Lying Cheating Stealing

It’s the most fundamental of all leadership traits. It’s like the basics of all basics. It comes before processes and great speeches. It’s the very core of any leader worth a grain of salt.

Leaders, real leaders will not tolerate lying, cheating or stealing. It’s really that simple.

Lying-For a bad leader it starts out by being tolerant of a little lie. Fudging a customer just a little bit. If they are fudging the customer they are fudging your organization. A bad leader lets it go. A strong leader hangs his/her reputation on fixing it. A bad leader lets it go and with it their reputation and career will eventually go. A strong leader spots, stops it, cuts it off at the head.

Cheating-A bad leader gives a wink and a nod to a little cheating. A little cheating might be doing those iffy repairs that don’t really need to be done. When they cheat the customer they cheat you too. A strong leader spots, stops it, cuts it off at the head.

Stealing-It could be money, items or even time. Bad leaders allow things to happen that shouldn’t. I had a dealer tell me one time he knew his used car manager was stealing and he was ok with it because he made him so much money. He must not have made him enough. He’s now out of business. A strong leader spots, stops it, cuts it off at the head.

It’s real simple. Your motto should be: “If you lie, cheat or steal you can’t work here.” That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs

The Six Stages

In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente at the University of Rhode Island developed a theory called the Stages of Change (SOC) Model when they were studying how smokers were able to give up their habit.

The SOC model applies to all types of changes including those in your dealership or any business for that matter.

Don’t poo poo this. You are in one of these stages regardless of how good or bad you think your operation might be. Moving into the next stage could be positive or negative. The key is for you to recognize which stage you are in and to take control of where you are in order to improve what you are doing.

Stage 1-Precontemplation is the stage at which there is no intention to change behavior in the foreseeable future. Many individuals in this stage are unaware or under-aware of their problems. In your business it’s the “everything is ok” mentality so why even think about doing anything different? Denial plays a big part in this stage as does the “we’ve always done it this way so let’s not rock the boat.”

Stage 2-Contemplation is the stage in which people are aware that a problem exists and are seriously thinking about overcoming it but have not yet made a commitment to take action. The majority of the dealers around the country are in this stage. They know they have problems but don’t have the courage to attack them. This is also known as the “fear stage.” The fear of losing people and that making changes will only make matters worse. Often dealers decide to move out of this stage after things have gotten so bad that there is little hope. (Hello new owners.)

Stage 3-Preparation is the stage that combines intention and behavioral criteria. Individuals in this stage are intending to take action in the next one to three months and have unsuccessfully taken action in the past year. Finally, yes finally, you have made a major decision that you have to get it fixed once and for all. You join a Twenty Group, go to a convention or workshop in order to seek the best advice and direction to take. After you’ve heard from multiple sources that Tommy Gibbs can fix your mess in the used car department you finally give him a call 850-251-2310. (Oh come on, smile, I just had to throw that in.)

Stage 4-Action is the stage in which individuals modify their behavior, experiences, or environment in order to overcome their problems. Action involves the most overt behavioral changes and requires considerable commitment of time and energy. You have decided to make discipline and processes part of your daily diet. You have decided that one way or the other you are going to make it happen. Your message to the staff is “the rest of you can get on the train or get run over by it.” This is the most exciting stage of all. You start to see the results of the changes you’ve made in your bottom line and you keep asking yourself what the heck took you so long?

Stage 5-Maintenance is the stage in which people work to prevent relapse and consolidate the gains attained during action. This stage extends from six months to an indeterminate period past the initial action. This is the “grind it out” stage. This is the “getting on everyone’s nerves” stage. This is when you find out a lot about who you are and your commitment to excellence. This is when your “will” is truly tested. This is when many of your key players start to let things unravel. They get lazy, lose their discipline, and want to take the easy way.

Stage 6-Relapse is returning to older behaviors and abandoning the new changes. This is the evaporation stage. Over time you just start to give up. Not worth the fight. Everyone has now fallen into their comfort zone and is just kind of happy with the way things are.

At some point during the “relapse stage,” Stage 1 will reappear and it all starts over again.

What stage are you in? That’s all I’m gonna ask.
Tommy Gibbs

The Road Leaders Travel

Through the course of life you will make millions of decisions. You’ll make hundreds of them today. You will decide what food to eat, which streets to take on your way to work, what music to listen to and which roads to take in the journey of life.

The first thing on your road to a better life and greater success is to accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you, and no one else, who will determine your success.

You get to decide who will mentor you. Choose your mentors wisely. You will make some mistakes when picking mentors. That’s only a bad thing when you aren’t smart enough to figure it out fast enough. It’s as important to learn what not to do, as it is to learn what to do.

There are people who are close to you who want to see you fail. Sadly it’s sometimes family pulling against you. For some people when they see you fail it makes them feel better about their lack of success.

Part of your decision making process is to surround yourself with winners and rid your life and your organization of those who pull you back and hold you down.

Know that it is you and your decision making process, that will get you where you want to go, and no one else. That’s all I’m going to say, Tommy Gibbs

Complaining vs Whining

Great leaders embrace complaints both from staff members and customers and see those complaints as an opportunity to fix something. Great leaders enjoy fixing things. Great leaders see complaints as opportunities, not as “Oh crap, we’ve got another problem.”

The silent majority of a dealership’s customer base is often the killer. Frequently the real problem is that staff members don’t see the benefit of a customer complaint. Getting the staff to embrace complaints as a way to get better is the challenge of leadership. Far too often when a team member gets a complaint they immediately go on the defensive.

Once complaints are uncovered the next and most important step is to fix the problem. If you keep getting the same complaints over and over then you have either the wrong processes or the wrong people. In either case it’s up to the leader to fix it.

And never forget there’s a big difference between complaining and whining. There are some customers and yes, some team members who whine. They whine about anything and everything.

Sometimes the best decision you make is when you fire a customer or a team member. Just because we embrace legitimate complaints doesn’t mean that we have to tolerate unacceptable whining.

The key is to know and recognize the difference and to take appropriate action with each. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Are You Average?

Seth Godin is one of my favorite writers. He recently wrote, “The most difficult work many professionals do is getting someone else to agree with their point of view and take action. The second most difficult work professionals do is developing a point of view in the first place.”

What a profound statement. The reality is most people have a weak point of view. Their point of view is easily shaken. We’re all guilty.

We have self-doubts because we have the fear of loss.
We fear we may lose what we have.
We fear sales people will quit if we make changes.
We fear managers will quit if we make changes.
We fear what others may think if we make changes.
We fear the loss of money if we make changes.

The real problem is we most often don’t believe strong enough. We don’t have a strong enough view that we can get others to believe in what we know we need to do. Our point of view is so weak that we don’t take the action that needs to be taken in order to make the changes we know we need to make.

So we sit on the sidelines watching others figure it out until one day we finally do it. Yes, we do it, but only after everyone else has already done it.

So guess what? At that point we are nothing special. We are just average. Being average really sucks. Maybe it’s time to re-examine your point of view. That’s all I’m going to say, Tommy Gibbs

Winning With Trust

Not a day goes by that I don’t read something in sports about a team excelling and/or winning a championship because they trust each other. And, time and time again you will hear team members say the number one reason for their success is they trust their coach.

These stories come from both the college and professional levels so it’s no fluke that such a big deal is made of the word trust when it’s connected to winning and success.

Trust doesn’t happen with one statement or one goodwill act. Trust is something that has to be built on each and every day. If you’re going to lead you have to be trusted. Trust begins with always telling the truth, even when it hurts and even when it may cause a temporary setback.

A setback based on trust is a good thing. Maybe a setback is when you have to give a customer their money back because you’ve discovered the car had been in a previously unreported accident.

That’s ok. Trust is about doing the right thing when the wrong thing is easier to do.

Trust is about having the courage to stand up for the values that you have based your leadership on.

You win, I win, We all win, when we can say “I trust you.” That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Spotting Zebras and Horses

Over the last few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to work with some really great groups and you know who you are. What I find so interesting is all of these great groups have outstanding leadership.

What I find even more enlightening is that when it comes to dynamic leadership it’s very apparent when it’s there and when it’s not.

Leadership is not just the words that are spoken. It’s almost the un-spoken that says the most. It’s a vibe, it’s a feeling. It appears right there in front of you. It’s something people sense and want to be a part of. It’s high energy and a “can-do spirit.”

The lack of leadership is also easy to spot. It’s low energy and “I don’t think I can” is written all over it.

Great leadership is like horses and zebras. When you’ve seen thousands of horses, spotting a zebra is pretty darn easy to do. I’ve seen lots of zebras lately, that’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs

Who Can And Who Can’t?

I’ve come to believe that most leaders know what’s holding the team back. Only the best of the best are willing to do what it takes to remove those pesky obstacles that get in the way of progress.

Most leaders want to fix the obstacles, but very few have the will to do so.

One of my favorite techniques over the years in dealing with obstacles or perceived obstacles is to ask a manager, “What’s holding you back? What’s keeping you and your team from getting the numbers we need?”

What I’m really doing is asking them for the excuses. I like excuses. I like eliminating their excuses.

Your job as a leader is to do whatever is within your power to eliminate the excuses and push the obstacles out of the way. When you remove the obstacles, you will find out who can and who can’t. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

What’s Your Message?

Great leaders are great sales people. If you’re leading then you’re selling. Selling the team is a never-ending challenge for leaders. Here are 4 key elements to help you sell your message:

1. Get Buy In-Getting buy-in requires the leader to constantly be removing doubt within the organization. There will always be doubters. Knowing who they are and winning them over is the job of leadership.

2. Share the Vision-Sharing the vision means you must constantly reinforce and repeat the message. There is no single formula for doing so. You can’t state or print it one time and it’s done. The team wants to be sold and it’s your responsibility to do so.

3. Set the Example-You have to walk the walk. Talking the talk is easy. If you’re not a believer in your own message then it will soon show up. Don’t expect others to spread the message and set the example. It’s up to you.

4. The Evaporation Factor-Understand it’s always there. Even the best disciplined teams have break-downs. Your job is to realize there will be break-downs, acknowledge them and fix them right away.

That’s my message for today. That’s all I’m gonna say,
Tommy Gibbs

Dream Stealing

Who stole your dreams? Whose dreams have you stolen? We all have dreams and we’ve all had dreams stolen.

Most of the people I’m around dream of success. Success for their families, success for their organization, and personal success.

Far too often dreams get stolen. They get trampled. They get stepped on and squashed away until one day the dreams are given up on.

As a leader you can do two things. Fight hard to keep your dreams alive and help others do the same. Keep dreaming, that’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs