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Meet Jeneanne Hanley, a leader with over 25 years’ experience in the automotive industry culminating in her position as President of the E Systems division at Lear Corp, a business with revenues over $5B, 50 sites and 70,000 people. It’s clear that her mission is to match “people with purpose”, she leads with a firm belief in “modeling behavior” and “we win as a team”.  A self-confessed “strategy zealot” and a “list person” Jeneanne takes us through many facets of authentic leadership.

In this episode, you can expect to hear how she engages a team around a new technology play specifically in the EV space, how they embrace innovation and execute in troubled times, particularly when “there’s fear in the air”. The transition to a company with a Silicon Valley based culture and more.

You’ll hear insights gleaned from her interview with Mary Barra CEO of General Motors and Jocko Willink, the Navy Seal and co-author of the book “Extreme Ownership”

There are valuable insights to share as we pursue our quest to find GRAVITAS.

03:01 Jeneanne’s story

08:01 The Mary Barra interview

11:02 2010 – the year of the Volt

12:27 Fear in the air

16:08 Innovation – allowing people to experiment

18:37 Engineers must have a seat at the table

19:58 Working for a Silicon Valley based company

22:16 Connecting hearts and minds

25:59 The Jocko Willink interview

30:52 Personal accountability

32:36 Authentic leadership

40:21 Gravitas

41:34 Fun and the corporate offsite

44:31 Advice to my 25-year-old self

47:08 What’s your legacy?

[Transcript]

[00:01:30] You'll also hear insights gleaned from her interview with Mary Barra, CEO of general motors and Jocko Willink, the Navy seal, and co author of the book, extreme ownership. Let's get into it and continue our quest to find

[00:01:54] Jan: [00:01:54] My guest today is no stranger to the C-suite. A leader who was [00:02:00] well-known in the automotive industry, a transformational leader with a reputation for building high-performing teams on the cutting edge of automotive technology. She currently holds a board position with KLA, a semiconductor equipment manufacturer, a Silicon Valley based company.

[00:02:43] Jeneanne: [00:02:43] Well thank you for having me, John. It is

[00:02:49] Let's talk about, uh, your story. What is your story? Who are you?

[00:03:32] Got a college education and all four of us did. And in fact, um, I remember graduating from the university of Michigan. Uh, commencements and going out. And six months later, going to my dad's commencement with the same degree, um, at Lawrence tech, and one thing he taught me, um, is that you never give up.

[00:04:16] And you know, that really stuck with me that, you know, it's not about everybody else. You do these things for yourself too, whether it's to better yourself or just to prove to yourself, you can. And then after I finished, I immediately started working at Lear as a product engineer and I loved it. You know, I still say to this day, you know, there are ups and downs in your career and jobs.

[00:04:59] Um, [00:05:00] ultimately, you know, I, you know, getting, as we talked about earlier, my love of strategy. I was more interested in what we should be doing rather than designing a program to the spec that we had. So I developed an interest in the business side, moved over under the program, got my MBA at U of M and went back and got that, and really started getting more into the customer side and loved that too.

[00:05:55] So I was the global vice president of sewing [00:06:00] leather, high design textiles foam, um, and loved every minute of it. And didn't know that I would, um, I think back very fondly on the five years that I spent with that team, you know, how hard the manual, uh, manufacturing, teamwork all over the world and the value that I place on these craftspeople that, you know, you, don't, you think of these thousands of people sewing and the skill that they have to have these carefully crafted trim covers for.

[00:07:00] And again, just a very fulfilling, probably the most fulfilling, um, time in my career and just worked with a tremendous group of people and everything from these. Really fun luxury brands just to us, you know, blocking and tackling a global supply chain. As you know, Jan, it was, you know, the best of times.

[00:07:43] And really spent the last year of my career there setting up the team and the strategy to go win in those spaces. So for me, um, I feel like I've had so far a very fulfilling career, but I'm really excited to see what's [00:08:00] next.

[00:08:10] Jeneanne: [00:08:10] us about that.

[00:08:33] So I happened to be at an event at the time she was running, purchasing and product development for GM. And she, you know, before I could finish asking her, she said, yes. So it was about October. Um, she came in, I got to meet with her for about an hour beforehand, along with the rest of the senior team, interview her again for about another hour.

[00:09:19] And to this day, you know, it's, it's made a lasting impression on me and I know many others have said that to me also,

[00:09:43] Jeneanne: [00:09:43] Yeah, for me personally, um, one thing that I noticed is she was very much, um, Not trying to emulate anybody else in the room. And I guess what I mean by that is she, wasn't trying to talk louder than [00:10:00] sit taller than use the same speak as other people do. If you know what I mean, she was a, quite had a quiet confidence.

[00:10:35] And that if it was just up to her, she may not have always made the right choices. But through listening to others who were looking out for her, um, mentors sponsors, who encouraged her to take some risks that that really formed turn again. Just spoke really, frankly, about not always having the right answers and not being afraid to take risks.

[00:11:02] Jan: [00:11:02] follow that path of taking risks for a moment and stay with GM in 2010, you were put in charge of the volt program at Lear, and that was extremely risky at that point in time. You know, we didn't really understand where EVs were going and you were at the forefront of technology of innovation, of something.

[00:11:49] Jeneanne: [00:11:49] Yeah, this one was a very interesting circumstance and, um, really formed a lot of the leader that I think that I am today.

[00:12:24] You know, high profile development program, I was asked to take on the leadership role of execution. And so it's a big gap between knowing what needs to be done and getting it done. And when I came into the situation, um, you know, it was very stressful, you know, stressful on our team, on our suppliers, stressful with our customer.

[00:13:11] What if I can't pull it off? What if, what if, and you know, all of the stout floods in, but I remember thinking, well, all you can really do is dig deep and do your best. And. When I saw the fear and really more than fear, our team had been working themselves to the bone. Again, our supplier partners, our customers.

[00:13:55] And I think at a very basic level, I went and sat with the [00:14:00] team and listened to them, listened to them, tell me what they needed and they have the answers. You know, it is so often the team does have the answers. So to me, I'm forming a bond at the team level that I heard them. I understood them that they maybe they hadn't gotten everything they needed to be successful.

[00:14:46] And there were a lot of positives, a lot of first market technologies in that vehicle. A lot of late nights. Um, And, but we, we did pull it off. And I remember at the launch [00:15:00] party, we had a little internal group where we handed out little mini awards to 50 or so of the team members on the team. I wish it could have been a thousand.

[00:15:34] And you're going to win and you're going to win as a team. And so some of it's the mindset and it was not always easy times. It wasn't a linear process. There were good days and bad, but, um, I think just sticking together and always having each other's back and they knew I had their back was, was the key.

[00:16:19] We know that innovation by design is about trying and failing and learning from that failure in order to innovate and move forward. So we have such a dramatic culture shift that's required in the automotive industry to get us to that point. You obviously were able to do some of that in your role. Uh, any advice.

[00:16:55] Jeneanne: [00:16:55] Yeah, I think there are a few things you can do very practically, you [00:17:00] know, the first thing sounds easy, but it's not, which is ring fencing resources, whether resources being people, of course, um, management time, of course, and then money.

[00:17:32] You have to allow that sandbox time. And there has to be a certain amount of money and people and hours, um, and nothing will really replace that. So there's always the temptation, especially when you work in an industry, um, like automotive that cyclical, the easiest thing to cut in the world is the future.

[00:18:13] And, and rightly so. I mean, nobody's got a bigger, um, you know, 24 hour, a day, seven day, a week global, uh, industry like we do. And, and there's a reason why we're tapped down and we're driven by, you know, driving the right processes globally. Um, we're also financially driven, you know, cash is King and a lot of businesses and in automotive it takes a lot of cash and, and you have to watch that too.

[00:19:00] And talk to people and see what they were up to if they had plans for the weekend or, Hey, what's this part sitting on your desk and just try to let them know that you're approachable, that you care about what you're working on, that you're demonstrating and saying that you know, that the secret sauce, that what makes us who we are, our competitive advantage is not only what we're working on, but it's done.

[00:19:50] So I think, especially when you're a leader, people are watching everything. You're doing everything you're saying, so you need to model it. Hmm. Yeah.

[00:20:13] And the tier one auto supply base. Could you tell us a little bit about the differences that you see?

[00:20:38] In place. And, um, you know, if you are familiar at all with the Bay area, you know, that housing's a huge issue. You also know that, um, traffic is a huge issue. So the concept that everybody is sitting in a chair, you know, at seven or seven 30 in the morning, till six or seven at night, it's just not expected.

[00:21:33] And. The person, you know, looking at him, going, what are you talking about? You do what you need to do, you know, call into the meeting. If he can't, you know, we're working remotely. And it's just, it's the assumption that there's trust from the start. And I love that. Right. You know, you start from the point of you're going to do what you need to do.

[00:22:11] And of course, as we all know, uh, most people are right. Yes.

[00:22:43] And the secret is how do, how do we do that? How do we connect the hearts and minds of people? And it really does come down to trust. Trust is one of the basic building blocks of getting that, um, connecting to that energy. What else did you do to [00:23:00] connect people to. Your vision or mission to, to get that energy all flowing in the right direction.

[00:23:30] I'm a strategy zealot, and, you know, I love to facilitate it. I'd like to be in the middle of it. I, I always think the difference is a great strategy. Um, but really strategy is a conversation where we talk about what should we. Not based on all these constraints, go do the best job you can, but it's the big why the big, what the big, how, and when you invite more people to participate in that, I think there's just an inherent, um, ownership to it.

[00:24:24] The second formal event that no matter what job I've ever had is a priority to me is talking about the strategy of people. And so you're like, that's great. We have this business strategy. We have the financial five-year plan. We've we've produced a budget. It all looks good. What's the difference between execution and strategy?

[00:25:15] You know, that's one of the things I really believe at is you have to care what people want. What they enjoy the most, because if you want that deeper engagement, that, that higher excitement it's, it's where their passion meets the purpose of the organization and the need for the business. And that's the fun part, connecting those dots.

[00:25:59] Jan: [00:25:59] You. And I were [00:26:00] talking earlier about a book called extreme ownership. Yeah. And we both had similar initial reactions to the book. And for those people who have not read extreme ownership, it's written by two Navy seals. And it's really, they talk about active duty and then they run a parallel to the business world.

[00:26:49] He was a speaker at an organization that you worked at. And tell us a little bit

[00:27:14] And, um, again, my bias, right. You know, this is not my thing, you know, I'm sure he's a great guy, but you know, it's, it's not gonna speak to me, but I did read his book and I had the opportunity to actually interview him. And so I got to meet him a little before and a little after, and he's a really engaging person and.

[00:27:56] You know, we want innovation. We want high [00:28:00] performance teams. We want a great culture. Well, nobody says they want a bad culture. Right. But do you have the guts to do what it takes to correct what isn't right. And he puts it in such extreme terms terms. And of course the situations that he was in were literally life and death situations.

[00:28:39] What kind of leaders that you're trying to develop, but what happens when there's a bad behavior? Um, what happens when, when I don't behave the way I want to behave. What happens when others don't as a leader, you have to acknowledge it, own it, correct it for yourself and demand that of the team. Also, I think you and I [00:29:00] have said that we've, there've been some really nice people who are great leaders.

[00:29:09] Jan: [00:29:09] be. Yeah. That's a really good point in one of my favorites is always people that talk about empowerment and say, Oh, I fully empower my people. My team is. Fully empowered to make the decisions.

[00:29:43] That it's, it's not what you preach. It's what you tolerate.

[00:30:16] And I know for me, it really helped because it wasn't anything anybody was going to say to me, but when you have six or seven people and five of them are all telling you the same thing, you can't run from it and you can't hide from it. And if you're a good leader, you're constantly trying to improve. You don't want to hide from it.

[00:30:52] Jan: [00:30:52] You talked about personal accountability. So let's take that into the personal realm, because we all know that you can't lead others [00:31:00] until you know how to lead yourself.

[00:31:11] Jeneanne: [00:31:11] do you do that? You know, it's. A series of different things with, um, veering to success like everybody else, but I've, um, Recently, or in more recent years journal a little bit. And I think about like at the beginning of the year, and I'll, I'll check in on, you know, kind of list of what do I want to accomplish.

[00:32:00] Okay. On another third and the other third got forgotten, you reset and you recalibrate. So I think reminding yourself what you promised and for me, it's writing it down.

[00:32:17] Jeneanne: [00:32:17] Yeah, for me, I'm a list person, so it's, it's definitely a journal and I'll, and I'll go long form in terms of what my rationale was, why I've done it, but then I like, I like to tick through yes.

[00:32:45] Jeneanne: [00:32:45] You know, it's funny, it's meant different things at different points in my career. Obviously being authentic is different when you're fresh out of college and you're trying to figure it all out and act like you have it all together.

[00:33:26] And I fit together. Right. And it's not about the clothes I wear or how I wear my hair or, um, the tone of my voice that I'm okay. Being myself I'm comfortable in my own skin because I'm good, you know, because I've done things and not because I'm perfect, but I I'm a welcomed part of the team. Um, being imperfect.

[00:34:13] Right. And you're not fitting a mold. The mold is, is talent. The mall is innovation, the mold, isn't the superficial things that sometimes we can strain ourselves with, um, being authentic as admitting you made mistakes. Right. And, um, being open to feedback, but it's also, um, having confidence and knowing, you know, what your strengths are and not being afraid to stand up, to do the right thing.

[00:35:02] Jan: [00:35:02] I would say that in my career, I spent a lot of years focusing on fitting the mold.

[00:35:33] I w I've never been afraid just to put my voice in my opinion forward, but to a certain point, right? So imagine a world where everybody felt 100% safe and comfortable to put that idea forward, to put themselves. Out there. What innovation would come out of that the creativity that would come out of that I would be phenomenal, but how [00:36:00] do we get the leadership model to allow that?

[00:36:22] So I was trying to prove to everybody what I knew and. I think it takes people who have the ability and have a little more power in the organization. Maybe it's financial power. I mean, that's a real constraint. Right. And we shouldn't pretend like it isn't. Um, and, uh, higher levels that, again, just demonstrating, being different is okay.

[00:37:05] Not on all the superficial things. What time you come in, you know, how you. Dress what your presentation format is. Does it look like the other guy or girls? You know, it's the contribution. And I think people really respect when a company or a leader knows the difference. They know who's contributing versus who, who puts on a good show.

[00:38:04] Um, but you, it's your choice and decide there's a certain point. If you're in an organization that doesn't allow you to be any percent of yourself, then you know, you have to think about that also.

[00:38:30] Well, because I absolutely love it and I have no fear. Right. Nobody can fire me.

[00:38:45] Jan: [00:38:45] also have no fear or concern of judgment, right? No fear of judgment that has, that has gone, that has left me. And in fact, that happened right before I [00:39:00] ended my corporate career.

[00:39:30] People wondered what was wrong. Because they saw the change and did that should, you'd never be you're right. People should be able to go into the workplace, be who they are without fear of judgment, without fear of losing their jobs. You know, this need to be liked that we all suffer from as human beings.

[00:40:00] [00:39:59] Jeneanne: [00:39:59] wasted energy, right? I mean, again, you talk about engagement and, you know, you want people to come and put all their energy into the, into the, cause the purpose, the work, right?

[00:40:22] Jan: [00:40:22] right. Let's talk about gravitas. Gravitas. Is that irresistible quality that pulls you in. As a leader, what is your gravitas?

[00:41:01] Right. And it's not just the big idea, but putting the key elements of, and this is what we've got to go do to win and here's who needs to go do it. And then here's how we're going to communicate as a team. And we're all going to have each other's back. I think it it's it's vision, it's teamwork, it's trust.

[00:41:45] You might be doing the hardest, best work you've ever done in a crisis at times. And so I think keeping people aligned with where we're going, that they're an important part of it. They're a part of it. They're not just by standards, they [00:42:00] own it. They're in it. They're there they're difference makers. Um, you know, I think that energy people see it and that lights them up.

[00:42:10] Jan: [00:42:10] And I, I liked the idea that you brought up this thought about having fun. In the past, it's almost to bill, you know, you have to be serious at work and you have to be professional at all times. And that's, that's not the world that we live in today. I mean, the line between our personal and professional lives is more blurred now than ever before, particularly with social media and the transparency that we have.

[00:42:57] You can spend time focusing on those and how you're going to [00:43:00] break it through them. But it's also an opportunity there to relax and have fun and do some teaming exercises. Together. Uh, we went to a couple of years ago. I took the team down to the zombie room down in Detroit. And some of these guys were from other countries, you from one guy from India and one guy from China and trying to explain to these guys what a zombie was, and this guy was going to happen, come and climb out of the floor was, was amazing, but it was fun.

[00:43:35] Jeneanne: [00:43:35] activity. Yeah, I totally agree. And I think we've almost all of us have had some type of positive experience with an offsider team building.

[00:44:02] And so I imagine. If you can put a piece of that into everyday culture, like it's not the three times a year, you go off site and go to the zombie room or have a team building activity or go site to a new environment, which are all great things. I think you should still do those, but how do you interject that fun and comfort, um, to get.

[00:44:30] Jan: [00:44:30] exact challenge that the leaders of today and in the future will have absolutely leaders of the future. Let's talk about your 25 year old self today. What advice would you give your 25 year old self today in today's environment?

[00:45:20] So how are you going to keep yourself up to speed with it? Um, you know, I think take initiative is an age old, um, you know, good, good advice for folks. Don't waste time, not learning. If you weren't learning, it's time to do something else and go to your supervisor, ask, ask for another role. But I do think when I think of, you know, if you're positioning yourself as being a future leader, um, skills that harmonize across functional groups, I think will be tremendously valued, um, that can bring technical and marketing [00:46:00] and human resources and, and sales teams together.

[00:46:27] Take chances. Um, and there's nothing wrong with liking doing more of something because you like it, you know, it, you can't plan everything out. I know I didn't plan everything out. I'm sure you didn't plan everything out. Take some things as they come, but you know, have a plan, but be flexible with the plan.

[00:47:08] Yeah.

[00:47:16] Jeneanne: [00:47:16] I don't know fully what my end of my career is, but I do know one thing that I cared deeply about pairing. People up with purpose and helping them grow and helping them find their purpose professionally and otherwise.

[00:47:56] Um, maybe they were different, maybe they weren't as [00:48:00] polished or as well-spoken at the beginning. Right. But that I could find and really appreciate different kinds of talent. And beyond that, um, Drove a culture that beyond them and their teams really started building a pipeline of talent. And that the teams that I would build would, would actually create future leaders and other organizations also.

[00:48:46] And so I hope my legacy is helping more people find the dream, you know, more people reach their potential. And, um, as we discussed earlier, are you doing it? And you reached the [00:49:00] point where you are your authentic self and you feel really fulfilled.

[00:49:08] Jeneanne: [00:49:08] us.