TimTalks: Automotive Leadership and Beyond

Purpose, Gratitude, and Security with Paul J Daly

• CarNow • Season 2 • Episode 9

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Purpose, Gratitude, and Security with Paul J Daly

In this episode of TimTalks: Automotive Leadership and Beyond, Tim sits down with Paul J Daly, founder and CEO of Congruent and Automotive State of the Union (ASOTU). Paul shares his journey from service advisor to building a thriving reconditioning business and then founding Congruent.

Tim and Paul discuss the role of identity in leadership, overcoming insecurities, and how fostering purpose helps teams thrive. They emphasize the importance of gratitude, recognizing employees, and making hard decisions for long-term success.

Tune in for inspiring stories, valuable insights, and practical leadership lessons.

Connect with Paul on LinkedIn.

[00:00 – 01:04] Introduction

Tim Cox opens the episode, introducing the show’s focus on leadership in the automotive industry. We’re introduced to guest Paul J Daly.

[01:05 – 04:09] Icebreaker

Paul and Tim joke around with a funny anecdote about having a personal bedtime message recorded by David Spisak.

[04:10 – 08:08] Paul’s Early Days

Paul shares how he got started in the automotive industry from growing up in South Philadelphia to starting as a service advisor in Oswego, NY.

[08:09 – 10:49] Founding a Reconditioning Business

Paul explains how he transitioned from his service advisor role to starting his own reconditioning business, growing to serve 50,000-60,000 vehicles annually across the Northeast.

[10:50 – 11:47] Building Congruent

After selling his reconditioning company, Paul focused on Congruent, a marketing agency incubated from his previous work.

[11:48 – 17:16] Power’s Double Edge Sword

Paul reflects on good and poor examples of power in leadership, arguing that leadership’s intent is to produce thriving in and through other people.

[17:17 – 24:32] A Leader’s Sense of Self

Tim and Paul discuss how leadership impacts the automotive industry where Paul emphasizes the connection between identity, effective leadership, and celebrating wins.

[24:33 – 28:37] Making Hard Decisions to Thrive

Paul reflect on challenges in leadership, including making hard decisions for the future good of their teams, even if the team is uncomfortable.

[28:38 – 34:12] Gratitude in Everything

Tim and Paul reflect on the importance of thriving through others and being grateful. Paul shares advice: Start and end each day and end each day with gratitude by saying, “Thank you.”

[34:13 – 35:59] Reflecting on Legacy and Influence

Tim shares personal stories, including receiving support from the automotive community at his mother’s funeral, which leads Paul and Tim to discuss how genuine leadership leaves a lasting impact through meaningful interactions.

[36:00 – 37:19] Tim’s Challenge to Listeners

Tim challenges listeners to treat everyone as if they are more important than themselves, fostering a culture of respect and care.

[37:20 – 37:49] Closing Remarks

Tim thanks Paul for joining and encourages listeners to follow the podcast, leaving them with the takeaway: "No one is smarter than everyone—let’s get better together."

00;00;00;26 - 00;00;03;12
Speaker 1
In over three decades, I've learned the truly great.

00;00;03;12 - 00;00;04;08
Speaker 2
Car dealerships.

00;00;04;08 - 00;00;31;24
Speaker 1
Are only great because of one thing leadership. So I'm sitting down with the great men and women. Inspiring Automotive on Tim Talks automotive Leadership and beyond. Now, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining yet another episode of Tim Talks This series is leadership and Beyond. Today I have a very, very special guest. I know I say that a lot.

00;00;31;26 - 00;01;00;22
Speaker 1
This dude is close to my heart. We're pretty good friends. I got to know him many years ago. I believe is at a Bryant Park event, but, he is always interviewing young vendors. Dealers. But. But I don't know if you know his story. And the guy that needs no introduction on this podcast is the one and only Paul J.

00;01;00;25 - 00;01;05;08
Speaker 1
Daly, Esquire. Well, there's no Esquire. Sorry, Paul. Welcome to Tim Talks, brother.

00;01;05;09 - 00;01;11;13
Speaker 2
I knew coming on the show is a great idea. I feel so good. Can we do this once every morning before I get started?

00;01;11;16 - 00;01;36;08
Speaker 1
Yeah, I can be that movie I'm going to get you, sucker. Which which may or may not be appropriate to mention. Well, I'm on this podcast, but now want that a scene where a actor in that movie had his own theme music that would follow him down the street. So as I woke up in the morning, in fact, I am not kidding you, and I think I've erased it now, but I had David Spease back because he has that scowl.

00;01;36;09 - 00;01;38;29
Speaker 2
So that's that's a baritone right there.

00;01;38;29 - 00;01;59;02
Speaker 1
And I said, I said, David, I said, would you be so kind to kind of tuck me in at night? Can you just record something in my phone? Did he do it? You like, he's like, oh yeah, he's like, Tim. He's had a long day. You're really good. You enjoy some rest. I mean, it was freaking unbelievable. It was amazing.

00;01;59;02 - 00;02;01;23
Speaker 1
And I had it for years. But there it is, you know. But my kid.

00;02;01;25 - 00;02;08;13
Speaker 2
He actually he could record a whole like. Yeah, Spotify playlist. They got the whole family band.

00;02;08;19 - 00;02;09;22
Speaker 1
Audiobook or.

00;02;09;26 - 00;02;17;00
Speaker 2
It's putting the family to bed with David Spade. Right. Like and he can, he can do one for dad and mom for the kids.

00;02;17;02 - 00;02;21;14
Speaker 1
And tag him in this in this post, he he knows we're loving on him. The funny part.

00;02;21;14 - 00;02;29;25
Speaker 2
Is to like a lot of people don't know about him. He was a stand up comedian, like legitimately working the clubs. And funny.

00;02;29;28 - 00;02;31;06
Speaker 1
But for the Mercedes store?

00;02;31;07 - 00;02;50;21
Speaker 2
Oh yeah. Still somewhat dirty actually. At a certain time last year he did a little comedy set at the welcome reception. I brought him out of retirement, but the fact is that he is a very funny individual, and you pair that like he's just an entertainer. It's it's just a freak of nature that he ran the most efficient and profitable dealership in the country at one point.

00;02;50;23 - 00;03;03;29
Speaker 2
But like, he's he's a performer. I mean, I have pictures, I've seen pictures he sent me. They were never published of like him, like wailing on an electric guitar on stage. Stop. Oh yeah. There's you have to have him on the show.

00;03;04;01 - 00;03;11;04
Speaker 1
He. I bet that's what he's going to start doing the commercials. The most interesting and in the.

00;03;11;04 - 00;03;23;27
Speaker 2
Way I think that's, I think that is maybe what he plays in the morning like, oh he's getting ready. I don't often drink beer, but when I do it's Ozaki. He's I don't usually.

00;03;23;27 - 00;03;27;00
Speaker 1
Do podcasts, but when I do his thing thought oh.

00;03;27;03 - 00;03;36;08
Speaker 2
Right. Yeah. You know, I hear the naturally very soundtrack in my mind. Funny story about that literally today. Have you ever seen Natalie Ray?

00;03;36;11 - 00;03;37;03
Speaker 1
Yes.

00;03;37;06 - 00;03;43;11
Speaker 2
They have that little, little song in the beginning. It's called A Real Religious Man. And they have that little tin was oh do do.

00;03;43;11 - 00;03;46;06
Speaker 1
Do do do do I? I don't remember that part.

00;03;46;09 - 00;04;01;23
Speaker 2
That's the song. And literally today as I'm driving to get pick up my lunch, I put that song on the radio and I just sent like a 22nd clip of just me driving and that music on to my family, and it made their day because awesome.

00;04;01;23 - 00;04;04;14
Speaker 1
I, I, I didn't, I didn't get it, but that's okay.

00;04;04;14 - 00;04;05;19
Speaker 2
Well, you'll get it.

00;04;05;21 - 00;04;06;22
Speaker 1
You'll get that's okay.

00;04;06;24 - 00;04;08;16
Speaker 2
You'll catch it.

00;04;08;18 - 00;04;09;07
Speaker 1
Listen, now that.

00;04;09;07 - 00;04;10;24
Speaker 2
We've lost all our listeners, have.

00;04;10;24 - 00;04;30;21
Speaker 1
You literally lost everyone? I do want to jump right in, to, again, the whole reason I thought we. You know what? I see Paul all over the place with a soda and a soda can and, you know, state of the Union podcast and all of that. You know, I think it would be important because I bet a lot of people don't know your story.

00;04;30;24 - 00;04;49;06
Speaker 1
I'm fortunate to know your story, but, you know, let's let's go back to to how you got in the space. I would like to talk about that. And then we're going to get to some leadership stuff. Then what? Lay on the plane and we'll we'll go home. But you know what. What let's talk about the dance that I mean, how did you get in the automotive space just in general?

00;04;49;06 - 00;04;50;13
Speaker 1
Let's tell that let's start there.

00;04;50;13 - 00;05;07;22
Speaker 2
Yeah. And one of the things I love about podcast, I'm an avid podcast listener. I love hearing people's stories because there's always a thread in there that I relate to. Yeah, right. And you never know who's going to relate to what. And I think that's just how, like through our own journeys and stories, is how people kind of connect with us.

00;05;07;25 - 00;05;25;10
Speaker 2
And then a lot of times they're there might be a thread that unlocks something, you know, the people, which is why I think the value of telling people stories. And I know you do as well. I never set foot in a car dealership in my entire life until I was in my early 20s. My family, I grew up, in South Philadelphia.

00;05;25;11 - 00;05;48;04
Speaker 2
Go birds. My dad was a union founding start installer. It was the typical South Philly. My parents were the typical South Philly, you know, relationship mess, if I can put it like that. Right. We had like my my grandparents, we had a full blooded 100% Irish man marry a full 100% Italian woman. And like that's the South Philly.

00;05;48;04 - 00;06;02;25
Speaker 2
You get all the Irish, all the Italian. My parents got married. And I, I'm the second my sister and I are 18 months apart. I'm the second of five. I have four sisters. And, you know, we were raised real blue collar. My parents didn't know what to do with money. My dad seemed to work all the time.

00;06;02;25 - 00;06;20;06
Speaker 2
But we never seemed to have enough. And they just were doing the best they could with what they were given to raise five kids. You know, with what they had. So, went to high school, always, like, wasn't into high school. I got good grades, but, like, education came easy to me. I was friends with everybody in the school.

00;06;20;06 - 00;06;27;16
Speaker 2
I didn't have a lane that I ran. It was like the jocks or the nerds or whatever. Yeah. Ferris Bueller? Yeah, I guess kind of. Kind of that. Not as cool. Didn't have a cool.

00;06;27;16 - 00;06;29;21
Speaker 1
You know, look it up on Netflix.

00;06;29;21 - 00;06;47;25
Speaker 2
You'd have to rent a blockbuster, I think, to see that. Right. And so I decided I was going to, go to a Bible college. Thought I was going to go into ministry. That didn't happen. But I got out of college, and I met a car dealer, and he was in a small town that I was in.

00;06;47;25 - 00;07;04;08
Speaker 2
Call us. We go in New York a little bit, about 30 miles north of Syracuse. He offered me a job. I was looking for a job. I had just got married, and he was like, I have this job. It was for to be a service advisor. And I walked into a dealership and I was like, well, this is an interesting place.

00;07;04;08 - 00;07;19;23
Speaker 2
Totally foreign. You forget, like if you go in the dealership, you're not used to it. It is like a barrage of moving parts and deployments and paging and sensory overload. Crazy. But I was like, I don't know anything about cars. And he said, I need somebody who knows about people, and I think you'll do really good with people.

00;07;19;23 - 00;07;36;04
Speaker 2
I have technicians that know about cars, so I'm always wired to try anything. So I was like, okay, I'll give it a shot. And I fell in love with it. I was in charge of the blue team. There was a small Chevy dealer, had three techs under me, Chris, Steve and Wil, and they were all very different.

00;07;36;04 - 00;07;55;09
Speaker 2
One was one was older and more experienced. One was younger, one was a hothead. It was great. And all of a sudden, I found myself in the middle of this interaction between people who had problems with their cars and technicians who fix them with a dealership leader who was focused on leadership principles and the future, and rational thinking and creating opportunity.

00;07;55;12 - 00;08;12;26
Speaker 2
And I just fell in love with the industry. So that's how I my first position was a service advisor. I did great, excelled. We were hitting numbers, hitting marks. Then I saw somebody reconditioning cars, and I was like, that's interesting. I had a friend who was doing it. I started a reconditioning business with the kind of like the blessing of the dealer principal.

00;08;12;26 - 00;08;30;09
Speaker 2
I was like, I know this is weird because you're kind of my boss. And this would kind of mean I'd be leaving a position that's hard to fill. And I told him what I wanted to do, and he said, he's like, if you want what's best for your people, and you really believe that you want what's best for them, not what's best for you, he said, you should do this.

00;08;30;09 - 00;08;48;14
Speaker 2
You're going to do great at it. And we went out to the wholesale line and we got a Chevy Astro. If you remember, those was a 1982 Chevy Astro cargo van off the wholesale line, leaking up transmission lines were rotted out. The oil pan was rotted out. Gave it to me for 400 bucks. I had one of the one of the techs on my team, Steve.

00;08;48;17 - 00;09;03;26
Speaker 2
Steve White was his name. I just bought that white boy. Not that Steve White. Very different. Very different Steve White, sure. Very different. He was reincarnated as Steve White and Claire Foy. That's, you know, that's another podcast.

00;09;03;28 - 00;09;04;25
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;09;04;28 - 00;09;27;18
Speaker 2
And, and off I went to build a reconditioning company. Make it it started with wheel repair. I ended up growing that over almost 15 years to be a regional reconditioning company. That serves that service about 50 to 60,000 vehicles a year. So that's kind of like, in which case I got to meet hundreds of dealers across the northeast, and it just became my vocation.

00;09;27;18 - 00;09;53;12
Speaker 2
Like I just fell in love with the industry. Everyone I knew that was a good leader or cared about people or hard working, empathetic. They were all dealers, and I had never known a dealer. I mean, I didn't even I didn't even know anyone with the word manager in their title. My whole upbringing, like in anything, until I got a job at Burger King at like 16 and then the shift manager and I was like, they have it all.

00;09;53;12 - 00;09;55;00
Speaker 2
Their manager.

00;09;55;02 - 00;10;08;28
Speaker 1
Yeah, and you can have it your way. I did the burger case. That's good. So. So take us, you know, take us. I think I think there was an exit. You got to someone. Someone, bought your business. Yeah, right.

00;10;08;28 - 00;10;10;27
Speaker 2
Dent was international. Yeah.

00;10;10;29 - 00;10;12;07
Speaker 1
And that was eight years ago.

00;10;12;13 - 00;10;16;05
Speaker 2
Yeah. About in that eight years ago. I'm not big with dates in name.

00;10;16;05 - 00;10;33;13
Speaker 1
Yeah, I yeah about that. But I'll tell you what happened. So anyway now and then we met we met I think I was doing a Brian pass usually has a Sunday morning like talk or devotion or whatever. And I believe I was leading that. That's the first time I met you. Yes. Yeah, it.

00;10;33;13 - 00;10;35;01
Speaker 2
Was in Napa.

00;10;35;03 - 00;10;37;05
Speaker 1
Yeah. And Napa. Unbelievable. That was my.

00;10;37;05 - 00;10;39;23
Speaker 2
First year there. That. Yeah.

00;10;39;25 - 00;10;46;17
Speaker 1
And you were trying to figure out, like, you weren't even officially. There was no congruent back then. That right. There was no there was congruent.

00;10;46;19 - 00;11;07;12
Speaker 2
So congruent is my agency. And congruent actually started incubated within the reconditioning company which is called Image Auto. Got it. I had started making content around our company culture before there was even YouTube. Like we didn't have a way to distribute content. The only thing I knew how to do, like intuitively, was build culture and do things on top of culture.

00;11;07;14 - 00;11;24;14
Speaker 2
So we'd make videos about our culture, we'd show them at our at our, like, team meetings. Everyone was separated, but we'd bring everybody together. Every quarter would show them there. We'd give them a DVD with the content on there. Like, you can watch the video at home and show your family and stuff. Right. And then so little by little, I started doing things for other people.

00;11;24;14 - 00;11;35;14
Speaker 2
And so congruent was kind of born out of that. And then when the acquisition happened, I like tripled down on building the agency. And that was right in that time when I came to that first event. So congruent did exist.

00;11;35;14 - 00;11;57;28
Speaker 1
And you were trying to figure out not necessarily the space, but your space within the space without. Yeah. And you were just listening and and you told me, hey, I'm just, you know, just so I'm just trying to figure out, but let's, you know, I think, you know, now we get to and I know obviously you and I have talked multiple times, but we get to, you know, why we're doing this series of of leadership.

00;11;58;00 - 00;12;19;02
Speaker 1
And I know you have seen the same thing. You know, the Patrick Gabe as the Kevin's the the you know, on on and on and on we go. That the one consistent thread with these these these successful dealerships is leadership to talk about. You know, what are some of the things that you've seen with. And again you have the best of breed all the time.

00;12;19;02 - 00;12;37;24
Speaker 1
And you know a so to and what are some things that intrigue you about those best of the best and maybe some not so great things. I mean there's just for all on on basically the automotive state of the Union, no pun intended with with the leadership space and what's happening and, and dealers that are getting it and what they're doing.

00;12;37;26 - 00;13;02;10
Speaker 2
So I think that just when you think about leadership in general, there is a just like any powerful thing, whether it's it's right, people call things a double edged sword, but anything that actually has power, it can really make a mess of things quickly. Like if you've ever rented like a backhoe, like, you know, a mini excavator, something that has hydraulic power, right?

00;13;02;10 - 00;13;19;11
Speaker 2
It's going to help you dig a trench way faster, right? You're going to get something done in an hour or two. That would have taken you two days and three people to do. Right. So it's got this insane power, but drive it a little too close to something, spin the bucket the wrong way and you can, like, destroy the side of a house.

00;13;19;14 - 00;13;44;03
Speaker 2
And that's when I think of leadership in the examples that I've seen in the last over the last 15, 20 years. And the people I've had on the shows or the dealership leader, the massive leadership that I see in the auto industry, I think we've seen examples of both. And I think we see in politics and you see everywhere leadership in and of itself, like the word could be, you can have terrible leadership that can destroy people's lives.

00;13;44;05 - 00;14;06;22
Speaker 2
And so I know when we talk about leadership, the premise of the show is like, how do we how do we like harness the the points of leadership, like for the intrinsic value of why? I think leadership is a principle in this world that we occupy. It's a it's a principle in relationship. It's a principle on family, a principle and organization.

00;14;06;24 - 00;14;33;21
Speaker 2
And the point of leadership is that, you know, I boil it down to thriving like leadership. Its initial intent is to produce thriving in and through other people. And so the indicator is always like, well, who's thriving? Who's thriving as a result of that person's actions, or who's being destroyed as a result of that person's actions, or who's wasting their time because of that person's actions.

00;14;33;24 - 00;15;01;23
Speaker 2
And so, in our industry, I think, like when you mentioned Patrick about it and some of these people were around, I think there are signs of of deep thriving. Whenever good leadership is involved, people have stories. You see people staying around, you see people, like this multiplication effect of businesses growing or more people following or cause or more people coming alongside and saying, we're we're willing to march in this direction with you.

00;15;01;25 - 00;15;11;18
Speaker 2
And so, like when I think about leadership, I tie it to the word thriving because that really is the output of any good leadership.

00;15;11;20 - 00;15;39;20
Speaker 1
Such you in fact, I, I, wrote that down. That is, that is good stuff producing to produce and thriving in and through others through people. So so you know, why do you think and just, you know, taking the gloves off and not worrying about being politically correct or correct or whatever, you know, I mean, why do you think it's like incredible leadership, like good leadership, the good, you know, you talked about Patrick Kevin Spades, like on and on and on.

00;15;39;20 - 00;16;04;02
Speaker 1
We see a lot of the good. But that's not normal. No, it's just not why do you think it's just not. And that's why it's like I you know, we were we were I was talking about my, my son's wedding, before we got on this show and just so proud of him. But one of the things is, you know, he just he goes to work to work, and he's got the right attitude, not all, but but for the most part, that's not the norm these days.

00;16;04;02 - 00;16;21;25
Speaker 1
And I don't think the norm is the norm. Is that that back home that you swing and you knock half the house down because, you know, you were beat up, you know, hurt the old saying, hurt people hurt people, I don't know. Yeah. But what in your opinion why why is it so unique and why are we even talking about it?

00;16;21;27 - 00;16;38;10
Speaker 1
You know, you, you know, too much is given, much is expected. You know, when you do, why wouldn't you allow, Why would you encourage people over there? So many people are getting berated not just in this automotive industry, but but just yet in general. It's down to, you know, you know, demeaned, you know, all the things.

00;16;38;10 - 00;17;00;20
Speaker 1
Why do you think it's so unique to have these shining lights that are that are making a difference? That's what I've been trying to say for for weeks now. And these podcast guys hit success leaves clues. Yeah, right. And these steps treat your people this way. And 40 plus almost 50 people will leave Tampa and go to Georgia to follow you because you're that kind of lead, you know, do these things, but yet it's so unique.

00;17;00;20 - 00;17;05;13
Speaker 1
Why do you think that is just straight opinion? This is not, by the way, lazy job. None of the.

00;17;05;13 - 00;17;09;11
Speaker 2
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the management.

00;17;09;13 - 00;17;19;23
Speaker 1
These yes. These comments from Paul Day Daily do not reflect, Tim talk or anything. Tim is affiliate with. No. In all seriousness, what's your opinion? I'm curious.

00;17;19;25 - 00;17;40;15
Speaker 2
I think, you know, I don't know if this getting so deep, so fast, but I, I really think this boils down to an issue of identity. And when we think of issues of identity, really, it's when we start to begin to think about our ego and how we see ourselves and what we need to do or need to get out of the world to make ourselves feel valuable or worthwhile.

00;17;40;15 - 00;18;02;16
Speaker 2
And I think in the senses of good leadership, we find secure individuals who understand that they're a the major component of their identity is to see good in others lived out. And I think in the examples that a lot of the people we know, good leadership says, oh, I understand that what we need to do together. Right? Because when you're leading, it revolves not just you.

00;18;02;20 - 00;18;32;07
Speaker 2
You can't lead by yourself. You can lead yourself. But we're talking about leadership. How do I help these other people realize how they can be better, how they can improve, how they can get what they want. And that is actually a major component of the identity of the leader, right? It's a cultivating mindset. It's not, so I can get a bank account so I can have X amount of power or notoriety or this title.

00;18;32;09 - 00;18;52;27
Speaker 2
That doesn't mean those can't be ambitions inside a good leader. I think they are co ambitions inside a good leader, but I think the primary driving force behind good leadership is they are secure enough in their own identity to want to see other people succeed, and that that is what feeds back into who they are. And so it's an identity issue I've seen.

00;18;52;27 - 00;19;25;20
Speaker 2
It's amazing. And you've seen this, I'm sure, as well amazingly successful, powerful, competent, talented, well-resourced people be incredibly insecure and they don't realize you can see it, but it's plain as day. And, and I think that's what holds. I honestly would say that's the same issue that holds back people who maybe wouldn't see themselves in leadership but might aspire to it.

00;19;25;23 - 00;19;44;17
Speaker 2
It gets comes right back to like, I'm just thinking of myself, how can I how can I benefit myself out of this? And I think when we see leadership rise up from, you know, the the most entry level of an organization through it's they're the people who are like, how can I help other people when. And so yeah, it comes back to identity.

00;19;44;17 - 00;19;47;17
Speaker 2
I know I rambled a little bit not too controversial. I don't think.

00;19;47;19 - 00;20;13;13
Speaker 1
You know, I don't know how many times that I'm so happy to to hear not happy. It's actually sad, but it's so true. I have said well over a thousand times, and I'm sure it's been recorded 100 times that the worst, the most dangerous characteristic of any organization is pride and insecurity. Yeah. Unfortunately, especially when people get promoted to a new role.

00;20;13;13 - 00;20;20;27
Speaker 1
Right. And they have that new power, right? It's almost like, you know, people talk about new money, right? Like, yeah, people think that money just makes you more of what you really are, right?

00;20;21;00 - 00;20;25;01
Speaker 2
Right. It doesn't. It exposes you and it doesn't change you. It exposes.

00;20;25;01 - 00;20;43;09
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. Nice. Show me chumps. Show me somebody that that mistreats a waitress or a waiter at a, you know, anyway, I can go on and on, but, you know, but but that person that that gets that new title or that big position, and then all of sudden they complete not completely change, but a lot of them changes.

00;20;43;11 - 00;21;09;16
Speaker 1
Or that person that's trying to go up the ladder, you know, maybe you're a again, we're in we're talking about the car biz, but maybe maybe your desk manager, sales manager. And you've been promised, you know, a GSM spot, a GM spot, another. But you're, you know, we're so insecure when it's no episode of Michael Scott. When, when, when when, the CFO has a meeting with Jim in the conference room, and he's so insecure that he sneaks in and the cheese cart right.

00;21;09;18 - 00;21;09;23
Speaker 2
To.

00;21;09;24 - 00;21;23;18
Speaker 1
Seem like he can't help. She can't. Oh, not being in that meeting because they could be talking about him. Right. So he sneaks in and, and, and you cannot give them grated parmesan cheese and, anyway, that's a whole whether you should have a podcast about.

00;21;23;19 - 00;21;26;01
Speaker 2
Yeah. I think we could easily do that.

00;21;26;04 - 00;21;51;04
Speaker 1
Easy, easy. But in all seriousness, I mean, and I really think not to simplify anything, I think it's, it's a, a piece of it is do we really want to make a difference? I mean, seriously, I truly believe I also said this before. I really believe that we live in there's nothing wrong with social media. A lot of your business and my business, it lives in social media.

00;21;51;04 - 00;22;20;12
Speaker 1
But there's a lot of people, unfortunately, we're all broken. It's like all of us have issues. All of us go through stuff, but we live these social media lives to where we want everybody else to think, you know, X about it. And we've all been meetings before or clubhouse, you know, when clubhouse was really big and or 20 groups or and we have this meeting, we have this, you know, take this stance because we're in a group with like minded people.

00;22;20;18 - 00;22;42;18
Speaker 1
But what are we really like behind closed doors? Like, what are we really like? Like, what would our people say about us? Because it's easy in certain settings to say one thing. Oh, yeah, our culture, you know, it's just like the dealer that says, you know, why do you buy from our our culture is incredible.

00;22;42;18 - 00;22;45;21
Speaker 1
But yet, you know, people are getting horses and they're not being ugly. It's just, oh.

00;22;45;21 - 00;22;47;23
Speaker 2
Man, I've seen that way too much.

00;22;47;25 - 00;23;08;06
Speaker 1
And I think that you know it. We either need to make a decision. It doesn't mean you're perfect. At least for me, as A.D.D. and broken as I am. And look, I hold up budgets. I, I share everything as transparent as it is as anyone. Maybe. Maybe too much. But I have to keep good people. In fact, I had a sales call today and I got two tax.

00;23;08;06 - 00;23;23;07
Speaker 1
Hey, you need to give this person a shout out. I can't remember, but those type of people around you. Hey go love on Andrew. He freaking crushed it. Go love on Dakota. He crushed it. You know goat and those types of people that lift you up to where you because at the figure put those types of people around you.

00;23;23;07 - 00;23;35;02
Speaker 1
Because at the end of the day, you know, I would argue that most people in your organization, they want to be recognized for what they do. They want purpose. Yeah. For.

00;23;35;02 - 00;24;02;21
Speaker 2
For what's driving having you can't you can't thrive without purpose. Yeah. You know, you, you know, there's another component. And I probably struggle with this one more than like, it's it's a natural inclination for me to want to give other people credit. Yeah. And it's just my nature. And, you know, my wife tells me I don't celebrate the wins.

00;24;02;21 - 00;24;19;26
Speaker 2
And that's that's a detriment, actually, because a lot of people are involved in wins. And for me, I'm like, oh, it's not a big deal. I'll just keep moving. Like, let's not talk about it. Which, which might seem a little counterintuitive because I happen to be like on the stage a lot or on the, on the shows a lot.

00;24;19;28 - 00;24;47;29
Speaker 2
But, you know, taking credit for things actually makes me feel like it's an insecurity. Me honestly, taking credit for things is something that makes me, like, shy away. And and I don't know why that is. I mean, sure, there's an issue there, but the, the part of leadership that I struggle with in this again, comes back to identity insecurity is being willing to make people temporarily upset because you see something that they don't.

00;24;48;02 - 00;25;19;02
Speaker 2
And when you're leading and you're in the front having wolf, gosh, having to make decisions where people might not fully understand the decision or might not be happy with me or might get frustrated with their role or the, you know, the the situation that a business is in, her decision has to be made because, you know, I see over the horizon saying like, hey, if we don't make these decisions now, everybody's going to be really unhappy or I'm not going to be able to provide for you, you know, in 12 months or 18 months.

00;25;19;04 - 00;25;44;15
Speaker 2
You know, and this is this one of like a real practical thing right now is the use of AI, especially AI, around creatives. Is this element of like, I hate it, I don't like technology. I wish nothing ever changed. I want to go back to the old school. However, I do understand that in my responsibility to lead and take care of everybody who counts on me, we need to adopt AI as deeply and as quickly as we can if we want to win.

00;25;44;15 - 00;26;09;26
Speaker 2
And back to the principle of thriving, there are things that can thrive that temporarily don't feel like thriving, right? You know what I mean? Like, what do you always feel like you're thriving? I think that's like the people that say, I always feel like I'm thriving. Like, no, no, no, it's the sum of all parts. Like, it's not a like, how do you feel in this moment at 1 p.m. on a Wednesday when it's raining outside, you feel like you're thriving.

00;26;09;26 - 00;26;29;22
Speaker 2
It's like I maybe. And so I think a big part of leadership are people willing to tell the truth again, Patrick J bad is I've watched him in person masterfully handle hard news, and he's able to paint the big picture and he's willing to do it. He's willing to take the knock, but he's also willing to stand by people and see it through.

00;26;29;25 - 00;26;34;29
Speaker 2
And when enough people see that happen, they feel safe.

00;26;35;02 - 00;26;50;22
Speaker 1
That's huge. You know, we said, you know, that that I love that. In fact, we're going through a little bit of that right now. As far as seeing some things that we need to adjust, you know, they they're my, my favorite verse, one of my favorite verses is, is the prudent see danger and turn from it.

00;26;50;22 - 00;27;25;08
Speaker 1
But the simple keep going and suffer harm is me. What an amazing basic wisdom. Like basic. Yeah, yeah. We see something ahead if we keep. If we I see a waterfall high up ahead in the rapids. I see it. And we can keep rowing that way and let the current or we can turn from it. But unfortunately people, there's a lot of people that say, I got this, you know, when you were talking about thriving and being willing to, you know, see things and other people that they don't necessarily don't, but you need to let them know because it's the the better for them.

00;27;25;08 - 00;27;41;27
Speaker 1
I think it's I said this I think last week, you know, I think it's very important to that. A leader is not judged on what they do, but what people do because of them.

00;27;42;00 - 00;27;42;25
Speaker 2
Yes.

00;27;42;28 - 00;28;05;26
Speaker 1
That's good. And I think that I think that, you know, the people that we've had on this call, you know, I think that, you know, I've been to your, you know, your studio in your office up in Syracuse. Seeing that reaction, seeing the the energy and the smiles on the faces and the and the people that are in a good mood there, like you, you practice what you preach.

00;28;05;28 - 00;28;27;26
Speaker 1
And I think it's just incredibly, guys life short. I mean, it just is. And we have so much to do, so little time. But at the end of the day, you know, in all seriousness, and this is not a sermon. And sometimes I give sermon nets, but it's so true if you just get it. I mean, at the end of day, no one's going to care what kind of car you, Joe, they really are not or.

00;28;27;26 - 00;28;28;29
Speaker 2
Remember.

00;28;29;01 - 00;28;42;20
Speaker 1
Or remember, they're really not going to care, but they're going to care. They're going to tell stories about, you know what? I was down. I tell it all the time. I was 17 years old selling cars in 1989. Yes, I know it's hard.

00;28;42;20 - 00;28;45;22
Speaker 2
To believe, but I remember I was doing 89.

00;28;45;24 - 00;29;01;25
Speaker 1
That old car. I am that old. But I can remember a salesman. Don't even think I was a new car manager. His name was Dave. He was about five foot five, and I'm not a tall guy, but he. I remember he was a lot shorter than me. And I came in crushing it, crushing it, and I was taken ill.

00;29;01;25 - 00;29;22;22
Speaker 1
I was I was getting ribbed, you know, typical car guy. I mean, they built this brand new. This is crazy. This is how long ago it was kids. They built this brand new, beautiful dealership and it's still there. Now, it's not a Hyundai dealership, it's Jake Sweeney. And we're privileged to have them as partners. Jake Sweeney, Kia, Kobe Sweeney is running that store, but they build a brand new dealership and they had ashtrays on every desk, like people were still smoking.

00;29;22;22 - 00;29;43;19
Speaker 1
And so you could smell the paint. That's oh, that's how long ago it was. So they just got rid of smoking sections like two years ago. So but David took the time and I'm talk guys. I'm talking about it 30 plus years later. And all he did was say hey, hey, let's take a walk. And he walks me up the hill.

00;29;43;21 - 00;30;01;18
Speaker 1
I still see it, still have a picture of the house, walks me up the hill and says, listen, I've been in this business 25 plus years. He says, you can't listen to the noise. All that noise back then, even when it wasn't cool, can't listen to the noise. You have so much potential, he said. If you keep going, you could be very successful.

00;30;01;18 - 00;30;35;05
Speaker 1
Then he pointed at this house right across the street, which was three times bigger than the house I grew up in, and he was like, you can have a house like that one day. I'm talking about it. 30 plus years later, it was a 15 minute conversation. So I think if we the basic thing as leadership and I heard Tim tip, this isn't mine, I heard Tim Tebow say this and I'm used to 100 times when we chase significance in your people and the people around us, success just comes, just comes.

00;30;35;06 - 00;30;50;07
Speaker 1
Not easy. Sometimes you've got people that are hard to deal with on your team. You said, you've got a hothead, you've got an older guy. You're like, there's different personalities and there's different people. I had a situation today where I went around and talked to somebody else, hey, can you talk to her or him about this and really encourage him?

00;30;50;07 - 00;30;56;11
Speaker 1
Because sometimes your dad tells you to do something and then, friend of the family tells you to do the same thing, but they listen to friend the family like you guys.

00;30;56;12 - 00;30;58;28
Speaker 2
And it makes all the sense. You're like, I told you to do that.

00;30;59;01 - 00;31;20;22
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah. And so. So at the end of the day, guys, again, again. Success leaves clues. Paul and I did not rehearse this. The fact that he talked about insecurity, be secure in who you are on a daily basis. You are a gift from God. You are. You are beautiful and wonderfully made, and you are here for a purpose.

00;31;20;22 - 00;31;47;28
Speaker 1
And if you have the blessing to be in this business and be a leader, chances are you're doing pretty well. And I think if we stop every morning and we truly and I think that's what it is, at least for me. And I've been doing this for years now, but waking up every single morning and just being grateful for the little stuff and starting in those three words, set the tone for the day.

00;31;48;00 - 00;32;10;18
Speaker 1
And the most important one to me. If we really do it is is, something that I learned from Maxwell, those three words just for today, because I can handle today, but for mine is just for today. Let me treat people as though they are more important than me, and I want to encourage all of us what would happen.

00;32;10;23 - 00;32;38;15
Speaker 1
Seriously, think about it, I dare you. I double dog dare you for a couple of days. Start treating people in every situation. Yes, that's the person that cuts in front of you in the grocery line. What would happen if you treated people? If you treated your team? If you treated your receptionist, if you treated your custodial crew, if you treated your service tech or your line tech, if you treated your quick, if you treated everyone.

00;32;38;17 - 00;33;03;01
Speaker 1
That's what Kevin's doing. Kevin. It was just on. That's what Patrick's doing. That's what that success leaves close I think lose this insecurity. Start treating people. And then you watch and see what happens to your organization. Paul, sir, would you land the plane for us? Would you would you any final thoughts on,

00;33;03;06 - 00;33;25;27
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think I think whenever someone listens to a podcast this far or listens any content, I always want to send them away with something that they can do. Right. You gave them a their, one of my business coaches who's my coach for a long time. His name is Dave Meltzer, and he gave me such a simple task or step in this direction.

00;33;25;27 - 00;33;47;16
Speaker 2
Right. How to grow in your purpose and security. And that starts with understanding that everything is a gift. And you said that, right? Like and he basically conditioned himself and I've actually adopted this and I'm most 90% of the time this is what I do, is that I try to make the last thing that I intentionally think before I go to sleep.

00;33;47;19 - 00;34;07;20
Speaker 2
Thank you. And I try to make the first thought when I wake up intentionally. Thank you. And, you know, I know that could come across as like cheesy or kitschy, but I'm telling you right now, it makes a difference in how you treat your family. You treat other people, you understand your identity, and your purpose is that today is a gift.

00;34;07;25 - 00;34;24;26
Speaker 2
My responsibility is how can I be a source of thriving for other people? And again, back to it's like when you can adopt that as your identity. And I'm still working on that, but when you can, I think your leadership just goes to the next level and continues to grow and at the incremental basis. So that's my that's my parting thought.

00;34;24;28 - 00;34;48;04
Speaker 1
Start the day with thank you. Start the day with gratitude. In the day with gratitude. Not to be solemn, but as we mentioned, my son just got I just became a grandpa. Ladies and gentlemen, man or man just became a grandpa six weeks ago. And, my son got married, in Flagstaff last week, just got back on Sunday and, you know, was sitting there going through the emotions.

00;34;48;04 - 00;35;11;25
Speaker 1
I lost my mom. Some of you guys know and, you know, the most encouraging thing, not the most encouraging thing, but, you know what was unique about my mom's, funeral, is that the majority of the flowers at my mother's funeral and that little church in Kentucky was from car dealers. Yeah, that never met my mom.

00;35;11;28 - 00;35;36;22
Speaker 1
I saw that, and I just lost it. So I started to begin to think about the impact that we make, but also because my mama wasn't there. My dad wasn't there either because he was confined to a wheelchair and assisted living home and thinking about all of those things and thinking that I'm grateful sometimes, especially in the car business, you know, this problem and service and that problem and this sales, all that other stuff.

00;35;36;22 - 00;35;59;01
Speaker 1
But if we start out in this software company, whatever, we all have stuff. But when we break it down, exactly like you said, we. Paul Jay Daly, Esquire, and Tim dare you because that's got me through. Because at the end of the day, we know that the majority of people do. You know, the median if you're in the top.

00;35;59;04 - 00;36;12;19
Speaker 1
I heard this on a podcast, two weeks ago. Do you know what the top one, not in the country, but the top 1% of the world median income is the top 1% in the.

00;36;12;22 - 00;36;13;20
Speaker 2
Overall speaking.

00;36;13;24 - 00;36;25;13
Speaker 1
Globally in the world, top 1%. No idea. $32,000? No way in the world that's taking the billions of people in the world that's taking.

00;36;25;13 - 00;36;26;23
Speaker 2
That's staggering.

00;36;26;25 - 00;36;50;13
Speaker 1
Country 32 so listen, ladies and gentlemen, most of you on here are balling, right? Most of you on here have so much not just finances, man. Blessings of family and things and friends around you. I've got my friend Paul Daly on the other end of this screen. People that care about you and people that lift you up. You have take a minute to take a breath.

00;36;50;16 - 00;37;09;26
Speaker 1
Thank you, thank you. Just for today, I'm going to treat people as though they're more important than me. Paul. Thank you so much, brother. It's been an absolute pleasure once again for us to hang out. Truly think a lot of you, ladies. And Jim and Paul is the real deal. I've seen it firsthand. I've seen his people.

00;37;09;26 - 00;37;32;25
Speaker 1
I seen how he loves on his people. I see how as people react to him. And, so thankful to partner with him. And this thing called the automotive space. Thank you guys so much. Thank you, Paul, for taking a few minutes. And thank you. As always, please download and follow us. Give us a quick follow at Tim Talks, wherever you get your podcast leadership and beyond.

00;37;32;25 - 00;37;48;12
Speaker 1
And as we always say, look, no one's smarter than everyone. Let's just continue to get better together. See you next time. And I.

00;37;48;14 - 00;37;48;28
Speaker 1
Know.