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Welcome to the first episode of Season 5 of the Automotive Leaders Podcast. In this season opener, Jan Griffiths interviews Michael Colleran, Senior Vice President and Corporate Officer at Nissan North America. Michael started his professional journey as a US Marine Corps Captain and later worked at General Motors and Saab before joining Nissan. This diverse experience gives him a unique perspective on the shifts in the auto industry.

The conversation starts with a study from Great Place to Work, revealing that 77 percent of Nissan’s employees deem it a great place to work. Mike shares what factors contribute to this recognition, exploring the essential elements that shape Nissan’s exceptional workplace culture.

Michael highlights the changing dynamics of customer interactions, emphasizing the shift from transactional to experiential relationships. Essential leadership qualities, accountability, and the significance of setting examples within leadership teams are discussed, and challenging norms by acknowledging past success behaviors may not ensure future achievements. These perspectives not only give a glimpse into how leadership operates at Nissan but also offer valuable lessons for adapting to the ever-changing world of the automotive industry.

Themes discussed in this episode:

• Nissan's journey and transformation.
• The necessity for behavioral and cultural changes to drive success.
• Adapting to changing customer expectations from transactional to experiential.
• Evolving dynamics of leadership in the automotive industry.
• Balancing innovation with a strong sense of accountability in leadership.
• The influential role of leadership teams in setting positive examples.

Featured: Michael Colleran

What he does: Michael is Corporate Vice President at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and Senior Vice President for all sales and marketing activities for the Nissan and INFINITI brands in the US. A former Captain in the United States Marine Corps, Michael brings a dynamic blend of strategic vision and operational excellence to the automotive industry.

On leadership: “When leaders replicate good behaviors, people will follow. They want to follow; they want that example out there... Leaders can get out there, set an example, and use their experience.”

Mentioned in this episode:

• Podcast interview with Navy SEALs: 
• Episode with Clint Bruce - Former Navy Special Warfare Officer
• Episode with Nick Norris - Former Navy SEAL
• Book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
• Podcast episode with Stefan Krause
• Podcast episode with Doug Conant, former CEO of Campbell Soup Company

Episode Highlights:

[00:02:53] Michael's corporate odyssey: Follow Michael’s journey as he transitions from a US Marine Corps Captain through roles at GM and Saab to his impactful position at Nissan, revealing the changes in leadership dynamics along the way.

[00:08:36] Cultural transformation at Nissan: Exploring the essential cultural shifts and behavioral changes that positioned the company as a great workplace amidst the rapid transformations in the automotive industry.

[00:20:01] Innovation through accountability: Jan and Michael tackle the fear of failure that is prevalent in leadership. Michael advises leaders to encourage risk-taking, emphasizing the importance of learning from failures and swiftly moving forward. They also discussed accountability dynamics, steering away from blame and fostering a culture that encourages positive accountability.

[00:33:29] Authentic leadership traits: Discussing the 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership, Michael emphasizes the essence of being a leader with Gravitas, summarizing the comprehensive qualities required for authentic leadership.

[00:35:54] Executive beyond the boardroom: Explore the personal side of an auto industry executive as Michael Colleran shares insights into his life outside the corporate world, uncovering exciting details such as his music preferences and hobbies.

[00:40:37] Michael’s advice: In an industry where stability once prevailed, Michael urges leaders to stay attentive to the shifting ground, continuously questioning and adapting while acknowledging the influx of new competitors.

Top Quotes:

[00:04:17] Michael: “Where to place your trust, how to earn trust, and how to make sure that your people and the teams around you trust each other are crucial… That's true in our business today. Employees want that level of trust and transparency. It was probably one of the key things I learned from my days in the Marine Corps.”

[00:09:55] Michael: “Most would say the big challenges in the industry are ICE to EV, autonomous drive, or connected cars. At Nissan, we reject that. Big change is coming, no question. But the biggest change is the battle for the customer. At the ultimate decision point, the customer has to make a decision for your brand.”

[00:11:16] Michael: “We're going to make the best ecosystem possible, one that people just don't want to leave. They truly love the brand. Right now, we're reinventing our team into a very customer-focused team, moving the business from transactional to experiential.”

[00:14:30] Michael: I truly believe that really great leadership is forged in the furnace of experience.

[00:14:54] Michael: “I'm a big believer in looking for curiosity in people; curiosity to me means you're still growing, and I can't coach and mentor someone who stopped learning.”

[00:32:13] Michael: “Leaders, focus will set you free, and it also allows you to be true to your core values. When you're focused, and you know what you're trying to accomplish, and you never lose sight of that goal.”

[00:34:11] Michael: “If a leader sees the business as their own, they're going to make better decisions for the company, for their people, for their partners, and for their customers.”

[00:41:15] Michael: “I would say, keep your head on a swivel. You need always just to be looking around and asking yourself, why?”

[Transcript]

Now, you have a senior leadership role at Nissan today, but that's not where you started. You did not start your career in the auto industry now, did you?

Not to establish all the rules. Yeah, we need accountability, we'll get to that. But this ability to really articulate a vision for the company, for their function, for their team, and to connect with people at a very deep and meaningful level, human to human, how on earth, Mike, do you do that at a company the size of Nissan?

And so, one of the things that we try to do at Nissan is reject the status quo. Now, certainly, there are things that we've learned over the years that are really good, around quality and taking care of customers. And we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater because we've learned so many good things. But at the same time, in this period of transition, you better learn to reject the status quo and at least question yourself and say, "Are those things that we've done going to get us to where we need to be? If not, let's stop doing them. Let's start doing new things." That's a big culture jump. And every day, I would say it's rolling up your sleeves and ensuring that the old behaviors don't come back and that the new behaviors are deeply embedded into the organization. And, I have an old saying, it's kind of simplistic: wash, rinse, repeat, it's like right off the box of the old laundry detergent, and I believe that repetition is, especially when leaders replicate good behaviors, people will follow, they want to follow, they want that example out there, and so I think if leaders can get out there and set the example and use their experience, you know, you said it a minute ago, experience has a breadth aspect to it, and some of that, you just, need over time. And I truly believe that you know, really great leadership is forged in the furnace of experience. But for leaders today, I think experience matters. But if you rely on the behaviors within that experience, you might find that you're just doing the same thing you've always done. And so, we're working really hard to break people out of their paradigms and to essentially ask questions. And it gets back to something, you know, I discussed before the show: curiosity. I'm a big believer in looking for curiosity in people. Curiousness to me means you're still growing and I can't coach and mentor someone that stopped learning, but someone that's thirsty for learning, they'll ask, why, why? Just like that five-year-old child. Perfect, I want to hire you.

And she's the old CFO there. And she wrote down, this is your final piece of advice from me, WAIT. And I'm like, wait, what am I waiting for? Because I don't like to wait, I'm impatient. She goes, no, it's not wait. It's "Why am I talking?" And I've always thought that that was brilliant. And I still write it today. Most days when I'm getting ready, I'll put wait at the top of my notebook for the day, date it in, you know, with my agenda. And the three things I want to accomplish for the day. And I write the word, wait, because I know that if I talk less and listen more, I'm going to have a better day. But ultimately, I think at the end of the day, when you're really trying to pull people out, I love your description of true leadership, of authentic leadership, and you know, the Gravitas 21 principles that you have put forth, I think are really good in defining leadership versus management and management's not what's needed today. We need leadership, people that will come in and be willing to do all those things that you said and have the gravitas to lead. But at the same time, you're listening. And you're engaging with your employees and you're giving them an opportunity to be great. Part of that trip to Vanderbilt, we sat with the Vanderbilt Symphony Orchestra.

We actually sat with them. And it was fantastic as we watched the conductor. And the conductor took us through a number of different iterations. Very controlling, you know, very, very much hitting adagio and making sure that, you know, the fortissimo was giant and it felt a little stilted. And he goes, now I'm going to show you the difference. And he said all I'm going to do now is let the musicians know what's coming next. Is it a right turn? A left turn? All I have to do is let them know in the score where we're headed and the music will be so much better. And so, he played and he took half a step back and he just, he let them know that, you're going to have to bring it up a little bit. You're going to have to bring it down a little bit here, in a moment, right? And it was all leading direction. And guess what? The music was so much better. Not surprisingly, because the artistry of each of those employees or musicians, in this case, came through. I really love that moment. Because it told me, wait, let them show you how good they are. And they're almost always going to overachieve. They're almost always going to beat your expectations. And I love that. I hope that that's part of my legacy is that I was one of those leaders that let people be everything they could be. That sounds like an army commercial, not perfect for a Marine, but good enough.

But what happens when one of those leaders reverts back to commander control, or you start to see those leadership behaviors that are not in line with what you believe that leadership model should be? How do you handle that?

And it just, it’s kind of its own regulator, to some extent, you know, if more leaders every day said, look, I'm going to accomplish this. I'm going to do it the right way.

These are the most important things of the day, whether it's helping out employees or pushing a new program into the marketplace, or designing a new vehicle.

When, you know, you focus on those things and leadership focuses on them, they tend to stay on the good behaviors. It's when you start to lose your focus and start to get away from your core values, that things start to unravel. And you have to very quickly push it back onto the path. And if you don't push it onto the path, it will just roll downhill. The problem will get larger and larger. You can't put a band-aid on cancer. When you find it, you got to take the chemotherapy and fix the problem.

It's a nice way to sum up a more complete, as-you-use, authentic leader. But within those, there's a couple that really stood out: ownership, accountability, responsibility. You mentioned that you've interviewed Navy SEALs. I know Jocko Willink. I should say I know him, I know of him, and I've read Extreme Ownership.But I relate to that one. I truly believe that if a leader sees the business as their own, they're going to make better decisions for the company, for their people, for their partners, and for their customers. And so, ownership to me is part and parcel of what I do every day. And it really kind of drives me when I feel that this is my company to make better, even though it's not. And I have shareholders and employees that, and all the key stakeholders. When I feel it's mine, I feel like I do a better job. The other one is resilience. It's the last one, actually, and number 21 in your list. And I like resilience. I look for people that are resilient on my team. I look for talent that is able to take one on the chin, get knocked down, but still able to, you know, pull themselves together, dust themselves off, get ready for the next day, the sun will always come up. Be resilient and be determined and you'll get to where you want to be. Just don't give up.

Just, I love all kinds of music and still occasionally will pick up a saxophone and play it.