The Institute’s Leading Edge Podcast

The Leading Edge is a show dedicated to providing Automotive Service and Repair Shop Owners a one-on-one with The Institute’s experienced consultants. Ask us questions regarding any aspect of your business and we’ll answer it during the show!

Listen on:

112 - Great Leaders Don’t Just Manage—They Inspire! 🚀
February 20th, 2025 - 01:03:42

Show Summary:
In this impactful episode, Cecil Bullard of the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence shares powerful lessons on what it means to be a truly inspiring leader in the automotive industry. He breaks down how leadership is more than management… it’s about creating culture, communicating vision, and empowering teams. Through personal anecdotes and practical advice, Cecil outlines six core stages of leadership, including building trust, fostering connection, and showing genuine appreciation. With a focus on aligning actions with values, Cecil challenges shop owners to think deeply about the kind of business and culture they want to build. This is a must-listen for anyone looking to lead with purpose, clarity, and heart.

Host(s):
Amber Wright, AutoLeap

Guest(s):
Cecil Bullard, Founder & CEO, The Institute

Episode Highlights:
[00:01:35] - Leadership is about creating a culture of excellence, and it starts with the owner.[00:04:40] - The best leaders focus less on words and more on behaviors and consistent action.[00:06:42] - Leadership is about inspiring others with your vision and turning team members into leaders.[00:13:35] - Your attention as a leader should be on helping others succeed, not just fixing daily problems.[00:17:32] - Inspiring teams requires sharing a meaningful vision, like building a “cathedral,” not just laying bricks.[00:20:12] - Core values like "do the right thing" and "always be learning" are central to great leadership.[00:25:08] - Empowerment happens when you allow your team to make decisions and learn from mistakes.[00:29:21] - Trust is built through consistency, confidence, and being aligned with your company’s values.[00:43:44] - Show genuine appreciation, listen actively, and surprise your team with thoughtful actions.[00:56:03] - Clear communication boosts morale, deepens trust, and makes people feel truly heard.

In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry?
Share your story with us at info@wearetheinstitute.com, and you might be featured in an upcoming episode.

👉 Unlock the full experience - watch the full webinar on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctYimcH_5FQ
Don’t miss exclusive insights, expert takeaways, and real talk you won’t hear anywhere else. Hit Subscribe, drop a comment, and share it with someone who needs to hear this!

Links & Resources:
Want to learn more? Click Here
Want a complimentary business health report? Click Here
See The Institute's events list: Click Here
Want access to our online classes? Click Here
________________________________________

Amber Wright: Hello everybody. Just waiting just a second while we get on. Super excited to have you guys here. While we have Cecil joining us, I am going to first and foremost, I apologize we were a few minutes late. I had some technical difficulties with my Zoom webinar link where it was being used by a colleague for another call and unfortunately I didn't realize that you couldn't have two people on your Zoom links at the same time.
Amber Wright: So I need to apologize for a few minutes late and do a couple housekeeping notes. Hey, Cecil. Do a couple housekeeping notes while we get up and ready. We are recording this session right now and so the recording will be shared with everybody by tomorrow at the latest. So if there's for any reason you will have to drop we will share that with you.
Amber Wright: We do wanna make sure that we make this as engaging as possible. I love to see that everybody is already in the chat here messaging us and saying hello. So please make sure to ask your questions. In the chat I will pose them to Cecil. But really here today we are to talking about how to become an inspiring leader.
Amber Wright: I know it seems like a fluffy conversation, but it's a really important one. Especially as we just ended the summit. Cecil, you guys had a fantastic summit, but one of the things that was really discussed was creating culture of excellence. And one of the biggest takeaways was. That it needed to come from you as a leader, as the owner in the shop.
Amber Wright: And so excited to have a conversation about what a great leader is today and how it's not just about managing your shop and your employees. So, we're gonna talk about things about fostering trust, strengthening communication, and developing high performance teams. And for those of you just joining, before I hand it over to Cecil, I do again want to apologize for starting this a few minutes late.
Amber Wright: Had some technical difficulties where my zoom was being used by a colleague and couldn't start this on time. And I also see that Jimmy Lea is here and I wanna give a huge shout out and happy birthday to him as well. So let's definitely show him some love. So Cecil, hi.
Cecil Bullard: Howdy.
Amber Wright: Howdy.
Cecil Bullard: Wow. Good to be here.
Amber Wright: Thank you for being here. I appreciate it. And thank you for bearing with me. I know that is not ideal. So appreciate it.
Cecil Bullard: Yeah it's funny, you know, you think you've only done a thousand of these, so probably shouldn't be stressed at all. But I'm one of those guys that I'm like 10 minutes early, and if the plane's gonna be delayed, I'm gonna be stressed.
Cecil Bullard: So we'll see If I can't mellow out here.
Amber Wright: I, I am the same way. I am very poignant about time. It's really important. So I was on the back end stressing with you, so I do apologize about that. All right. Handing it over to you.
Cecil Bullard: I am I am as ready as I'm gonna be. So, welcome everyone. I'm Cecil Bullard with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence.
Cecil Bullard: We've been around for, I would say since 2011 and I've been coaching and consulting for a bit longer than that. I think I started my journey in 19 80 long time ago. So, we're gonna talk about leadership today, and I'm the kind of guy that when I'm teaching I don't mind having questions and I actually think the questions make it better.
Cecil Bullard: So if you have questions, please go ahead and ask 'em. Amber's gonna be paying attention to that. And let me know what the questions are. If you would like a workbook, and I'm gonna explain this class originally was probably an eight hour class that's been honed down to a four hour class that's now been honed down to a one hour webinar.
Cecil Bullard: And so the workbook that I decided to give you has a lot more material. It has the eight hour class material in it, and we're gonna cover the most salient pieces as we talk today. And if you'd like a copy of that workbook, you can go right here to this QR code and and go ahead and get it.
Cecil Bullard: Now. I'm gonna go ahead and get started and go. So, you know, leadership is, it's about creating culture. What's the culture within your company? Do you have a you know, do you have a culture of productivity? Do you have a team culture? Are we all on the same page? Do the people you know, respect us as leaders within our company?
Cecil Bullard: I think that. You don't have to like me necessarily, but you have to respect me if you are going to work with me within my company. And so I have to be respectable. But it helps if you're likable, frankly. I think when you talk about sales and management, and sales and leadership have a lot in common in sales.
Cecil Bullard: I, I, people need to like me, they can't dislike me. And as a leader in a way, I'm selling my ideas, my thoughts, my vision for my company, to all of the different employees staff team members, however you wanna call it. And at our summit week and a half ago, two weeks ago. One of the comments was made that the leader's job is to create other leaders.
Cecil Bullard: And I think in the last two weeks I've had a lot of conversations with shop owners. My clients are clients. We do coaching and consulting, 20 groups one-on-one stuff sales training, et cetera. I've just had so many conversations about guys that want their business to go faster, do more create more profit less fires, et cetera.
Cecil Bullard: And they I don't know that they completely and absolutely understand that a lot of that has to do with leadership. Are you leading and guiding people? So I'm gonna, I'm gonna rock and roll here and see if we can get as much as possible out in the next hour. Leaders it's about your actions and your behaviors.
Cecil Bullard: So, I was in a meeting yesterday with a guy that's got, I believe, 12 shops at this point in time. And they're really struggling because they have a good culture. But they're not, all of the people that are in the key positions have never necessarily run a shop before. And so they think that I can just put this if I have good people and have good culture, I can just say, go do this and it'll get done.
Cecil Bullard: And so during this particular conversation I had yesterday it was less than an hour long. I think he said, it's my fault I don't know, 12, 15 times. And finally I said. You know, stop talking about how it's your fault. It's fine to take to say it's my fault. Start solving the problem, right?
Cecil Bullard: Start. It's about your actions and your behaviors. It's not about what you say. And I think if you don't have if you're not doing the right things and setting the right example for your company, then you're not, they're not gonna follow you. They're not gonna lead you. And if you don't have a good vision, if you don't have something you can share that where they say, wow, I can get what I want.
Cecil Bullard: If I join in here and I give all my time, energy, life et cetera to this company, I can also get what I want. And so what are you doing where, you know, where are you? Are you talking about it all the time or are you doing, you know, 10% talking in 90% doing and I think. That a lot of people would maybe misinterpret this conversation right here to, well, oh, Cecil, so you're telling me I need to be writing up work orders and working with customers and I need to be handling fires and angry customers and I need to be fixing cars and all of that.
Cecil Bullard: And I would say absolutely not. My job as a leader of the company is not only to help create the vision and solidify the vision, but help everyone in the company to be successful and give them the tools that they need to achieve the vision. So, you know, if whether that's money, a CEO of the company, the financial security of the company is solely on my back as a leader in the company when we.
Cecil Bullard: Are starting to drift from our original vision. It's up to me to bring us back to our vision. When I bring somebody in the company that has strong will somebody with a great personality who can really drive the company forward, it's up to me to help them to use that energy in a very positive way.
Cecil Bullard: So what are you actually doing? You know? And if you're coming in to your business every day and all you do is complain about everything, that's not right. If all you do is come in and you know, pigeon management, you come in, you fly in your crap on everybody and then you leave that's not inspiring and that's not leadership.
Cecil Bullard: If all you're doing is putting out fires, I. In order to be a leader, you have to lead, which means you have to have time to think about things like culture and mission statement and vision, and what are the foundational principles that we wanna operate on as a business. So, what are you doing?
Cecil Bullard: And where are you paying your attention? Right? Don't get me wrong. So, I'm a, those people that know me would tell you wow, he's a pretty high strung guy and he's a bit neurotic. Neurotic to the point. We have a cooler here when we bring people here. We have, you know, Coke and Red Bull and, you know, all the stuff.
Cecil Bullard: And I like to have the cooler full all the time, and I like to have all the labels out. And then I don't wanna have any garbage on the counters. I don't, I, I don't want things that are kind of left. I. Unattended, stuff like that. And over time, you know, you work in a place and you walk in every day and you know, something gets left out or something gets left on the counter or maybe some of the cans aren't lined up.
Cecil Bullard: And you know, you could, I could come in every day and find something to be upset about and say, wait a minute. I told you guys I want blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I actually did that last night. I did it in a very, I thought, a very subtle way. I brought my manager in and I said, Hey, you know, let me walk you around the facility and let's talk about whether or not the facility really sends the message to our clients that we want that facility to do.
Cecil Bullard: And you know, we were able to point out six or eight things that weren't quite where they needed to be. And of course, I came in a little late this morning. I get to do that occasionally. And everything had been kind of cleaned up. All this stuff had been kind of put where it was supposed to be.
Cecil Bullard: And you know, it's kind of, it's kind of exciting. I didn't have to come in and scream and yell or I'm not spending a lot of time on that. So where are you paying your attention? Where are you spending your time? Are you spending your time and paying your attention on you know, helping people succeed, have the tools they need for their job learn how to make great decisions et cetera?
Cecil Bullard: Or are you spending your time with your head buried in a car, or buried at the front counter? I've got a guy that's running a pretty well run shop. I mean, the numbers are good. And he wants to be the manager of the shop. But really all he has time for is to write service and.
Cecil Bullard: Somehow you have to find time to lead and to inspire people. So, what do you reward and what do you punish? I think this is a place where Kent, my son, those of you again, that know the company ha has really helped me because I grew up in a family where my dad would come in and look and find whatever was not right and go off the deep end a little never really saying, wow, you guys have made a real effort here or whatever.
Cecil Bullard: It almost cost me my marriage in the early parts of my marriage. My wife and I just celebrated 42 years yesterday. But I think one of the things that Kent talks about is you reward people for their effort, right? I, I tried, I put the energy, I put the effort in, maybe it didn't quite get the result that I want, but even if we didn't get the result, now that gives me the opportunity to say, okay, that didn't get the result we want.
Cecil Bullard: And now what else can we do? How do we, you know, how do we change our behavior if what we're doing is not getting us the results we want? What do we do differently that we believe will get us where we want? And I think I think I'm a pretty good leader. We have a company that's growing fairly rapidly.
Cecil Bullard: I think we have a really good culture here. You know, I have my frustrations, but I. I think that, in part, I'm good at that because I'm constantly going through this. Okay what else could we do? Right? That didn't get us the result. I'm not beating people up. I'm saying, you know, wow, we put a lot of energy and effort into that.
Cecil Bullard: That's not gonna get us what we want. So now what do we do? Right? And guiding people to the right answers. And so what is the allocation of your attention and your resources? If all of that allocation is going into the let's get cars fixed and get money in the bank? I think you're in trouble because you never build the culture or spend time on the vision.
Cecil Bullard: Kent taught a class last night having to listen in, and I thought there was something that came out of it that very applicable here. Guy comes upon two brick layers and one of 'em is they're both sweating. They're both working really hard. One of 'em is really dour and unhappy and et cetera.
Cecil Bullard: And the other one is just whistling away. You know, he's sweating just as hard as the other guy. He's laying just as many bricks, but he's happy as can be. And the guy asked the two brick layers you know, what are you doing? And the guy that's the sour guy says, well, I'm laying bricks.
Cecil Bullard: Can't you see that? And the other guy says I'm building a cathedral that will house God and where my community and my family can can come together. And so. Somebody in got that idea into the head of the one brick layer at least that we're building that cathedral.
Cecil Bullard: And the other brick layer is only laying bres. I would ask you, is your leadership strong enough that your team understands you're building a cathedral and you're not just laying brakes? And when you put all that together that creates your culture. So, we could talk mission statement. I don't have that in here.
Cecil Bullard: We could talk about vision. We could talk about foundational principles. There are other classes that have all of those things in there. But you need to have a clear vision and a statement about that. What's your cathedral? What do you, why? And if it's only about so I can put more money in the bank, I don't think that's inspiring.
Cecil Bullard: Also guys, all of you that are online if you have questions, please feel free to ask 'em. I am not paying attention to the chat, but I know that Amber's gonna do that for me. So, am I through my mission statement, the Institutes is a better business, better life, better industry. We have a huge belief that if we can help our shop owners run better businesses, that they, the people that work for them, the families of the people that work for them will have better lives.
Cecil Bullard: I. They'll create a better product for their clients who will also have better lives, and that will raise our industry up. We have a vision of being the most effective coaching and training company in this space and having the most influence on positive influence on the industry and our clients.
Cecil Bullard: And then we have core values. I always have one that I'm, I miss. Core values are make a difference. Core values are always be learning. So, we're always looking for something else that we can learn. Core values on ev everyone has to win. The client, the company the employees, everyone and the customers.
Cecil Bullard: Everyone has to win. Core values are have fun. It should be fun. And then core values are do the right thing. And so when you have a good solid mission vision and core values now you have people and you have people that can get behind that. Now you have leadership and now you have a machine that can build a cathedral.
Cecil Bullard: You don't have a bunch of people laying bricks. I love that. I heard that yesterday. So I want to talk about the six stages of leadership. Number one, vision. Do you have a clear vision? Have you discussed that vision with your team players with your team, with the essential management people in your company?
Cecil Bullard: And is it easy to share that vision? How well can you paint the picture of. The cathedral for your for everybody. And in fact, I would tell you that we even use this vision in our advertising for potential team players, for potential teammates, for you know, potential employees.
Cecil Bullard: Because if you just want to lay bricks, we're not the place for you. We're building the cathedral. And oh, always popping the wrong button. I think passion matters a ton. Passion is that thing that when you talk and I don't know, you get a little excited people look at that and they go, wow.
Cecil Bullard: He really believes in what he's talking about. I really think as a presenter trying to get my ideas across online, in a webinar or in a class or talking to my staff here one-on-one. If I lack passion for the ideas, if I lack passion for the vision, then nobody's gonna follow me.
Cecil Bullard: They're not coming. So, do you have passion and do you show that passion? And I'll agree that we don't all show passion in the same way. Mine is I get excited. I start talking loud. I you know, I get a little more talking with my hands. I et cetera. And I speed up.
Cecil Bullard: Et cetera. But if I didn't have that passion would you listen, right? Would you say, wow that's a guy that, you know, he wants blah, blah, blah, but he's not really or because of that passion can you see that what I'm talking about is something that I truly believe in. And then I would tell you a passion that people aren't willing to settle.
Cecil Bullard: We don't settle for second best. We never settle, frankly, which is a little frustrating probably to the team and team members. It's a little frustrating to me, but every day we look for something that we could do better. And if we do something and reach our achievement though, whatever that is we take a moment to go, wow, that was fantastic.
Cecil Bullard: And then all of a sudden we're like, okay, what's next? What's the next thing? Can you connect? Are you connecting with people? Do you hold yourself in a place where you cannot connect because you can't influence people that you cannot connect to? I, maybe it's an art, maybe it's a developed skill.
Cecil Bullard: But I think that leadership means you have to kind of be above it a little bit, but you also want to be able to connect to your people. You can't be above it so much that they can't see a path to you. And I think, you know, you should spend time getting to know. The people that you have on your team, you know, what do you have in common with them?
Cecil Bullard: How do you make a difference for them? Are you showing them that working on your team, working towards the goals of the company? The vision of the company is gonna make a difference, or again, are you just are you just setting bricks in the ground? I don't think people will engage and fully engage unless they believe that you care, that it matters that they're here.
Cecil Bullard: And I think also you have to be kind of careful sometimes because you'll keep an employee that doesn't fit the team because that employee does something for you that's beneficial, but in so many other ways is damaging to the team. Yesterday I was reading through, I don't know what it was, YouTube, Facebook, whatever, one of the, channels. And the guy was saying, well, I've got this technician and he's been with me from the start and he does 65 hours, but man, he is caustic to everybody. And I know what you're all gonna tell me, but what should I do? And so please don't tell me just to get rid of him because I really need that 65 hours.
Cecil Bullard: Well, I got news for you. That's someone that you probably need to get rid of because the rest of the team, if you keep that person in the rest of the team, is not gonna think that you really care about them and they need to. Stage four we gotta have trust. There has to be trust. I'm teaching some new material at vision for sales.
Cecil Bullard: And I think you know, I'm going back through the commonalities of you know, what are the objections that people have? And I would tell you that I. Almost every objection, if not every objection, is probably a trust objection. When someone says I'm not willing to spend my money with you.
Cecil Bullard: My belief is that they probably don't trust that what you're telling them is the solution and that the price is the fair price. So it's a trust thing. And so you have to spend time building trust. And building trust goes back to, you know, the beginning. Have we done the foundational things? Do we have the mission, the vision and the you know, foundational principles, but also are we living, those are, am I in line with what we talk about myself as a leader?
Cecil Bullard: And I don't think that you can get trust. I wrote an article, I don't know, it's probably 15, 20 years ago now. I. Because someone said to me, Hey, Cecil what do you think the employees owe the company? And and I turned it around and I said, well, what does the company owe the employees? And then for part of the article, I said, I.
Cecil Bullard: Now if the company does what the company should do, then the employees should grant their trust to the company. And I think that they at least owe the owner some respect for the work and the effort and the energy that the owner has put in. You know, working hard to create a place where they can make a living, working hard to create a place that is safe and comfortable and where their opinion matters.
Cecil Bullard: Things like that. So, you know, we earn trust. It's not just granted because I'm the, you know, 'cause I have all the gray hair and I know everything and I'm the guy that's the meanest and the biggest and the baddest. That, that never gets you the trust that you need to really lead and guide people.
Cecil Bullard: And I'll go to the next point under this you gotta say what you do and do what you say, and you can't. Those two things cannot vary. And you can't keep saying the same thing over, but not making a change like, oh, it's my fault, it's my fault, it's my fault. Well, let's go back and do the same thing we did in the last three weeks because what you're telling me is, okay, you're taking all the blame, but you're also, we're doing the same things.
Cecil Bullard: It's incongruous. It doesn't come together. It creates it creates stress, it creates disbelief. It creates the opposite of trust. So you need to be you need to do what you do, what you say and say what you do. And you need to be consistent in your thoughts and actions. I'm gonna break in here.
Cecil Bullard: We're not done with the six stages of leadership, but I'm gonna talk about four stages of building trust. Consistency. We've already talked about that. You must become consistent in your behavior and your attitudes. And by the way, you know, you can you can go cry behind closed doors. You can have a confident in the company that you meet with and discuss all the doubts that you have and all of that stuff.
Cecil Bullard: You can hire a coach or a consultant to, to have those conversations with you probably should but you can't do this in front of the team, you know, any inconsistency in you, any inconsistency in your belief, any weakness there? I. Is going to deteriorate trust. It's gonna be difficult for you and not be a positive thing.
Cecil Bullard: So I need my messaging and my direction to be online with what, you know, again, I don't wanna say, Hey, we're building this beautiful cathedral, and then when it comes time to decide, you know, are we gonna use marble? We gonna use mud? I'm not gonna have a beautiful cathedral with mud. It's, it doesn't match what I'm trying to, to my people.
Cecil Bullard: We talked about confidence a little bit. You, that excitement that you have, that confidence that you have in your team. I got a guy that if I said his name, almost everybody here would probably know who that guy is and, it really upsets me how negative he can be because he can take something very positive and find the one negative thing, and that's what he talks about.
Cecil Bullard: And then he struggles with his team because he can't figure out why he can't lead them to the promised land. They won't go with him to the promised land. You can't be negative. You have to be confident. Maslow has this thing. If you study psychology Maslow, and basically people will act like you treat them well.
Cecil Bullard: If you don't believe in yourself, if you don't believe in your company, if you don't believe in what you're doing. If you have doubts and those doubts come out, then it's not gonna build trust with the people that want to follow you. So, as your confidence increases, as you look more on the positive side, yeah, we're gonna have I don't think anybody would say I'm Pollyanna.
Cecil Bullard: I know that we're gonna have problems. I know that we're gonna fight things. I know that we're gonna have difficult times in the company. I'm not saying that we're never gonna have difficult times, but I do also know that my team can work through all of that and we will survive this thing and we will come out the other side and we will have a beautiful cathedral.
Cecil Bullard: Right? Trust is sacred. You need to be very careful with the trust that they give you because one, one mistake can destroy it very quickly. How do I inspire? Because leaders need to have some, they need to be a little inspirational. I inspire through my confidence, I inspire through my belief that we're moving in the right direction.
Cecil Bullard: I think I even inspire sometimes when I go, oh, whoa, oh, whoa, boy, we really blew it there. Let's get let's get lined back up and you know, hey, did we forget this principle? We gotta have fun. Or did we forget this principle? We need to be doing the right thing, the legal, moral, ethical thing. Or did we forget this principle of we have to have relevance?
Cecil Bullard: You know, and I think even sometimes when I'm going uhoh, I forgot one of those principles that can be inspirational to my team. If it's not, oh my gosh we're done forward. Oh, it's just terrible. Everything's terrible. You know, I always have this this saying when I'm talking about leadership, if the IRS was gonna come and lock my doors when do I want my employees to know that?
Cecil Bullard: Well, probably after the IRS came and locked the doors not before. So even though you have these stresses and things, don't use those don't let those things come across. Because you have to inspire. You have to guide, you have to be the one that can see the cathedral and know that the cathedral's gonna be built.
Cecil Bullard: I I find it fascinating. You know, I was in lake Cuomo is in a cathedral there that was built in the, I think the 11 hundreds or something, and it took 157 years or something more than two or three lifetimes to build. And somebody had the vision of that, and they shared it with these craftsmen who gave their lives to this thing, but never actually saw.
Cecil Bullard: The cathedral done. Finished, and, I think that is inspiring. Like somebody was able to share that vision so well with these people that they were willing to and able to give their lives up to this and and really make a difference empowering others. I, it can't be. People have to make some decisions and have some power to do some things in your company, kind of on their own without your looking over their shoulder, without whatever.
Cecil Bullard: And they're gonna make a mistake occasionally, which is okay. You have to allow for some mistakes to be made. I think that how you get people on the team, you get people moving forward. You get them involved in the vision of the cathedral that you're gonna build. And you get their input and sometimes you make an adjustment.
Cecil Bullard: Having a conversation with Kent last night a little about this and, you know, only hold the line where the line really matters. So, you know, in our logo you know, I always talk about this. Our logo is not the logo I picked. It's a logo that the team picked. And you know what? It doesn't really matter.
Cecil Bullard: We've got a great logo. It's come to be known very well known in our industry. And and other people on my team said, this is the one we want. This is the one we think will you know, get us where we want to be and represent our company better. And I was like, ah, it's not the one I want.
Cecil Bullard: And I think I really struggled over that for the few minutes that I struggled over it, and then I let it go. Don't fight. The simple stuff, the dumb stuff, the stupid stuff empower your people. And but you cannot just give them free reign. But remember, if you do have a mission and a vision and et cetera.
Cecil Bullard: And they understand that, and they also have a vision of what you're doing now. You can empower people and you'll most likely have success in them moving in the right direction. I see. Amber, is there a question here?
Amber Wright: There is, yeah. There's a lot of good conversations going on. I have two questions, Cecil, if this is now a good time, but how do you work through a position where you are the leader but not the owner, but when the owner is in the building?
Amber Wright: There's a difference in energy paced and respect as where I don't get the same results from the team when the owner is gone. Jeff, I would love to know what your position is currently. I don't know if that makes a difference, but Cecil, that's where the question is.
Cecil Bullard: So, so the answer is yes. More than once.
Cecil Bullard: I work for a couple of very strong-willed people as a manager in a company, and I think it's very important that you, you set the terms of what you're willing to do and you're not willing to do. And so in the very beginning I made it very clear and in my contract for working there that that from this point forward, me coming in as a manager meant that, you know, you look at the chain of command and I'm in the chain of command in the middle between the owner and the employees, and therefore now I manage the employees and the owner doesn't.
Cecil Bullard: There were a few times that the owner and his wife kind of came in the middle there, and I had to pull them aside with all due respect and say, here's what's going on. It is not healthy for the business, and I had to make my case there. And by the way, if they wouldn't have seen it, if they wouldn't have.
Cecil Bullard: Come along. I would've left and been, went somewhere where I could be more successful. Now Jeff May be talking about something that's very caustic. He could be talking about something that's not as caustic and not as important, but for me I told the owner, I said you manage me. So if something's happening in your company, you don't like it, come to me.
Cecil Bullard: Right? And then I will deal with it with the employees. And I have another company, believe it or not. I just met with him yesterday, a couple of managers. The owner's a great guy. I love him to pieces, inspirational guy, et cetera. But he's so overpowering in his company that the managers are having a very difficult time managing.
Cecil Bullard: And you know, I think that's the point where they all three need to sit down and go. This isn't working the way that it, it is, what are the terms you need to create the terms? And I used to sit down with the owner and his wife once a week. And to tell you the truth, I prepared for those meetings. Wrote three page, five page things that said, here's where the company is, here's the issues that I believe we're dealing with.
Cecil Bullard: Here's the solutions that I have and this is how I'm moving forward. Not because I was asking permission necessarily, but because I wanted that owner to have as much information as possible, be very comfortable, because that meant that I had more freedom and more availability to do what I needed. Yeah.
Cecil Bullard: So, and I think anytime somebody's coming in and if it's, if there's a, they're getting in the middle and it becomes like I'm getting my knees cut out from under me. Because now you've made it impossible for me to be successful in my job. You and I are gonna be having a conversation in my office with the door shut, and it'll be a peaceful conversation.
Cecil Bullard: 'cause I know what I'm willing to do. I know what the goal is, et cetera. And so I know how tough that is 'cause I've been through it. But man if it continues to go on, you're not gonna get where you need to be. You're not gonna be as successful as you need to be unless the two of you can get in line.
Cecil Bullard: That's the first place we need to be in line. And so, I would work with the owner to get the owner in line with the vision. What kind of cathedral are we building? You know, how high is it gonna be? What's it gonna look like? You know, et cetera, et cetera. And if I can get that person, there's a whole nother thing about managing people and sales.
Cecil Bullard: If you can get that person, if you can change the conversation from, well, you're bad because you're not doing what I want to. Does this fit the. Company that we want to be, right? Oh no, that action doesn't fit the company. Okay, great. Then how do we change the action? Right? Because it doesn't fit the mission, the vision the core values.
Cecil Bullard: And it's not about, well, you're a bad person 'cause you're doing bad things. It changes the way you have that conversation. Okay, so hopefully I answered that one.
Amber Wright: Yeah, no, that was fantastic. One more and then we can get back to the regular program. What is the best way to get respect out of a tech that is about 12 years older than me?
Amber Wright: I am not sure if it's an age thing that he knows more technical stuff than I do or if it's something else. That's a good question, cliff.
Cecil Bullard: Well, I think, huh I started, when I started writing service, I was 23, 24 and I was working with Tex were in their forties and it was very hard to earn their respect.
Cecil Bullard: I. I think that I'm on your side is one of those things. How can I help you? What can I do for you? That, that makes your job easier? So when I'm writing service and I have older text, not anymore 'cause I'm the old guy in the room now but when that was happening in my life I need the if you remember in the beginning I kind of said you, you kind of need them to like you, right?
Cecil Bullard: I need to be likable. And so I need to be looking for opportunities to assist that person, help that person to achieve their goals. Because if I'm someone that is, is helpful to them and not an irritant to them, then I'm much more likely to gain their trust and their respect. So I'm on your side. I would I would make as a service advisor, I would, you know, I'd get an extra two tenths on a job and I'd go out and go, Hey, I got you a little extra time on that job.
Cecil Bullard: You know, I just let 'em know when I was able to do small things for them. Right. And I tried to do small things to get 'em on my side. And, you know, I've also had the place where I had to go sit somebody down and kind of say, here's the chain of command and here's where you are and here's where I am.
Cecil Bullard: And so this kind of behavior is not gonna be deemed positive. And we're not gonna move forward with this. And I want you on the team. I love what you do. I think you're a great person, but it has to be under these circumstances. Right. I think the more you clarify the circumstances without, I don't have to be a prick to do that necessarily, but I wanna make sure that we both understand, you know, that if we work together, then we can do some amazing things.
Cecil Bullard: If we don't work together, it's gonna be hard on both of us. Right. So that's what I would work on and try. Now back to your reg, regularly scheduled content. How do I create value for people? And I think this also probably may answer that question some amber and, you know, I understand what's important to them and and I'm trying to help them to achieve their targets and make their job as, as easy or as simple as it could be.
Cecil Bullard: So, and then also I believe being committed is thank you is fantastic. That when you have a vision and you have a mission and everyone knows what it is and you're not willing to let other things sideline that my commitment creates value for the people that are on the team.
Cecil Bullard: And what I'm willing to do for the team creates value for the people that are on the team. And I also go back to that consistency of thought and action. You have to continue to be consistent in thought and action. If I wanna be a good leader, I have to have influence. Influence is more about the fact that I know where we're going.
Cecil Bullard: I've shared that with you. You're on, you see it and you know that I care about it. And it's not me lording over the fact that I can fire you any minute. Because everybody knows I, you know, everybody knows I'm the guy that signs the check or, you know, everybody knows I'm the guy that can fire you.
Cecil Bullard: If you're going there, then you're not influencing. That's that's a different kind of pressure. And it's not a long-term solution or it's not long term. Whatever you get there that it, it won't be long term. So influence is kind of san's authority. It's without it I need to be able to influence because of my commitment, because of my personality, because of my unwavering.
Cecil Bullard: A belief in the fact that we're gonna win the game and that I'm gonna help you win that game and be by your side and make sure, and then also I think, don't misinterpret that I, I have a saying I will do anything for my people except. Their job. So it's up to me to help them understand what their job is.
Cecil Bullard: It's up to me to help them understand what the goals and the vision are and to help them buy into that. It's up to me to help them determine a plan or you know, are their actions actually achieving the goal or not. And then it's up to me in a way to help them determine if they cha what actions they might have to change to be able to hit the targets or the goals that they want.
Cecil Bullard: And if I can do those things with people, then I have influence, I think, in the industry. I've worked very hard for a very long time. You know, we just lost one of the greatest coaches and consultants, a guy that I started with, you know, 40 some years ago. And I think that I may have some influence in the industry because people that know me know that I really care about the industry and I care about, you know, almost everybody in the industry.
Cecil Bullard: I, I care that the owners are profitable and I care that the managers can manage. And I care that the customers get a great job. And I care that the employees get what they need. And I work very hard every day to try to create that vision, build that particular cathedral. And if you can do that and people believe it, not everybody believes it.
Cecil Bullard: I know there's three or four people that don't like me. I think you have to disregard that. Obviously you can't have those people on your team, but, not everybody's gonna love you. Not everybody's gonna allow you to influence them. And by the way, those are people who I probably wouldn't long term have on my team.
Cecil Bullard: How do I show people? I care. I'm gonna try to go fast. We started about seven minutes late. I'm gonna try not to go more than 10 minutes over. I love this thing with shy LaBuff. Don't say it, do it. Stop talking about it. Get it done, whatever it is. Don't say, oh my gosh, I know I'm a poor leader and it's my fault.
Cecil Bullard: You might say that once to let people know that you understand. But now what are you gonna do? Go do something that makes a difference. Stop talking about it and go do something. Quit doing the same things if they're not getting you what you want and do something different. Only fight for what's important.
Cecil Bullard: Stop fighting on everything. I'm not saying you give up the clean shop or you give up the well lit shot, or you give up the, you know, I was in the bathroom the other day and there was no toilet paper and usually there's like 23 rolls and I'm like, oh my God, how can that even happen? And now I'm ready to come out and yell at everybody because somebody left the bathroom without toilet paper.
Cecil Bullard: Well, slow down, Cecil. Take a deep breath. Go get some toilet paper, you know? And maybe in a company, our next company meeting have a discussion about how we take care of the facility instead of who the heck left the toilet paper. Fight for what's important. Fight in smart ways. Don't fight for the sake of fighting.
Cecil Bullard: And I think some of us have gotten in the habit of fighting just to fight, learn to apologize. My, my father was great at that when he did something wrong, when he made a bad choice, when he made a bad decision, he was the first guy to say. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. My mother never did that.
Cecil Bullard: When you're wrong, apologize. It doesn't have to be you know, you don't have to beat yourself to death. You don't have to flagellate yourself. You don't have to tie yourself up in the village square and get whipped. Just say, I'm sorry. We're going to do some things occasionally lose our temper.
Cecil Bullard: I've done it with my son a couple times. I had to go in and say, I'm sorry, I'll, I will not do that again. And then when I did it again, I had to say, I'm sorry again, and I won't do it again. And you know what? I only did it like three times before I figured out that's not gonna get me where I need to go.
Cecil Bullard: And then I stopped and I don't know, for the last three years, we haven't had one of those. Because I changed my behavior. Do something uninspected for your people. Not because they hit the great target, not because, not because it's Valentine's Day or it's their birthday or something.
Cecil Bullard: Just figure out what they like and do something for them. Based on that. I, you know, don't just buy sandwiches for the team, buy the sandwiches that they would choose because you paid attention to what they like and what they don't like. You know, I, I always say this my wife you know, occasionally I just get flowers.
Cecil Bullard: I, I send 'em to her. She's like, what are they for? Because it's not our anniversary. It's not her birthday. It's not any special. It's not Mother's Day. It's because I care about you because I knew that these would brighten your day. So do something unexpected for your people. Share your thoughts and ideas.
Cecil Bullard: Not all the time, you can't always be talking about this idea or this thought that you never move towards, but if you're moving towards these ideas and thoughts share them with your staff and let them be a part of it. Let them be involved in, you know, creating the cathedral that you're gonna build because they're gonna, that's gonna mean you care.
Cecil Bullard: And then learn how to show genuine appreciation. I don't know that I've even completely learned this one sometimes I'm like ah but what's genuine? I really do care about my staff. When they have struggles, I. It bothers me, not just company struggles, even personal struggles. And I take some time routinely to go talk to them in their office.
Cecil Bullard: Not about something they did or didn't do right. But just how's it going and what's up and what's going on in your life and, you know, how can we help you? That's genuine appreciation. I'm gonna just skip through this one very quickly. I think we should always have our staff if we're leaders in our company.
Cecil Bullard: In front of us. And if I'm in the chain of command, I have people that are below me in that chain of command. There, there are people that I serve. I should always know what's going on with them. And I should always be saying to myself, how can I help them? What can I do to help them have a better time here to help their job be easier?
Cecil Bullard: What education, what training what what support can I give them that would help them be more successful? I would also tell you have a clear idea of when and why you might terminate somebody. And if you do that before you get to know people, then that helps not blur the line where people keep stepping over the line.
Cecil Bullard: I would tell you to do that in the beginning. I'm gonna go through this really quickly. I, all I want you to understand is that communication is gonna be your biggest issue, and clear communication is gonna be your biggest issue. And the clear your communication, the more you're gonna get done, the more people are gonna understand the easier it is for you to lead.
Cecil Bullard: So, we should always be working on communication because everybody wants to be heard, hear people. Biggest mistake service advisors make salespeople is not listening to the client or potential client. The biggest mistake owners and managers is not listening to their team. You know, we need to hear people and really listen.
Cecil Bullard: So you have to take time. To spend with them. You can't listen to them if you're rushed or if you're thinking about something else, or if you're talking. So, I'm a talker. Everyone knows me, knows I'm a talker. You gotta be quiet sometimes. You gotta remove all the distractions. No, no cell phones, no email, no newspapers, no other thoughts in your head.
Cecil Bullard: For those of you that are a DHD like me, a little difficult. But you gotta do it. You gotta give people your undivided attention. You gotta look at their body language. You gotta maintain eye contact. What's going on with these people? What's happening? You gotta put yourself in their shoes wherever possible.
Cecil Bullard: If you can't do that, do it anyway. You can't know me unless you've been in my shoes. And if you know me and I respect you for that, then I'm much more likely to follow where you lead. For those of you that are like me, that are 12 thoughts in your head at a time and you're rush, and I got too many things to do, slow down.
Cecil Bullard: Take a deep breath. Do not hurry them. Don't answer their, don't finish their answers. Don't let their habits or mannerisms annoy you. Really listen to their tone, their volume. I think we get good sometimes with people that have been in our lives a long time, and we need to take those skills and move them out.
Cecil Bullard: It's one of my favorite slides. Look for nonverbal communication, little happy stewy a little stewie that's disappointed with me. And then my favorite little stewie. What do they, what's their body language telling me? Their nonverbal communication. Learn to repeat their words back to them. What I seem to hear is this what you told me?
Cecil Bullard: From what you've told me, it seems like this is the issue. This is the way I understand it. Did I get it correctly? Create these phrases, these arrows, these things that you put in your vocabulary that you use routinely to make sure that you haven't jumped the gun and that you're really hearing what they're telling you.
Cecil Bullard: Listening is an art. It takes effort. Make the effort. Stephen Covey says, seek first to understand, then to be understood. That's that's what I, that's what I want to be, right? If I can create the vision, if I can create the mission, if I have people that understand the values that we want to live by here and what we want to accomplish, if I can paint the cathedral for them in their mind and get them involved in that.
Cecil Bullard: Then I can have people that are inspired that, and I can inspire people. If I can stay driven. If I can stay focused, if I can stay up and not be negative then I'm gonna have people that can be inspired. Improve your communication. Ask people, did I understand you right? Did I get it? Or not?
Cecil Bullard: And if you didn't, go back to the drawing board. Use gestures yourself. Ask key questions. Here's some of them, they're in your workbook. Here's why. Improving communication better communication will improve. Morale and self-esteem means that you'll have happier people, more sure of themselves.
Cecil Bullard: Better morale in your company are gonna keep people longer. People who feel heard are happier. They feel appreciated. They'll work harder and they'll buy more from you. It's a long-term solution. Stay away from victim behaviors. We're at the point. We got a couple of minutes. You're okay.
Cecil Bullard: You're good. I don't wanna rush through. Stay away from victim behaviors. Here's victim behaviors. Blame, get rid of blame in your company. One of the things, one of the many things that camp my son has taught me is this right here stop focusing on what's not right, and then how do we solve the problem moving forward?
Cecil Bullard: What will we do? That's the saying that I want to have as a company moving forward from here on out, what are we gonna do differently? We will get rid of blame as much as possible. And if you have to place blame occasionally, you might do it very carefully and do it very privately.
Cecil Bullard: All right I'm gonna open it up for a few more questions and all of this other material is in your thing and we can do another webinar and get into it deeper and answer a lot of other questions down the road. What questions do we have in the next two minutes?
Amber Wright: No questions right now that we haven't answered.
Amber Wright: Let me, okay, here we go. What do you do when you have a negative partner? They have 40% share, but he is the one with the experience in the industry.
Cecil Bullard: I think that people believe that I need to understand how to fix a car to have cars fixed in my business I don't need that. I think people believe that they need to know everything about the business or about the industry.
Cecil Bullard: I'm not sure that's true. Don't get me wrong. You know, I was a technician who became a service advisor who became an owner. Having all that experience was, I believe, a plus, but it's also a negative in some ways. I will go back to what do you do when you have an owner that you're the manager and they come in and all of a sudden the whole tenor of the shop is different?
Cecil Bullard: You need to sit 'em down and have a, an honest conversation about do they want to be successful or not, and if they want to be successful, then here's the support that I need. Here's what I believe we need to do, and get agreements from them. Because once you have agreements with people, now you can manage that.
Cecil Bullard: You have no agree. You let them keep doing the same behavior. It's gonna keep doing what it's gonna do. And if it's not getting what you want it doesn't matter. There are lots of coaches and consultants not necessarily me or my company, that can help you understand what you need as far as the company.
Cecil Bullard: I don't know that I need to have anyone who's gonna be negative or take us off track. I wouldn't be building a cathedral, have somebody come in and tear things down and then not say anything, not go, Hey, wait a minute, you can't do that. Because it's not just demotivating for me, but it's also demotivating for everyone else that's building the cathedral.
Amber Wright: Yeah. Yeah. Your employees definitely pick up on that. It goes back to the body language and the cues. All of that, which is a fantastic book on reading body language and knowing. Yeah. I don't, it's up there. An orange book. I think it's a fantastic book, but it's super important. I wanna go back just making sure we don't have any questions, but you made a point about know what to fight for.
Amber Wright: Yeah. And I think it's so important to know when to give your energy and allow situations to have power over you or your vision, right? Yeah. And it's really important to know and lead as a leader in that way. Because again, your employees do pick up on those things that you're giving energy to in your business that may not need it.
Amber Wright: Right. You create these small fires.
Cecil Bullard: Right. And if you if you don't do that, then it will suck the life out of you in other places where you really need that life to, you know, hold the line and to be excited about. You gotta be careful where you put your energy. Kind of goes back to that very first graphic where it's like, where do I spend my time?
Cecil Bullard: If I'm spending my time in areas that aren't getting me what I want and you know, that's might be putting out fires or arguing about stuff that's really not important then I can't spend that time somewhere that's gonna, you know, really take us forward.
Amber Wright: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And it sounds like even going back to Jeff's comment about the owner coming in, right?
Amber Wright: It sounds like that's where the energy needs to be spent for you. But overall, just a lot of Thank you, Cecil. Appreciate it. There was a question about getting access to the workbook, if it'll be emailed to us. It is right here if you scan the QR code.
Cecil Bullard: You can go in there. We get your name and your phone number and your email, and then we send you in the email and you'll have the whole workbook.
Amber Wright: Yeah.
Cecil Bullard: Yeah.
Amber Wright: Well, I just wanna, again, thank everybody. I know we're a few minutes over and that is completely on, on me, not Cecil. And the institute being timely is very important. So really appreciate everybody's time here. And Cecil, as always, we really appreciate your expertise and everything that you and the entire institute coaches are doing for the industry.
Amber Wright: You really do what you say you're going to do, and it is something that is continuously wonderful to watch and be a partner of you guys. Knowing you over the last few years has been nothing short of a blessing. And again, Jimmy Lea, if you're on here, happy birthday. Have a wonderful afternoon.
Cecil Bullard: Thank you everyone. Thanks for the opportunity, Amber.
Amber Wright: Awesome. All right, bye.
Cecil Bullard: Bye. Bye.