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CHAPTER 18A - THE MBA, GRADUATION, IRVINE OR DETROIT, THE MRS CLIMBS THE LADDER, 2 CROSS-FUNCTIONAL OFFERS, THE CHOICE, A CROSS-SBU VIEW Happy Monday! While doing the retail franchise network slot, I graduated from George Mason University – Costello College of Business, then called the School of Management. Since Lincoln had moved to Irvine, & I was about 18 months in job, my next sales career path step was to move to Irvine to be a National Franchising Coordinator. My then-wife was up for promotion & her family was in Detroit. So being an upwardly mobile woman in parts & service, I took the back seat. Boy I had no idea what getting off the career track would mean. I wouldn't return to sales for 18 years. I received 2 offers in Detroit: 1 in Product Cycle Planning, a core forward-looking strategy component of Ford's that melded product development, manufacturing, marketing & sales, & finance aspects into one. The other offer was a new role, Employer Brand Development Manager, in Ford Corporate Salaried Recruiting. It too was cross-organization. Since my dad & "uncle" were HR guys, & an occassional Marketing & Sales person went to HR, including my boss to be, I went that route. Wow did I learn a ton. My team was responsible for producing the weekend hiring events of 300 candidates & all the Ford assessors & interviewers, as well as diversity recruiting events, communications, advertising, the career website, etc. We did a couple events a month. I was officed out of the corporate university & faced off with every business unit & function at Ford Motor Company as well as their facing HR business operations organizations, & even got to coordinate the Executive Steering Committee for corporate recruitment strategy of only Sr Dirs & VPs company-wide. And liaised with priority campus teams, & their executive sponsors, like the Group VP of Economic & Governmental Affairs. It was a stunningly cool assignment, which taught me much. Adjudicating priorities with empathy in a tight hiring environment when employee egos wanted to support their alma maters or do meritless internal political favors was wild. The entire recruiting experience I immersed in was wild, for the Ford CEO's Capstone tapped a Vehicle Engineer from the UK to transform the recruitment process, to compete with the Big 4. And boy did we. I made some terrific friendships there. A core group of managers would lunch 3-4x per week, & have the server play credit card roulette to see who was buying the Red Robin meals on Ford Rd. I loved Ford, still do, & was blessed to have such a unique experience early. Glen Graves worked down the hall, & Mike Lank, David Morgan, & I became particularly good friends, among others. But the hiring wrecking ball that was 9-11 was coming. And boy was that going to cause us to shift serious gears, delaying start dates, rescinding offers, calling campus career centers, you name it. What were your formative roles? #careerdevelopment #job #hr #recruiting

Tenure is important. Not my opinion. It's the reality. Unless shown otherwise, Sales Leaders mostly associate short tenures with under performance. What’s not fair is much of the time short tenures aren’t the reps fault! That’s why it’s vital that you pick a winning team to join. Somewhere reps are hitting quota, and product is landing. But most importantly, particularly earlier in your career.. Picking the right Leader to work for. #salesjobs #salescareer #saleshiring #salesrecruiter

I wanted to share that I've made the decision to leave my role at iA American Warranty Group after three amazing years. I leave behind an amazing 50+ person Sales Ops team filled with leaders, purposeful workers, and all-around amazing humans. They rolled up their sleeves and took on the creation of a new Sales Ops team through deep discovery and iterative, collaborative, and inclusive design. They joined colleagues from around the country to figure out how the team should be structured, what it should be focused on, and how to make it efficient and scalable at a national level. Leading these people and facilitating this process has been insanely rewarding and I'm wildly grateful for the opportunity and for their support and trust. Big thanks to the leaders who trusted me during this journey: Heidi Langslet Hall, Rob Humble, Ryan Martin, ITIL, and John Lutman. My decision to take time before this last role was so rewarding and productive that I've done the same this time around. I plan to spend the next several months slowing down and figuring out what's next for me. Once I fully embrace the "slow" part of the plan, I'll begin to look for what's next - and if you have or come across an opportunity that you believe might be a good fit for me, I'd love to connect! #sabbatical #opentowork #jobs #salesops #operations #leadership #management

💼 Major Shift at GM: Job Cuts Announced 💡 General Motors has just announced a significant reduction in its workforce within the software and services sectors. This move is part of their larger strategy to bolster technology investments and maintain profitability. By cutting over 1,000 salaried positions, with 600 from their tech HQ near Detroit, GM aims to streamline operations and focus on areas promising the greatest future impact. It's a tough climate for the automotive industry, and GM's proactive steps highlight both the challenges and opportunities ahead. With a global salaried workforce of about 76,000 as of last year, these layoffs represent roughly 1.3% of their salaried employees. Despite the downsizing, GM continues to see strong sales in North America and has committed to significant investments in electric and autonomous vehicles. Their recent profit reports, showing resilience despite setbacks in China, reflect a company adapting to a fast-evolving market. These job cuts reflect broader industry trends where operational costs are being tightly monitored to better focus on emerging technologies. As GM navigates this transition, it's clear their commitment to sustainable growth remains firm. Let's discuss how these changes may impact the industry. Your thoughts? 👇 #Automotive #TechInvestments #FutureOfWork

I've been "managed out" twice and fired once during my 16 year career in Sales & GTM. Part 1: It didn't quite make sense to me Let me re-introduce myself. I come from a family where career stability was the norm. My dad, a carpenter, and my mum, a compassionate social services worker for the UK government, spent their entire careers in their respective roles. Career stability was NOT my norm. When I was first managed out, I went above and beyond what the company asked for. I was part way through the year and at about 69% YTD (a little behind but mostly in unchartered territory). When my manager pulled me aside to go to a cafe... I was like hmmm what is happening here? 👀 He said, 'might need to put you on a PIP, but I think you should just leave. You're worth more and they're going to make it difficult for you here." This came 2 weeks after the CEO had personally called me to tell me how great I was doing and that they're excited for my future with them. It hurt. I got teary. Grabbed my bags, jumped in my car and drove home. I'm sure there was something pretty illegal about how this all went down but I couldn't even process that. I was now weeks away from not being able to survive financially. No other sources of income. The dream of helping them break into this new Enterprise market was dead before it even started. It didn't make any sense to me. I came in to do what was asked of me. I was then "let go" for doing exactly that. Upon reflection, it all makes sense. ↳The company made a big bet ↳There was little to no real research into this new Enterprise market ↳No specific TAM for this new idea ↳No clear expectations set to understand what quantified as success or not ↳Lack of Enterprise willingness and preparation Lesson learned: Ineffective planning and expectation setting not only creates issues inside businesses, it can truly disrupt the livelihood of team members. ✅ We have to operate more responsibly when we're making plans. ✅ If you're making big bets, set clear expectations. ✅ Create guardrails so people know what the specifics are. ✅ Let people know the risks as well as the opportunities

Are you a Superstar? This is happening: Top dealer groups always look for top managers, a demand that will never wane. Even if you're exceptionally talented, frequent job changes (for instance, three jobs in five years) will cause your application to be overlooked. Here's why: While there are many reasons for job changes, they see you as a liability. Frequent job changes could indicate that you have personal or HR problems. Consider the financial implications of your job changes. The cost of onboarding and replacing you is significant, and the company must bear it. You're not committed to the job, or you seek greener grass. Smart4ce says: Before you take a job, do extensive research on the new company. Do you strongly connect with your primary supervisor/owner/director? If not, don't take the job because you never will. Get everything in writing: Remember, don't take anything said as fact. Don't take a job if money is the primary driver of your decision. Find a good job and stay there unless you have compelling reasons to leave. Smart4ce is 4 smart people #cfo #ceo #coo #dealerprincipal #owner #president #generalmanager #servicedirector #partsdirector #finance #ucmanager #automotive #dealer #carbusiness smart4ce.com

"We're working in the area of beliefs when we get someone to make a move. They have to believe certain things about you as a leader. They have to believe that they can trust you, they have to believe you care about them as a human, they have to believe you have value to them. They have to believe certain things about the company. Primarily, they have to believe that they're going to be able to operate successfully in order to achieve their goals. So, does the company have the products, the pricing, the tech stack, and the support that they need to be able to functionally operate? Lastly, and most importantly, they have to believe in themselves. They have to believe they deserve this opportunity. And so many people have a lot of problems with this one, even uber successful people struggle with it. This is our opportunity as leaders, even if this person never joins us, can we speak life into this person and say, "Hey man, the dream you've got that you've allowed to die... dream it again. You're worth it." If I can do nothing but speak life into their dreams, then I've done my job and I'm also a lot closer to that person becoming converted." - Joe #recruiting #recruiter #consulting #marketing #arroyoandco #visionarchitect #boulder #colorado

Executive: I should have fired everyone when I had the chance. Regional Director: Even me? Executive: Yes, even you. True story: Recent encounter I had with organizational management in both companies. This is a tale of two corporate worlds colliding, one a successful smaller group and the other a massive conglomerate. The acquisition brought drastic changes and daily pressure for the remaining employees. A former selling executive recalls, “We were bought out, and they immediately fired many longtime employees. The pressure was relentless, and the new leadership had no respect. I was invited to a dinner with a new VP who blatantly said, ‘I should have fired everyone when I had the chance.’ This increase in stress drove me to leave a month later.” A senior executive from the buying group shared his perspective: “When I started, I was excited and energized, but everything changed with new leadership two years ago. The new leaders are ruthless and only care about hitting specific metrics. Trust has evaporated, and turnover is constant. The work environment has become toxic, with good managers replaced by organizational climbers who mirror the CEO’s cutthroat approach.” Mid-level managers from both companies echoed similar experiences, describing an atmosphere of constant disruption and unhealthy organizational changes.  The sense of pride and satisfaction many once had in their jobs has been replaced by a desire to find the exit. The changes have led employees to question whether their employer cares about them, resulting in increased turnover and decreased loyalty. Smart4ce advises employees to leave toxic work environments sooner rather than later, stressing the importance of securing a new job before moving if possible. The best time to leave a bad job is a week ago. The second best time is now. Smart4ce provides superstars with excellent options in all departments nationwide. Call us at 866-528-3014 or send your resume to m.smart4ce@gmail.com. #owner #cfo #ceo #coo #dealerprincipal #carbusiness #automotive #president #generalmanager #servicedirector #humanresource #partsdirector #usedcars #cpp

Henry Ford took two applicants that were applying for a job at his factory to dinner. Both of them were equally qualified, potentially even geniuses. 🧠 They talked about events that were going on during the time. Before they went to leave, Ford indicated to one of the gentlemen, "My friend, you have the job." The other one that didn't get the job built up the courage to ask Mister Ford, "We didn't speak about engineering. We didn't speak about manufacturing. How did you possibly make a decision not to hire me?" He said, "Well, actually, it was very easy." He did two things. When the steak came, the other person tried the steak before he put the salt on. You put the salt on it before you tried the steak and I believe people should always try things before they change them and more importantly, when the waitstaff came, the other person acknowledged and thanked them every single time. You pretended like they didn't exist, and you were only kind and polite when speaking to me. And I don't believe in hierarchy. I believe in people. 🤝 The takeaway is when you have preconceived notions and you treat people poorly. Your plan will never go as well as you think. You'll never achieve your purpose, and your profits will always be lower than they could have been.   What are you looking for in your candidates?   Take them on a tour, see how they interact. Take them to dinner, see how they interact. Know the psychological profile of the person needed to fill the role, be on your team, and who supports your organization’s mission and clients needs and look for that. 😊   https://lnkd.in/dN7XUZNd #job #principles #tips #canidadates