I have a Keurig coffee machine in my office. You know the ones that you put the single cup in the round little hole, poor water in the top, set your cup in the bottom, push a button and voila, in about minute you’re got a perfect cup of coffee.

The other day I went through this exercise, and sat down to my desk to answer a few emails while the coffee was brewing. About 10 minutes later I realized I didn’t have my coffee. Got up went over to the fancy dancy Keurig coffee maker and guess what? No coffee.

I hadn’t pushed the button.

Sometimes we as leaders fail to push the button. All these great ideas. All these things we need to do. All these things we want to do. All these things we should do. But, we never push the button.

We have millions of excuses for not pushing the button. Many times the underlying reason for not pushing the button is fear. Fear of what might happen both good and bad. Like if I do this and it works it might change my life. Like if I do this and it doesn’t work it might change my life.

Fear not. Just push the button. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

I’m going to let you go. Also known as you’re fired. Saying it or hearing it; either way it is not something most of us relish.

What’s amazing, even in this world of HR and years of seeking to improve our leadership skills, is how often the person being let go is surprised that they have been fired. They had no idea it was coming. They were blindsided. (I’m not talking about the person that gets fired for some heinous act.)

It’s either one of two things:

A. They weren’t paying attention.

B. Someone hadn’t explained in enough detail what the expectations were and what the deficiencies were in such a way that it makes sense to the recipient.

In both cases, if you’re “the boss,” it’s your fault. Not their fault. It’s your fault.

If they’ve not been paying attention then you must not have been paying attention to them not paying attention.

If you didn’t explain it to them in enough detail that they “get it,” then it’s your fault. Maybe you put too much sauce on it and didn’t nail it down.

Most of the time when someone is let go it’s the boss’s fault. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

I have almost 11,000 readers and of course they don’t all read every newsletter I send out. My readers are CEOs of larger dealer groups, dealer principals, sales managers, controllers, service directors, parts and service managers, sales people, and everything in-between. I have lots of readers who have nothing to do with the car business whatsoever.

Regardless of your position, your organization, or your occupation, you can make a difference.

There are people all around you waiting for you to lead them, hoping you will be the example they need to move their lives and careers forward.

If you don’t think of yourself as a shining example I’d like you to re-think that. You might feel at times you are insignificant and just trying to get through another day.

You should think of yourself as someone who’s going to make an amazing impact on someone else’s life today. You will not only be making an impact on their lives but yours as well.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

How long does it take to know if they can do it? Do what?

Do whatever it is you’ve hired someone to do.

Does it take a week?
Does it take a month?
Does it take 90 days?
Does it take 6 months?
Does it take 6 years?

How long does it take you to figure out if you’ve got the right person or the wrong person in the job?

Part of that decision making process might depend on:

1. How much have you invested in the selection process of putting the right person in the right job?

2. Did you put someone in the job because they were the “next up?”

3. How much have you invested in their training and development?

4. How much have you invested of your own time coaching and teaching the person?

5. Does your organization give people the tools they need in order to be successful?

6. Do you make the effort to get legitimate feedback from those around you that “know” about how this person is performing?

How long does it take for you to figure out if they can or they can’t? That’s all I’m gonna ask. Tommy Gibbs

Great leaders have their thumb on the pulse of the organization.

Without a pulse the organization dies. If you are to improve your leadership skills you must know the pulse of your organization.

You can only know the pulse of the organization by absorbing yourself within the daily activities and action of the business. To feel the pulse you must feel the passion.

If you’re not feeling the passion, then your pulse may very well be dead. Maybe your pulse is dead because you’re burned out.

How can you be burned out when you’ve never been on fire?

You are responsible for your own fire. I’m just trying to give you a match to get you going. Firing up your own passion will ignite your organization.

Real leaders have a pulse. Real leaders feel the pulse. Real leaders inspire a pulse.

Hope you’re on fire. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Often in business we think of those that we work with as family. Actually sometimes they are family, but even if they aren’t, we think of them that way. Thinking of our team members as family creates a great work environment and gives us a nice warm and fuzzy feeling.

If you interview any winning sports team they will talk about the amazing chemistry they have and how they think of their team members as family.

The difference in what great teams do and what we do in business is if their family/team members don’t perform to the highest standard they are kicked out of the family. They are hired and paid to achieve certain results.

We often keep people around even when they are not performing to the highest standards because they are “family.”

Good thing you aren’t running a sports franchise. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

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 their 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.

What’s holding you back? That’s all I’m gonna ask, Tommy Gibbs

Most of us understand the concept of muscle memory. An example of muscle memory is when you throw a ball, you

don’t think about all the mechanics of doing so. Your body, mind and arm just make it happen.

“Mental muscle memory” works much the same way. Whenever we need to make any decision in our personal or business life, our brain will go into what we have stored in its “hard drive” to decide what to do. The brain is going to go where we have the most experience and where we are the most comfortable. This dated information becomes what we rely on because it’s what we know.

I like to refer to this as actually “Bad Mental Muscle Memory.” Relying on “Bad Mental Muscle Memory” is like a drug. The more you rely on it the more you want to do it.

Some of your mental muscle memory is probably very good because it did get you to where you are today. But, when you allow “Bad Mental Muscle Memory” to control your thinking it tends to shut down your ability to move forward and attack the future.

“Bad Mental Muscle Memory” is the future on hold. Opening up your thinking is the future on steroids. It grows and grows.

Invest more time, energy and resources in the training and development of you and your staff. The dividends are beyond huge. Quit being penny wise and pound foolish. Take some of that money you are spending in advertising and put it in training and education for you and your staff.

Look for greatness and ideas in others. Instead of showing up to let everyone know how great you are, show up to find out how great everyone else is. You don’t have all the answers and even if you’ve had some good ones in the past, maybe it’s time to let others help you tweak them up a notch or two.

Set up an Executive Committee. A few years ago a good friend of mine came back into the automobile business to do some re-organizing of his group of stores. The first thing he did was to set up an Executive Committee to help guide the team toward the future. He knew that the team knew that he had a lot to get his arms around. What a brilliant move to get the team involved in the decision making process.

Add some fear to your diet. Fear is a great motivator. You should be fearful of falling behind. You should be fearful of the competition getting ahead. You should be fearful of what’s around the corner. Fear will force you to get out of your box and get on with it.

Read and study about the best. Apple, Starbucks, CarMax. Do you understand what they do? Do you understand how they do it? Have you spent any time studying these top performers? Being a leader is like being a great football coach. To be a great football coach you have to have a great scouting report. If you’ve not studied these top players then you should.

Inspire those around you. You may think this is overplayed but it’s not. The more you inspire others the more it creates enthusiasm for change and growth.

Avoid the easy. Go after the impossible. My good friend, great author and speaker, Dave Anderson, often speaks of stretching yourself and stretching your organization. You can’t stretch if you don’t reach for the impossible. You will soon find out that what you thought was impossible is very doable. And then you will say “next.”

Eliminate what you think are obstacles. Sometimes it’s people, sometimes it’s stinky thinking. The only thing in life you have total control over is your thinking. If you think you can you are right. If you think you can’t you are right.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” I’m going to add to his quote. “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm for change”

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Are you going to the NADA Convention in a few days? I hope so and I hope I get to see you.

If you’re not going I’m wondering why? Why would you not go?

Short on staff? I guess that’s a maybe.
You went last year? Ugh, I guess that might be a maybe also.
Can’t afford the expense? Another maybe goes up on the board.

Those excuses and most others are not great reasons for not going.

Some of you live in a little box and wonder why things never change for you. Most of you are coming off a pretty good year. Maybe you think you have it figured out or maybe you know things are starting to slip a bit.

There’s no better time than right now to open your mind and shoot some WD 40 into your brain to loosen things up a bit. Spring is here, but if you’re not careful your brain may still be frozen over from the cold winter.

If your mindset is “the Convention is always the same” then you are dead wrong. The only reason the Convention is the same is because you’re the same. If you’ve gone to the Convention in the past to rub shoulders with the factory guys and attend the parties then I guess it would be the same for you. You get out of something what you put into it.

It’s hard for your vision to change when you sit there and stare at those same walls and same people day after day. That’s why you need to go. You need inspiration. You need to see the possibilities. You need to go and learn something.

If you show up and find me I’ll even give you a copy of my book titled “The Little Used Car Book, Volume 7.” My book is not a cure-all for your used car business but it’s guaranteed to give you some ideas and wisdom to help your bottom line.

By helping your bottom line, it will more than pay for your little trip. When I’m not speaking I’ll be hanging out at the vAuto booth (booth #1522C) so look me up.

I’ll be very excited to see you. That’s all I’m gonna say.Tommy Gibbs

It’s often said that there are only two reasons for not getting the job done. It’s either “not knowing” or “not doing.” Both are pretty much self-explanatory.

If people “don’t know,” that’s the fault of upper management. Upper management hasn’t invested the time, resources and assets to coach them to their full potential.

If people “don’t do,” that too is on upper management. If upper management doesn’t set the expectations and have consequences for failing to achieve those expectations you can’t blame it on people for not doing.

People will often only do what they have to do. Human nature is such that they are going to take the route of the least resistance.

I see both the “not knowing” and the “not doing” in my travels. I will sometimes ask the most basic question and people don’t know the answer. How can that be?

I’m left to assume:

1. They don’t care enough to know.
2. They just don’t have the knowledge to know. (They haven’t been coached.)
3. People don’t know what they don’t know. That’s the scariest of all.

What’s your excuse? Not knowing or not doing?

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs