold of leadership that we expect people to fit. And I became really good at assimilating into whatever mold a particular tier one wanted me to fit, what I became what they wanted me to be, and I became good at that. And then, finally, here I am in my fifties, and I'm thinking, really? This is it? This can't be it. And then, I start to look at what's happening in the industry and the transformation, and I start to spend time in downtown Detroit, and I start to see the activity and the startup world. My good friend, Alison Emmerich, takes me to Bamboo, a coworking space. I was amazed. I loved it. All this energy, all this innovation, all this tech talk, it was great. It was inspiring. And then, I met Amanda Waroff. Where's Amanda? You are around you somewhere, Amanda; where is she? There she is. There she is. I met Amanda Waroff; at the time, Amanda ran Planet M, a place to nurture tech companies and startups. And I was so excited. So, I grabbed a hold of my engineering colleague and said, 'Okay, you know what we're going to do? We're going to put a purchasing person down here and an engineering guy, and we're going to make sure that they take all the new ideas from all these tech startup companies and bring them back to tier one, to our company. It's going to be great.' So, he was all in, and we went back to the ranch, and guess what? No, that didn't happen.

But think about that, right? We have people in our organizations today who are full of great ideas. We have a responsibility as leaders to create an environment for them to grow, an environment for them to flourish, and to banish the fear that we're so known for in this organization. I can't tell you how many times, as direct as I am, I was afraid to put my voice forward because I was afraid of judgment. I was afraid of being fired. And so, I didn't. I kept those ideas in. Now, how are we going to grow this industry and transform this industry at the rate that's needed if we don't create that environment? We all have a responsibility to do that. So, my wonderful corporate job that I worked all my life to get. I left. I said, there's got to be more than this. We've got to do something about this industry. And I made a decision that I would become the architect of cultural change in this industry. Thank you. Thank you. And so I left and started Gravitas Detroit, and people thought I was nuts. I am not going to tell you what Tiki has moaned. Yeah, she didn't think it, she told me. Time and time again. I won't even tell you what Tony Danes thought of me and put it on LinkedIn. So, people thought I was crazy. You don't leave a job like that in your fifties, right? Nobody does that. I did. I did. I took my salary to zero. I couldn't do the side hustle. I had an employment contract. I couldn't do that. Because everybody says, we'll do a side hustle. No, it was either you're all in or nothing. And so, I did. And so, I left, and I started Gravitas Detroit.

So, okay, we start Gravitas Detroit. I'm figuring out what it's like to be an entrepreneur. It's all good. And then I thought, well if I'm going to be talking about authentic leadership, I need to find people that get it. I need to find people who practice authentic leadership. Get them, get their voices heard so that other leaders in the industry can listen to their stories, listen to exactly what authentic leadership is all about, and how they practice it. And so, I started the podcast. Now, you should probably know that all these moves that I'm making in my career, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when I started, no clue. I didn't even know how to spell a podcast. Now, I'm giving presentations on podcasts. So, I started the podcast and met some wonderful leaders who started to share their insights and their stories. And it was great. It was such a wonderful experience. And then somebody said this to me, and they've said this to me a number of times over my career. You should write a book. Oh, dear God. What? No, please. I just got through this podcast thing, and now I'm supposed to write a book. Well, here's the problem. I'm not a writer. I'm not a writer. I'm just not. I know my strengths, and as leaders, we have to play to our strengths. And so, I hired a ghostwriter, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. A lot of people who hire ghostwriters, they kind of keep them exactly as a ghost; you know, they keep them in the background. No. I hired a ghostwriter, her name's Audrey Mast. She's awesome. She listened to hours and hours of me talking about this book. She listened to hours and hours of transcripts because the idea for the book, because as hard as it is for me to believe, not everybody likes podcasts, but the idea for the book was to take some of these podcast episodes and really just dial it in and dial it in and pull out the leadership insights and share it with the industry.

Well, when I think back in my corporate role, I don't want to read a 350-page book, right? I want you to just tell me what I need to know. Give it to me, give it to me. Short and concise. Tell me what I need to know. And then, how about you tell me what I should do with this information? And then, how about you give me the option? So, if I want to go deeper, I can, right? And I thought, ah, that's it. That's how we need to structure this book. So, the way this book is structured, the opening chapter, you'll hear a little bit of my backstory in the beginning. In the opening chapter, Covey talks about Trust and Inspire. Then, we go into chapters based on episodes with some amazing leaders. Some of these leaders are here today; Sandy Stojkovski, CEO of Vitesco, is right back there. Round of applause. Now, why am I pointing my finger at Sandy? She hates me right now. Because Sandy gets it, she walks the talk. She understands authentic leadership. She understands DE&I. She does it every single day. She lives her values. And this is what culture is about. It's not about the what. We've got the what in spades in this industry; we know the what part; it's the how part. We've got to start to get closer to our values and define our culture. And there is no easy answer. There's no cookie-cutter approach to it. The book is simply a playbook, a roadmap, a guide to help you open dialogue and conversations around culture. That's what it's for.

Dr. Andy Palmer, former CEO of Aston Martin, the godfather of the EV. He shepherded it in the Nissan LEAF. He knows a thing or two about culture. He started in a nasty, grimy British automotive industry, which is about as awful as you could possibly get. And then, he worked his way through Japanese culture with Nissan and then Aston Martin, and now he's more in the mobility and the EV space. So, he has a lot to share. And one thing I will, I mean, no spoilers cause you have to buy the book and read the book, but I will tell you that the one thing he said that resonated with me is this: there is no, because we talked about California culture, EV startup culture, right? And then, we talked about traditional legacy auto culture. And he said, you know what Jan, he said, there's no right or wrong. There's no right culture or wrong culture. There is only the culture that you want for your business. The culture that you want as a leader for your team. It's up to you as a leader to define the values that you want and to make sure that you live those values every day.

Stefan Krause, another chapter on Stefan Krause. Stefan Krause, when I first met Stefan, I guess I can say this now: I interviewed with him, and I thought it was going to be the worst interview ever. His background is as former head of sales and marketing for BMW in Germany and former CFO of Deutsche Bank. So, I think the image that you've gotten in your head right now. I've been to Volkswagen. I've been torn to shreds in Wolfsburg, right? In German, and I don't speak German, but okay. So, I had this image of this guy, and when I met him, I was wrong. This man is one of the most authentic leaders I have ever met. So, he then moved into the mobility space. He was at Faraday, and then he moved over, started a company called Evelozcity, and then became the CEO of Canoo. And now I kind of lost track of him. But one of the things that he really believes in is this idea of compliance and that we tend to think that people are going to screw up. And so, we build our systems and processes around that. And what we need to do now in this industry is to unlearn a lot of that thinking, not all of it. It's not all bad, but we have to unlearn some of that and learn to lead with conviction.

Jessica Robinson is in the book, an awesome leader, from a tea taster to a venture capitalist. You'll learn a lot about Jessica in the book. But those are just some examples of the chapters of the insights that these people are bringing to the podcast that I'm sharing in the book. This term authentic leadership is a broad term. If I had gone around this room, everybody would have had a different understanding of what it was. I took all my leadership experience and everything I've learned from the podcast, and I've learned a lot by interviewing people in the podcast. And I put it all together in a document. It's called the 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership. And you know, there's a QR code in the book for you to download it. There's a QR code for everything in my life. So, all right. So, what do I do these days? I spend my days, yes, podcasting. I love podcasting. I spend my days helping companies with their leadership offsites, helping them define what their culture is all about. I do tons and tons of speaking engagements, trying to get people excited about culture and trying to get people to understand why we need to focus on culture. Then, the other thing that I do is take my podcasting skills to the shop floor. Now, you guys are probably going, what? Why would you take a podcast to the shop floor? Isn't it loud and noisy and dirty? And why would you do that? Authentic leadership is all about communication. It's about being inclusive. Cheryl Thompson is here from CADIA, and we talk about creating an environment where people feel connected about creating community. There is a population in this industry that's woefully underserved in that regard, and that is the people on the shop floor. They don't have a corporate email. You can have all the best corporate communication strategies on the planet. You're not reaching the people on the shop floor. So, how do you do that? A podcast. I have been having a great time. I have a tier one client right now that I work with. And we're interviewing people from the shop floor. I'm interviewing production techs, operators, CEOs, and VPs, and we're sharing stories, we're sharing values, we're creating culture. That's what authentic leadership is all about.

I was thinking the other day about where this industry is headed and where there's a lot in the news right now. We talk a lot about BYD and Tesla. And it wasn't so long ago, you know, that we used to scoff at Tesla. Do you remember those days when we would say, 'Oh, they're just a tech company. They'll never make a car.' Remember that? And then, when they made a car, we said, 'Oh yeah, but you know what? They don't know how to scale. Because they're not automotive. They're not like us. They don't know what they're doing. They don't know how to scale.' Guess what? They figured out how to scale, right? And then, now we stand back in awe at the way they design the car and the way they make the car. There are only two vehicle manufacturers to lead; you have to fact-check me on this. There are only two vehicle manufacturers out there that make quality vehicles and make money, correct? BYD, Tesla, correct? And we scoffed at the Chinese, didn't we? We said, oh yeah, we went over there and looked at some of the products and said, oh yeah, but it's cheap. The quality's not there. We're not saying that now, are we?

We cannot allow this industry to go the same way as Blockbuster. We're going. We're going there. The Blockbuster tale. They did the same thing, didn't they? They scoffed at Netflix. These scrappy little stars and, oh, they don't know what they're doing. They're just these bunch of young crazy guys, right? No, No, No. Enough of that thinking. We cannot think like that anymore. We have to create an environment for innovation to thrive. We cannot talk about innovation as it relates to product and technology at one side of our mouth and then have a culture that kills it on the other. That has to change. We cannot, my supply chain background, we cannot talk about bringing in new suppliers and new technology and throw a 35-page terms and conditions document at them. Sorry, John Kreutzer, Catherine, Jamie, the three lawyers who are in the room. We cannot do that; they're going to run away screaming. We have to nurture this relationship. I interviewed Jeremy McCool, CEO of HEVO, the EV wireless charging company. And I said, 'Jeremy, what was it like when you came to Detroit for the first time trying to knock on the door of the OEMs?' And he said one word: antiquated. So, we cannot continue with these small little bits of incremental improvement in our culture. We think we're doing some good things, but we're not doing enough, and we're not doing it fast enough. We need to do more, and we need to do it not only to make sure that we don't become the next Blockbuster but also for our legacy, our children, and the people coming into this industry. We have to leave it in better shape than the day we walk in the door to walk into this industry. Who's with me on that? Dad, come on! What am I?

And to that end, I would like to, very carefully, walking backwards. I would like to dedicate this book to my darling daughter. To you. She inspires me every day. I want you to continue to be your 100 percent authentic self. She calls me out if I'm not being authentic. She has no problem in doing that. I think the younger generation is much better at just coming in, being who they are, and not being afraid of fitting a mold. They're much better at it. So, my darling, that book is for you.

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Now, a name that you know, all of you in this room know, is MEMA, otherwise known as OESA, but MEMA. Now, I have known MEMA for I don't even know or want to know how long, but I started going to the MEMA CPO Council meetings way back in the day. And what a great organization to create this environment where you could share openly with your peers. I absolutely loved that experience, and I thought that maybe they would ditch me after I moved out of that corporate role because I was no longer in this supply chain role. I'm just this Gravitas Detroit person that nobody knew. But no, they didn't. And we continue to work together. So, MEMA, thank you.

But now is the time; we would love to do this in order. And if this is a good, one of the things that we love about our culture is we like to take action, don't we? Where's the action? Where's the action plan? Come on. See? I know JD is all about that, right? So, we like to take action. So, here it is. Here's the action. Ashok set you up earlier to hit the QR code on the table to order your book. We're trying to get the book up to an Amazon Bestseller today. It all depends on sales today. So, if you haven't ordered it, please hit the QR code and order it. But more importantly, when you have the book, I want you to commit to yourself right here in this room right now that you will take an action when you get back to your business, back to your teams, that you will take an action to do something to open up the dialogue about culture with your teams and make a difference, make a change. This is a tremendously exciting time for us to be alive, and we have a choice. We can either engage in this transformation, or we can just ignore it and we can stand on the sidelines and watch it. I say no. I say we get right in there, right in the heart of it, and we lead this change. All the leaders who are in this room today, I want to know will you join me and will you take action Monday? Yes? Yes? Am I hearing yes? Okay. We've got a big job ahead of us. We've got an industry to change. Everybody that's in this room today, you're here because you have a growth mindset, because you're up for the challenge, because you want to do it. So, with that, please enjoy the rest of the evening. And thank you for coming.

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.

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