In 1976, an 11-year-old girl from a small farm in Wales stood before a glass case in Greenwich, England, staring at strange uniforms and a document called the Constitution. The exhibition was titled "The British Story of the American Revolution." That was all Jan Griffiths knew of America, what she could see through the glass.

Decades later, she sits in the engine room of that country, in Detroit, at the heart of the auto industry.

This episode marks America's 250th anniversary, and Jan tells her own story to get at something bigger. She takes us from the shop floor at BorgWarner in Kenfig, South Wales, where the smell of oil and coolant hooked her for life, to Muncie, Indiana, to the drive up I-75 when the Detroit skyline first came into view, and something rushed through her. It is the story of what this country and this industry gave a young woman who would not have had the same shot back home in the 1980s. She names the people who believed in her, and she means every one of them.

Then she turns it forward. Jan draws a straight line from Frederick Taylor's work in 1911 and Henry Ford's moving assembly line in 1913 to the management playbook most legacy automakers still run today. The country is 250 years old. The industry's operating system is barely younger, and it has hardly changed. Culture is not soft, she says. Culture is how we behave and how we decide, and the industry does not have another century to sort it out, while Chinese OEMs move at speed, and relay-race handoffs slow down every decision.

She points to Jim Voss and the movement building inside Tenneco as proof of what happens when people rise up for a cause. And she reminds us what Detroit already knows about getting knocked down and coming back, from bankruptcy to two of the Big Three going under and returning stronger.

This is one immigrant's love for two countries and one industry, and a challenge to every leader who still talks about transformation instead of defining it.

Themes Discussed in this Episode

• An immigrant's love for two countries
• From a Welsh farm to Detroit's engine room
• Why culture is not soft
• The 100-year-old automotive playbook
• Competing with Chinese OEMs on speed
• Moving from a relay race to all players on the court
• Detroit's grit and comeback story
• Leaders defining transformation, not just talking about it

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

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@jangriffithsautomotiveleaders

About Your Host – Jan Griffiths

Jan Griffiths is the champion for culture change and the host of the Automotive Leaders Podcast. A former automotive executive with a rebellious spirit, Jan is known for challenging outdated norms and inspiring leaders to ditch command and control. She brings honesty, energy, and courage to every conversation, proving that authentic, human-centered leadership is the future of the automotive industry.

Mentioned in this episode

• Jim Voss and Tenneco's transformation (Episode 186 and Episode 187)
• 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership (free PDF)
• Catalyst | Detroit: When AI Meets Manufacturing Reality (September 22nd 2026 | Detroit, Michigan)

Episode Highlights

• [01:19] Through the glass in Greenwich: Jan takes us to 1976, an 11-year-old on a school trip staring at an exhibition called The British Story of the American Revolution, the first time America was more than something on TV.
• [03:03] Hooked on the shop floor: BorgWarner in Kenfig, South Wales, the smell of oil and coolant, and the moment a farm girl fell for automotive manufacturing.
• [03:58] "Don't go to Detroit": Why Jan ignored the warnings out of Muncie, took the torque converter job in Sterling Heights, and felt a rush the first time the skyline came into view on I-75.
• [07:30] A moment of gratitude: Jan names the people who believed in her and shaped her career, from Paul Humphreys to Lon Offenbacher.
• [08:40] You never fully assimilate: What a psychiatrist once told her about immigrants, and why she can love Wales and America at the same time.
• [10:53] Culture is not soft: Jan pushes back on the eye-roll, defining culture as how we behave and how we decide, not hierarchy and performative theater.
• [11:52] A playbook from 1911: Frederick Taylor's work, Henry Ford's 1913 assembly line, and why the industry's operating system has barely changed since.
• [14:43] From relay race to basketball: The handoffs and resistance points that slow legacy automakers, and what it looks like when everyone plays on the court.
• [18:09] All in: Jan's closing challenge to leaders who talk about transformation instead of defining it, and why the industry cannot wait.

Top Quotes

[02:44] Jan Griffiths: "Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would go from peering through the glass at America to being firmly planted in the engine of that country in Detroit, but here we are."

[10:53] Jan Griffiths: "Culture is how we behave. It's how we act. It's our framework for how we make decisions, for how we operate."

[17:23] Jan Griffiths: "Detroit didn't just put America on wheels. It built the model, the system for people to share in that prosperity, and we need that back again."

[18:29] Jan Griffiths: "I am all in on this country, I am all in on this industry, and I am most definitely all in on Detroit."

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This podcast episode is also available on YouTube. Check out our YouTube channel at Jangriffithsautomotiveleaders

Send us your feedback or questions — email Jan at [email protected].

[Transcript]

This episode is brought to you by Lockton. Rising benefit costs aren't inevitable for you or your employees when you break through the status quo. Independence matters, it means Lockton can bring you creative, tailored solutions that truly serve your business and your people. At Lockton, clients, associates, and communities come first, not margins and not mediocrity. Meet the moment with Lockton.

Today is a special episode to commemorate the 250th anniversary of this wonderful

country, yes, America.

Now, when you grow up in Wales on a small farm, the idea of going to England on a school trip is a big deal, and I was excited, and we were going to see an exhibition, and that exhibition was all about America. I hadn't even heard that much about America other than what I saw on TV. And the exhibition was called The British Story of the American Revolution. The British story. It was to celebrate the 200th birthday of America. Now, as a young girl looking through the glass at these strange-looking uniforms, this thing called the Constitution that I'd never really heard of. So I learned a little bit about this country called America.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would go from peering through the glass at America to being firmly planted in the engine of that country in Detroit but here we are.

I started my career in the auto industry years later in my early 20s working for BorgWarner in Kenfig, which is a small town in South Wales, and we made manual transmissions. And I walked onto that shop floor, and I fell in love with automotive manufacturing.

The smell of the oil and coolant in the air, the excitement of it all, the buzz of it all. I grew up on a farm. I didn't know anything about manufacturing, and I just loved it. And that was it. I was hooked. I was hooked on the auto industry.

And then, BorgWarner moved me to Muncie, Indiana. I walked into that BorgWarner Muncie plant. It was an enormous plant, and I was part of it. I was part of the manufacturing machine, and I loved every minute of it.

And then I had the opportunity to come to Detroit, and the people around me in Muncie, Indiana, this is going back into the mid-80s. They said, "Oh, don't go to Detroit. It's a scary place. There's a lot of crime there. You really don't want to be going to Detroit. You need to stay in Muncie, Indiana."

And I thought, "Ah, I'm gonna go and try it out." So I did. So I interviewed with, again, another BorgWarner plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, the torque converter plant. And I loved the idea of being in Michigan, of being in the Detroit area. I didn't really understand that much about it, but Detroit was such a big, big city for me.

Remember, I was the farm girl who went from a farm in Wales to Muncie, Indiana, and now to Detroit. And I remember to this day driving up 75 into the city and seeing the city skyline come into view, and I felt a rush just coursing through my body. I was so excited to be in the Detroit area. Now, it was several years before I moved into the city, and I worked in Troy at the time, and then I decided to move into Riverfront Apartments.

It was the place to live in Detroit back then in the late '80s, early '90s. And every time I would drive from the Troy office down to the city, again, I'd see that skyline, and I felt so proud and so thrilled to be part of the city. I don't feel quite the same rush anymore, because I've been around it now for several decades, but I couldn't be more proud that my daughter is now living in the city, and I am so proud of what this city has done.

It keeps getting bashed down, but what happens? The city just gets back up again. Whether it's bankruptcy, whatever happens to the city of Detroit, it just comes back even stronger, and look at it now.

I am so proud to tell people that I live in the Metro Detroit area. I'm so proud of our city, and so proud that I will be emceeing an event in the city for procurement professionals on September the 22nd, and it's for senior procurement leaders from all different industries, and they've chosen Detroit as the focal point for this particular conference, and it just gives me chills.

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I have loved working for all the tier ones that I've worked for, and I actually did a stint in the appliance industry with Maytag. And this is the point where I would like to say publicly thank you to all the people who have believed in me and helped me with my career along the way. I'm gonna name a few of them, and if I have missed anybody out, let me fall on the sword and apologize right now.

Paul Humphries, who inspired me from day one and continues to do so

Paul Tuszynski from Allied Signal, now Bosch.

Tom Stone and Mario Iannantuono, Terry Carlson from Maytag, Joe Gray and Dick Unrath, Frank Sovis, John Nechiporchik

Jim Borzi, and the guys at Platinum Equity, Renee Koontz and Rob Joubran, and Lon Offenbacher from Inteva.

There are many more who have influenced me and helped me along the way, but a moment of gratitude to all of you. Thank you

I learned how to navigate through many different cultures and certainly many different situations, crises, issues that come up in the auto industry. I learned to do it all. But I never lost sight of who I was in the process, of my value system. And the same is true, I think, for immigrants when we come to another country.

I had a psychiatrist tell me once that you will never fully assimilate into another country. You simply can't because you grew up with a different system, maybe a different language. And yes, English and English American are two different languages. You have a different education system. It's different, and you can never fully assimilate.

But I feel like I've assimilated pretty well into American culture and American society, and I enjoy it, and I love it. And I can honestly say that I love both countries. I love Wales. I also love America. And America gave me a career, gave me a chance in the auto industry that I believe I would not have gotten if I had stayed in Wales.

And that is not to speak poorly of the British system and of Wales. Back in the '80s, the opportunities just weren't there for a young woman in her early 20s. So I am forever grateful to America and to this industry for giving me such a wonderful start in life and a fulfilling career.

So fast-forward, and as I look back on my leadership journey and my transformation in this country and in this industry I look at how I've evolved both professionally and personally

It has indeed been quite a transformation. But the biggest transformation is in front of us right now. It's happening right here, right now, and we don't have 250 years, and we don't have 120 years to evolve this industry. We need to do it right now.

And when I talk about leadership and culture, sometimes I'm concerned that people roll their eyes and think that culture is something soft, and it is not.

Culture, culture is how we behave. It's how we act. It's our framework for how we make decisions, for how we operate. And that framework does not have to be laden with approval levels and hierarchy and gamesmanship and this performative theater that we go through in a typical legacy automotive company. We can be nimble, and we can be faster.

We know that where we sit right now in the automotive industry is a period of massive transformation, and we keep talking about it, but we don't exactly do it. Some of us are, but this transformation... I mean, we're celebrating 250 years of this country, yet when you look at the auto industry, go back to Henry Ford, go back to the introduction of the moving assembly line.

So this is a perfect time to look back and say, "What exactly have we changed? What do we now need to change to look forward into the future to transform this auto industry? How are we gonna compete with the Chinese OEMs? How are we gonna increase speed and agility? How are we gonna empower our people?"

If you listen to the most recent interview with Jim Voss, you'll see how this man, who came out of nowhere, he was not in the auto industry, he has not just created a following, he's created a movement.

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This movement within Tenneco, you really have to feel it to believe it. That's the kind of leadership we need to transform this industry. We need that kind of leadership where people just rise up and wanna charge through that wall, not just for you, but for a cause, for a mission, because they want to be the very best that they can be.

They want to beat their own personal best. It's not about beating the guy next to you or looking better than the department or the function next to you. It's about being in all of this together, forward, transforming, cutting time out of decisions, cutting unnecessary decisions out of the way, moving from being this relay team, this operating playbook that we love to use, where we hand things off to other functions We need to move away from that.

We need to move to this idea of being all players on the court, a basketball, grab the ball. You've got a skill set, you've got a position, but you can grab the ball and move it quickly, not this slow relay race that we play, with all the handoffs and the resistance points and the things that drag us down.

We've got to move beyond that. And I believe that we can do it. I have been in this industry for over 30 years. I have lived in the Detroit area for most of that. I lived in the city of Detroit before it was cool to live in Detroit, and I loved it. And it's true what they say, that there is a certain grit to the people of Detroit and this industry.

The auto industry has had such a massive impact on American life. Just think about it. The Model T, the introduction of the car, cut the tether that we had with being close to work. No longer did we have to live close to work because now we could drive to work. The motel, the motor hotel, the drive-in movies, this idea of the great American road trip, all of this is because of the car, and all of that happened because of Detroit.

We've had such a massive impact on American life. And let's not forget about the impact Henry Ford had on the way we work, not just the way we live, the way we work. He was one of the pioneers of the 40-hour workweek, taking it from a traditional six days to five days.

Now, why did he do that? To be a good guy? Yeah, partially, but also because he recognized that when people have more leisure time, then they're more likely to buy a vehicle to enjoy that leisure time. He increased their wages.

Detroit didn't just put America on wheels. It built the model , the system for people to share in that prosperity, and we need that back again.

This industry and the city has been knocked down time and time again. The city even went bankrupt. We've had two of the big three have gone bankrupt, and what happened? We came back fighting, didn't we? And we can do it again, and we need to do it now. We can't wait any longer. So let's stop talking about transformation like it's this wonderful presentation and maybe a town hall where you talk about it.

Leaders have a responsibility to define what that looks like. You can't just get away with these vague words about, oh, digital transformation, transformation, culture. We can't throw those words out anymore. We have to provide clarity and help people rally around that vision and that mission. I am all in on this country, I am all in on this industry, and I am most definitely all in on Detroit.

It is this country and this industry that took me from viewing America through the glass to being right in the heart of its engine room, and I will be forever grateful, and I am not done yet. We have a lot of work to do in this industry, so join me as we transform this industry together.

Happy 250th anniversary, America.

Thank you for listening. You can watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel. Search for Jan Griffiths Automotive Leaders, and download the 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership. It's a free PDF and the link is in the show notes. And remember, stay true to yourself, be you, and lead with Gravitas, the hallmark of authentic leadership