Latest / Auto Collabs / Jedi Mind Tricks with Ed Roberts

Transcript

Jedi Mind Tricks with Ed Roberts · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  All right. So how many authors have we had on the show? I can't... There's- Lots. At least one. Yeah. [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. At least one. Uh, so we're doubling that. [laughs] You- I'm so...
• 0:18
  Listen, I... Today's guest- Didn't McKell be on, right? Oh, yeah, we did have Jim. Did he write a, did he write a book? He was the- I'm just kidding... very first podcast. Did he write a book? I don't know. Yeah.
• 0:27
  [laughs] Maybe he wrote a book. New York Times bestseller. I know he used his laundry basket as a desk. He did use his laundry basket. During the po- I forgot all about that. [laughs] With the pad.
• 0:35
  We're starting, he's like, "Uh, one of my kids is about to, like, put on their bathing suit. I need to move this camera." [laughs] It was amazing. Right. [laughs] It was one of the best podcasts.
• 0:43
  You're like, "New York Times bestseller, Mass..." Yeah. That's the way authors are though, you know? That's why they don't make movies, they're authors, you know? Yeah. [laughs] So, so. Yeah, I don't know.
• 0:54
  He, he does a lot. I mean, there, there's an element of the down-to-earth nature of people who give you very practical advice. Right. And today's guest is definitely no exception.
• 1:02
  Ed Roberts is one of the most practical and of really just kind people. He's got, like, this Southern way about him, but is he from Florida? Do you know, where's he from? I don't know where he's originally from.
• 1:13
  He lives in Florida. Lives in Florida. Yeah. It doesn't sound like a Florida accent when I've talked to him. [laughs] Well, you know, Florida is like, Florida's this kinda mixed bag, you know? [laughs] Yeah.
• 1:24
  It's, it's a little bit Southern, it's a little bit Northern, and- Yeah... you never know what you're gonna get kinda thing. Feels a lot more Northern than it used to be.
• 1:30
  You know, you go to Naples, everybody's from Ohio. You go to, you know, I don't know- Miami?... Central Florida, everybody's from Central Florida.
• 1:40
  [laughs] And if you've been to Central Florida, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You get the joke. Exactly. You get the joke. [laughs] So.
• 1:46
  What I do know is every interaction I've had with him, in passing, on a podcast, whatever, he has the most inviting smile of any grown man, I think, I've ever- Got those kind eyes, man... like, yes.
• 1:59
  You f- Yep, he's got it... you feel his smile, which is, I think, a unique trait for a leader in, in our industry.
• 2:04
  Well, hey, if you are listening to this podcast, you may wanna hit pause, head over to the YouTube, and watch the video episode. But if you don't, we hope you enjoy this conversation.
• 2:15
  [upbeat music] Ed, thank you so much for joining us today. It is always good to see your smiling face. It immediately makes me feel better. [laughs] I appreciate you guys. Appreciate you guys having me on. All right.
• 2:29
  So, um, we're here to talk about your book, because you have a lifetime and a care- career full of understanding, wisdom, and lessons learned, and mistakes made.
• 2:39
  And you've tried to, like, truncate that and put it in a book so you can share it quickly with all of us. Um, have you always wanted to write a book?
• 2:46
  Like, is this, like, a lifelong goal, or did, did you just think of it one day, you say, "I'm gonna do this"? It has not.
• 2:52
  The, uh, I've been pressured for probably the last 20 years to, to write a book, and that's, uh, there was zero interest at that point.
• 2:58
  And maybe about 10 years ago, I started taking some notes and said, "If I ever write one, I'll make sure I put this in it." And then, uh, late last year I said, "All right, I think I'm gonna do it."
• 3:08
  And I did it listening to... I decided to do it listening to a book that a friend of mine wrote. And, uh, I said, "I'm gonna call him up and tell him I'm gonna write a book."
• 3:16
  And that's where it started and, and, uh, then ended up interviewing some publishers and landed on one, and here we go. I love it. I like it. Just thought of it.
• 3:26
  So, so you were like, "If my friend can write a book, goodness, I'll write a book." [laughs] Anything he can do, I can do better. If this guy can write a book, I can write a book. [laughs] Yeah.
• 3:34
  [laughs] He didn't tell you his friend's name is Simon Sinek. Yeah. [laughs] Right, right. [laughs] That's great. Right. S- so give us a summary of the premise of the book. So- It's called, it's called Mile One.
• 3:48
  It is called Mile One: An Endless Journey to Effective Leadership.
• 3:52
  And truly what it is is a lot of times we look at things and we set ourselves with goals to go chase down something big, and we don't know where to start. And it's really just- Yeah...
• 4:00
  breaking it down to where people can relate and say, "Okay, I can do that." And when, when you have everybody on the team saying, "Okay, I can do that," and they're picking up their element of it, it becomes easy.
• 4:09
  So you break it down to little steps, and those steps are their mile one. That's their next mile one. So now we're all rowing rather than some going along for the ride and some drilling holes. Everybody's rowing.
• 4:20
  And, uh- [laughs]... and, and it makes the mountain very accomplishable.
• 4:24
  You said something right in there that I think is really, really interesting, and, and I don't know if this is actually a part of this 'cause I haven't read the book yet, but I'm excited to.
• 4:32
  Uh, you said y- that's their mile one, and then their new mile one, and then their new mile one. Like, is that, is that kind of a theme of like no, you're just, you're just starting on the next thing.
• 4:44
  You don't have to ever really do mile 20 because you're just always at mile one. And if you kinda take that, is that a, it, is that a theme that I'm picking up there? You're spot on. That's, that's exactly it.
• 4:55
  It, uh, it's an endless journey, so you always have that next mile one.
• 4:59
  And one of the things that I say in the book, and, and I'll highlight on it real quick here, is when we interview and we start a new job, somewhere along the way they said, "Hey, these are the things I need you to really focus on," because maybe the last guy didn't focus on those things.
• 5:10
  Well, reality are, is that's the low-hanging fruit that they feel like they, they have a lot of opportunity with. Mm. Well, those things always exist. There's always low-hanging fruit. Yeah.
• 5:19
  And so it's identifying those things and making sure that we're focusing on them. And it isn't that we go out and conquer them and we're done, 'cause we're never done.
• 5:25
  That's, there, there's, there's always more behind it. How do you get your...
• 5:28
  H- how do you help your team become comfortable with the fact that our lives have kind of been conditioned up until we get into the workforce that there is a beginning and an end to things, right?
• 5:39
  Like, I go to school, I go home from school. I graduate from school. How do you get them comfortable with the fact that this pro, this journey has no end? Yeah, asking for a friend, right? [laughs] Yeah.
• 5:51
  Well, well, it makes me think of, like, I had a- Some guy wants to know...
• 5:54
  seriously, I had a team member once who every week when we get on our team call they're like, he, he'd be like, "I just feel like I'm climbing a mountain and I'll never get to the top."
• 6:03
  I was like, "'Cause bro, when you get to the top, it means you're dead."Exactly. [laughs] That's the end. Well, just think about it from car terms.
• 6:09
  I mean, ev- every time the month ends, we're zeros on the 1st, and we gotta start all over. Right. So it's really the culture.
• 6:15
  And, uh, what we express, what I express to my team around here a lot is, good is never good enough. So even though we did good last month, this, it, it doesn't get us anywhere this month.
• 6:24
  Or even though we did good last month, that doesn't mean that we can repeat that and still be good this month. We always have to constantly be reinventing ourself to get better.
• 6:34
  Is this something that- That's awesome, man... so, like picking that as the topic or at least the thesis of the book, it obviously comes from you... Have you, did you walk that yourself?
• 6:44
  Or is it something you've identified, like, this needs to be addressed in, like, all of your leadership and team building?
• 6:50
  Like, where's the synthesis of, like, you meet knowing that that is the thing that you need to communicate to everyone right now?
• 6:56
  Well, that's a simpler term of what I used to tell our team here, 'cause, I mean, 10, 11, 12 years ago, this was a store that, that wasn't performing well at all. We'd sell 50 cars a month.
• 7:06
  And, uh, the, uh, today, we'll- or last month we sold 700 Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. [laughs] Hold on. Skrrt. Skrrt. Gimme, gimme, gimme.
• 7:18
  'Cause you're about to tell everyone how many you sell right now, and how big the store is, and all the things- Uh... that you're doing now. Don't go too quick there, because we gotta slow down.
• 7:28
  So 10 to 12 years ago, you guys, like, that store was a 50... So when did you come on board? I came on September of 2012. Okay.
• 7:39
  So, uh, around that time, that, that was a 50-car store is what kind of, like, the normal pacing output was. Um, where, where were, before you get to, like, the punchline here- [laughs]...
• 7:52
  where were w- where were some of, like, the growth points along the way that you can point to that were either, like, perceived glass ceilings, or, like, points that, that, uh, you, you saw, like, pivotal turn points, either in volume, or team, or relationship with the community?
• 8:11
  What were some of those that triggered to hold the punchline for everyone for a minute here? The key part of that is, is changing the culture. The mindset here before, or then, was we're waiting for things to get better.
• 8:23
  Well, we can't wait for things to get better, we gotta go make them better. So we had to shift that mindset to tell me what we can do. What can we do today to get better?
• 8:31
  What can we do, rather than what are we waiting for? What can't we do? And shifting that to what we can make happen is, is what gets the ball rolling.
• 8:38
  But a big theme to that was one of the things that I would preach to them, and then it was unfathomable to see where it was at. But, uh, what I would preach is, someone has to be number one. Why can't it be us? Hmm.
• 8:49
  We don't get up in front of the mirror and tell ourselves we're gonna go be average. I'm gonna go be average today. No. We're gonna go out- Hmm... and perform today. We're gonna go make something happen.
• 8:56
  Well, if we're going to do that, let's go out and be the best at it. And that's really what evolved into, good is never good enough. Um, because that's more, that's easier to understand.
• 9:06
  Yes, it's tough to chase that number one spot, but it's never tough to try to get better every single day. Be better than we was yesterday. All right. So give it, so given the number one spot- [laughs]...
• 9:17
  what does that, what does that mean now? [laughs] Oh- We let, we, we made everyone think for, everyone, like, actually scrubbed two minutes ahead just to see if that- He's like, "Now we do 55 cars a month."
• 9:27
  [laughs] We're not at 1,000 yet. Let's leave it at that. We're, we're, we're better than 700, not at 1,000. Ah, okay. So immense growth. Wow.
• 9:38
  What, in, in that, can you, can you identify, and maybe tie this back to something in the book, like, can you identify a moment in that journey from 50 to s- 700 plus where you kind of hit the ceiling a couple times and you're like, you know, where the curve kinda stopped and you had to, like, think, like, "Why aren't we getting through this next level?"
• 9:57
  I- is there a ceiling? And that's the mindset you gotta have. Well, a perceived ceiling, right? Like, was- Yeah...
• 10:02
  is there a moment that you can identify- Was there like a leveling out and you had to, like, reshift, rethink, re-motivate?
• 10:07
  Like, was there ever, were there those times where it just wasn't, like, a straight line up, you know? Yeah. There, there's times where that, that curve drops down.
• 10:15
  I mean, this year we have immense growth where, where a lot of people are saying that things are tight, and this, that, and the other, and we still have immense growth. And we've had that immense growth year after year.
• 10:23
  Some years that growth is, is low teen. Some years it's 20, 30%. And, uh, so yes, there is different things, but it's, it's... The, the key part of that is with that kind of growth, you're bringing new people in. Hmm.
• 10:39
  And bringing new people in, you have to, they have to be able to buy into all those values and all those things that you're chasing after because they're not, they haven't been exposed to that before.
• 10:48
  And the, uh, so a lot of times there's a little bit of withdrawal that they're waiting for somebody to come behind them and zap them, and it's, it's more the coaching mindset rather than always finding them doing something wrong and counseling with them.
• 10:59
  It's more coaching that, "Hey, we're, we're driving forward. We're not driving backwards." So it, it's the mindset as you grow with additional people.
• 11:07
  How do you- Well, and I find that a lot of times those additional people can actually provide the impetus for something new, right?
• 11:15
  Maybe they come in with new creative juice, or they come with an additive portion to the culture that really, like, highlights something that was missing, right? Like, some, some energy or some intent that was missing.
• 11:27
  Like, if you can hire those key people that really, they actually, like, they leapfrog the culture and, and pull it forward even from... And that doesn't have to be from leadership spots.
• 11:37
  Like, I, I find a lot of times that'll be, like, a new salesperson providing a whole new energy to the team that just, like, boom, all of a sudden we're in a whole, we're just-...
• 11:47
  operating at a different clip because that person was additive to the culture instead of just kinda swimming with the stream, right?
• 11:54
  Well, that's the collaborative element, because when you bring them in, yes, they've done things differently somewhere else, they may have had something that worked better than what we're doing here.
• 12:02
  And in most environments, you come in and a sur- you survive, and that's what you're doing, you're in survival mode, and here it's very collaborative. So if they can bring something to the team, then we all win.
• 12:12
  And so it opens their mind to bring those things out or so- and, and sometimes they, is a, it isn't even something they've tried before, it's something that they've wanted to try but somebody's held them back from trying it.
• 12:22
  And we're not afraid to try anything. But when you try things, you have to be able to say, "Hey, okay, that didn't work." You have to be able to swallow your pride a little bit there and move forward.
• 12:31
  And as you're trying things, and we're gonna try things all the time, we're going to m- we're gonna make mistakes, and we're gonna learn from them.
• 12:38
  And just because it didn't work the way we tried it, doesn't mean it's not going to work. It just didn't work that way. We're gonna still try it again in a different direction.
• 12:47
  How do you, uh- We're not gonna revert back... h-how do you- Mm... track... Like, like I, I feel like in business we have this hire slow, fire fast mentality. In this concept, how do you...
• 12:59
  'Cause obviously there, when you look at the anatomy of a team, any, any team, there's gonna be stronger players and there's gonna be some weaker players. How do you assess... What am I trying to ask here?
• 13:09
  I, I feel like the, the broad stroke of the brush is we're gonna compare our weakest player to the strongest player, and if they don't measure up, then they're gone.
• 13:21
  How do you look at your, the anatomy of your team and say, "Okay, well, obviously I have stronger players and I have some weaker players." What is the line for whether or not a team player gets to stay on the team?
• 13:34
  We are a very team-oriented store, and each, each member on that team supports each other.
• 13:40
  And with doing that, a- and this is not something that's created overnight, you have to be focused on the long game to do this, but we've went from 43 employees to yesterday 329th employee started with us.
• 13:53
  So with that kind of growth, the idea is to keep moving forward and to look inside before we look outside. So most of the time we run an ad, we're only running an ad for an entry-level position. Mm.
• 14:04
  In doing so, the, the, everybody on that team has gotta train the people around them so that they can put themselves in position to move forward into that next role.
• 14:13
  Because we want that person to come from within, but they have to prepare their replacement to be able to do that.
• 14:18
  I knew you had some s- some intelligent answer, because I don't see a pillow that you scream into anywhere in the background there. [laughs] His answer is, "I take this drumstick and just wha-pack someone actually."
• 14:32
  It empowers them. There's places... [laughs] You e- you empower them so that things doesn't stop. I mean, think about it.
• 14:39
  [laughs] We've all been in 500 shifts before where we're, our phone's blowing up because they don't have the answers that they need or whatever else.
• 14:45
  It's not that they don't have the answers, they're afraid to make the decision. Mm. And you gotta give them that empowerment to make that decision.
• 14:52
  Ed's version of- And so with- I was gonna say, Ed, your version of, like, the baseball bat, like the intimidation thing with the baseball bat, is, like, doing paradiddles on your desk with drumsticks.
• 15:03
  [laughs] There's a baseball bat back there too. Oh, okay. There it is. Yeah. Yeah. [laughs] We see it right, right behind it. He's like, "I hide that." Don't worry, I got a baseball bat somewhere.
• 15:10
  Pulls it out from under the desk, right? One of the big ones. Yeah. The old, the old kneecapper. Right. Well, you got a toolbox full of tools.
• 15:16
  And I'm gonna, I'm gonna lean in on the, the empower word, because it's a, it's like a, it's a, it's a leadership hot button word.
• 15:24
  It's a word that I think everyone says they want to be empowered, and everyone, every leader would say they desire to empower their people. But even leaders that do that constantly run up against this, like,
• 15:41
  barrier to actually get there, right?
• 15:44
  Where, where maybe even they say like, "My people are empowered to go do things," and they'll tell their team that, but then they're constantly running up against having to fight every fire, answer every question, or make every minor decision.
• 15:59
  Uh, are there, like, practical things after you, after consciously the organization makes the decision and communicates the desire to empower, what are practical things in, like, the day-to-day that you put in place or h- are putting in place that allow you to, like, functionally enable empowerment?
• 16:19
  Does that make sense? I'm gonna break it down to the simplest terms. It's being approachable.
• 16:24
  If you're approachable, empowerment becomes easy because they are asking you the questions that they wanna know the answer to, and when they're asking you those questions, they're informing themselves to make better decisions.
• 16:35
  And when they can make better decisions, then the empowerment just comes naturally. Mm. Now, are they gonna make mistakes? Yes. We're, and we're going to talk about them, but we're going to talk about them, not zap them.
• 16:44
  Because if I zap them, then they're not gonna make the mistake the next time- Mm-hmm... and my phone blows up. Mm. I don't want my phone to blow up.
• 16:50
  I want them to be empowered, so we're gonna talk about, "Hey, we could've done this differently and probably got a different outcome." And so, but it's, it's, it's more of being approachable.
• 16:59
  That's what really lays the foundation for empowerment. That's interesting- Let's drill down on approach... because, be- because, because... I gotta, I, yeah, sorry, Paul.
• 17:07
  So what I think most people say when they want to s- say that they're empowering someone is, "Nobody has to ever ask me a question." Oh. And you just said that's not the case, right?
• 17:17
  Like when they have que- It's actually empowering them is giving them the access to me at a lower, like, barrier of entry that makes it easy for them to take the next step the next time because they're not fearing when they come to me, right?
• 17:32
  You want, you want- It's actually, empowerment actually requires more involvement. It's a Jedi mind trick is what it is. Ooh, come on now. [laughs] Well, I'm gonna seek the information before the mistake.
• 17:41
  If you do that, then, then the answer is much better. If they seek it- [laughs]... after the fact, then that's when we have an issueWow So what are the, what are the characteristics of approachable?
• 17:51
  Because I think a lot of people might say, "I'm approachable. [laughs] Look." Right? What about me is not approachable? And, and let me just say this, for anyone who's been and worked in a dealership,
• 18:02
  most, the pace of many managers in a dealership is the opposite of approachable. [laughs] And maybe they are kind, and maybe they are empathetic, but the, the pace, the bo- Like, so what...
• 18:15
  How, how can people, like, build some self-awareness and know whether or not they're approachable? It's connecting. It's, it's...
• 18:21
  I mean, we can blast through the, the, the showroom or through the shop and say, "Good morning," to everybody as we're blasting through, but we're just going through an emot- a motion then. We're not doing anything.
• 18:30
  We're not making any connections.
• 18:32
  But if we go out and we stop, or we go out and identify, like yesterday, uh, I went out and talked to everyone that, that, that exceeded their objective or whatever the situation may be, and we talked about their performance and how they got there, and what shifted it.
• 18:45
  If it was in the pay cycle, the ones that really knocked it out of the park, I wanna go see them, but I also wanna go see the other side.
• 18:50
  And so I'm not just there when they do something wrong, I'm there at, at several different levels at several different times.
• 18:55
  And then when I am passing through, it's not just a, "Good morning," keep right on passing, don't even listen to the answer, or, "How you doing?" It's truly stopping and making those connections.
• 19:04
  That's the start of being approachable. Because if they commonly talk to you, then, then they feel comfortable talking to you.
• 19:10
  If they never talk to you except when there's an issue, they'll avoid you until they have to talk to you. See, he, he went on Jedi mind trick again.
• 19:18
  [laughs] He was like, "The way you be approachable is you actually approach them," which is... Y- you see what he did there? You gotta be the approachie first. Yeah. [laughs] Michael swiping the hand.
• 19:31
  [laughs] "These aren't the droids you're looking for." [laughs] So let me ask you this, the book's about to be released. Um, where, where can people get it?
• 19:41
  Right now it's available on my website at mileoneleadership.com. Um, about a week before the book is actually released, July 20th, it'll be available on Amazon.
• 19:51
  Uh, but today you can do pre-orders, and all pre-orders I'm sending out an autographed copy of. So it doesn't matter whether you want- Yes... paperback or hardback. There you go.
• 19:59
  Uh, what, uh, I don't know if my signature'll mean anything or not, but we'll put it on there and have a little fun with it and, you know. Means something to us. Um, I, I do have another question. What is your hope?
• 20:07
  Like, the book's about to be released, um, you know, what is the impact- Yeah... you hope that it makes?
• 20:13
  So the last chapter in the book, uh, talks about who needs a title, because that question is asked a lot, about do I need a title to be a leader. Mm. And that ans- the short answer to that is no.
• 20:25
  And that's the emphasis of it. I want... Leading people is a lot like parenting. If we, we don't, we don't beat our kids because they fall off their bicycle.
• 20:35
  We go over and we brush them off and we encourage them to get back up and go forward. And that's what leadership is, is all those same elements, just done with our people.
• 20:43
  And so the e- the, the book, I want people to get from it that they can become better humans without having a title, and they can put themselves in better positions to, to pick up those titles along the way. Mm.
• 20:56
  I love it. I love it. It's all about the human impact and not so much about how many cars you sold last month. It's like, "Hey, I want some better humans working in or outside the auto industry."
• 21:06
  Well, Ed, we've just had a fun time talking to you, learning from you. Like, we're, we're all just, you know, kids sitting around a chair just wondering where, where to go next.
• 21:14
  [laughs] So, uh, we, you know, we got a couple friends that we'll tell about all that. But, uh, thanks so much for coming on. Congrats on the book. Wish you all the success, and I'm sure we'll chat, uh, again soon.
• 21:24
  Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me on. [upbeat music] Yo, Ed Roberts out here Jedi mind tricking everyone. All day. [laughs] He's like, "So everyone thinks, but actually," you know.
• 21:39
  [laughs] It's like a mix between Jedi mind tricks and, like, Confucius say, you know? Right. [laughs] You're like... [laughs] It was unbelievable. I, you know, I, like, he, he...
• 21:50
  And what I love about people that do so well at caring leadership and empathetic leadership is, you know, to most people they're like, "Well, the way you would do that is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."
• 22:03
  Yeah. Right? And it's just be- Five steps... five steps. Yeah. And he's like, "No, it's actually just so easy." Gosh. "All you do is when you walk out, you just actually care," you know?
• 22:13
  [laughs] And, and it's just this ease about it- He, he is the-... that is so comforting. What you don't know is the book is only one page long. [laughs] Oh, man.
• 22:25
  He is the, he's the practical side to Ben Hadley's philosophy. Right. You know, like, we talk about Ben's, like, the clouds and precipitation, and this is why we have Kevlar seat belts.
• 22:36
  [laughs] And, and Ed Roberts would be like, "The way to put on a seatbelt is to put on a seatbelt." To not wear a seatbelt- What?... at all. [laughs] Man, that is so good. I love it. So good.
• 22:49
  [laughs] No, I can't wait to read the book. Well, Ed, i- yeah, you, I, I'm gonna wanna read the book. I'm gonna get that thing on pre-order. If you haven't- I'm gonna sign one...
• 22:57
  if you're listening and you haven't got it, it's Mile One, I know, like, Paul was talking about his accent earlier. Uh, M-I-L-E, one, spell it out, O-N-E,.com, and you can check out that book.
• 23:09
  Uh, but on behalf of myself, Kyle Mounts here, Paul Jay Daly, and the Michael Cirillo, we hope you have a great day, and we'll see you next time here on Auto Collapse.
• 23:18
  Sign up for our free and fun to read daily email for a free shot of relevant news in automotive, retail, media, and pop culture. You can get it now at asotu.com. That's A-S-O-T-U.com.
• 23:31
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 23:40
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collapse. [laughs] Welcome to Auto Collapse. [laughs] Why are we recording? Are we rolling yet? Not yet