Tomorrow's Standard Equipment with Karen Byrd

Paul J Daly: 0:00

So we're gonna add one more person that we interview. Who happens to live and work

‍Unknown: 0:12

this is Auto Collabs in

Paul J Daly: 0:14

the best city in this country stop

Michael Cirillo: 0:16

Vernon, British Columbia. I

Paul J Daly: 0:18

said this country. Oh, you don't even live in? You live in Texas?

Kyle Mountsier: 0:23

No. korzy Idaho. Yes. No. Yes, starboard

Paul J Daly: 0:29

is in Philly. Of course, the site I always forget about the first. No you don't you went there this year. Let me shut up. He was like I'm planning on going to Philly with some friends. You have any recommendations and then after you're like that is one of the best underrate, I was amazing. There was I really was I know. So there you go. That just proves my point.

Kyle Mountsier: 0:51

Because there's a bunch of Italians.

Paul J Daly: 0:53

I promise. I won't talk about the stuff. I promise I'm gonna talk about the Soyuz crew. You won't talk about the ego. No, it's just because they're losing its genetic chance, which is in strangely when the Eagles are losing is when people talk about them a lot more. When you're in Philly. Oh, they've been all over ESPN. It's unbelievable. It's it really is just a big drama party that you can't

Michael Cirillo: 1:13

fit in there somewhere. Like losing is the best publicity. Like, you know, I mean, like,

Paul J Daly: 1:19

I bet there's a whole list of people. That's true when someone's losing. Right. Everybody loves the pylon. Hey,

Michael Cirillo: 1:26

podcast listeners. Here's your 20 flame for New Year's resolution. Aim lower, lose big

Kyle Mountsier: 1:32

aiming real low. Real big. Hit the news? Yeah, well,

Paul J Daly: 1:37

I'm sure that's not going to be a part of our conversation at all. Since Karen, somebody who is just we had some time to spend with her on a webinar that we did not too long ago, one of our SOTU edge webinars, but she's very leadership focus, very introspective, when it comes to how to handle challenges. And so we hope you enjoy this conversation with Karen Berg. Karen, it's so good to be with you again on the first time we met was amazing. And we just drew so much from your energy. So thanks for joining us again, here on Auto Collabs.

Karen Byrd: 2:07

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate you guys are fun. Thank you.

Paul J Daly: 2:12

We try to be if nothing else, Kyle, if nothing else. When we roll with them, no, you're fun, too. I think like, like our kind of people recognize one another really quickly, because it didn't take long for our first time together. And we did the webinar for you to just like start, like, you know, like, giving us some jabs. You know, and so, you know, we feel like we're at home. Alright, why don't we talk about what the new year looks like for you. We just came out of New Years, everyone's got like their, their little procedure and their little traditions, and they come out of 2023. Here we are on just the other side of 2024. And you're looking down a road, you have things you want to accomplish things you want to do problems you need to fix. How was your mindset focused on 2024? Share it with us?

Karen Byrd: 2:55

A very good question. So going into 2024 online, going into 2023, where I had this really long list, right? And, you know, I had all these plans. And then someone said to me, you know, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans, right? It never works out. So I decided to take a different, you know, a different approach. I'm going into 2024, and really focusing more on me, the person who I am, you know, because I feel that, you know, in order for me to show up, and deliver and execute, and to really inspire the people that you're leading in your daily, daily life, daily work life, personal life, whatever it is, that comes with, not just work, but you know, work on self. So I am open, you know, I am open. It's the first time that I can honestly say I'm not attached to any belief. Like I said, it does work out. But

Paul J Daly: 3:54

I mean, leaders are just a lot of times leaders like have an idea of where they're going. And a lot of times that comes with plans and lists and something so that is a major reversal. But I guess if you really think about it, like if anything the last three years have taught us is that even when you don't know what's coming down the pike, like paying attention to the moment can can get you really far down the road and very successful. Correct. And

Karen Byrd: 4:18

I think it's time to sort of like remove those silos in our minds because sometimes they can sabotage us right? Sometimes we can become blind to really what's happening. I have a very famous quote that I love that JD Powers one set one said he said that today's while experience today's wow factor becomes tomorrow's standard equipment. And that is Yeah, yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 4:43

put that on a shirt. Oh yeah, that's

Paul J Daly: 4:46

that's gonna be the title of this episode tomorrow, standard equipment, equipment,

Karen Byrd: 4:50

today's well factors tomorrow, standard equipment and if anything, I have learned what that meant in 2023 Because just when you think you've got it figured out out, you don't, you really don't. So

Paul J Daly: 5:05

to the world of a content creator.

Karen Byrd: 5:09

So yeah, so going into 2024 is to keep an open mindset really keep an open mindset learn to go with the flow, right? Not to try to push that boulder uphill, because at the end of the day, it's controlling the controllables what we can control. That's my take.

Kyle Mountsier: 5:28

I love it. I think that that's so key. Because if you if your person is set, like if you as a person are, are resolved and set and understand the things around you, and understand how you interact with them, like you can take on anything, and it doesn't require, you know, this, this, this grand thesis, like the Grand thesis is no, I'm resolved to take care of the next thing that comes at me. So I apps I absolutely love that. Were like, I guess, where did that come from? Where did where did the change happen in you to go, this is going to be the move that I made? Was it an event or something that you experienced over the last year, a couple of years that, you know, created that resolve?

Karen Byrd: 6:09

I am so glad that you asked that question. Because just shy of four years ago, March of 2020, when we all experience something shocking to the entire world, then no one knew what was happening. We all know the pandemic, right, the onset of the pandemic, as we know it today. And I remember that that was a game changer. A lot of a lot of not so good things came out of it a lot of sadness, you know, a lot of us lost a lot of loved ones. But at the same time, I think it was a moment of rebirth, rebirth in the sense that it allowed me specifically to really search myself, you know, to really understand, you know, my purpose in the world, you know, first and then in my space, you know, every day, and and I think that's where it'd be gone from me, this is where it's, it was a game changer for me. And as matter of fact, I labeled that, you know, KB, Karen Berg, KB 2.0 at the time. So looking back, I can clearly I can clearly sit here and not just journal, I can clearly see the impact and the improvement, that this entire change made on me as a person and how I was able to, you know, affect, or I should say, inspire, you know, people that I was surrounded by. So I am very grateful, I'm so grateful for it really,

Paul J Daly: 7:48

is that what you've kind of like come to terms, you know, say thinking like, What is my purpose is, is it has to do with that inspiration lane that you just mentioned?

Karen Byrd: 7:57

Yes, it has. Because, you know, for so long we have been like constantly going at it, you know, day in and day out and never really spend time with self. Right. It's it's and it was the first time that I really became silent when everything was silent. And you know, and I sort of like I woke up, like, what the

Paul J Daly: 8:18

heck is What do you mean, when everything became silent? Everything

Karen Byrd: 8:22

became silent when it seemed like the world just shut down. There was no work. There was

Paul J Daly: 8:29

no market, right? Correct. So yeah, Philly shut down heart. Oh,

Karen Byrd: 8:33

yes. Oh, yes. And even prior to that, like even leading up to that point, when you were like hearing all the chatters and you know what's happening, I don't think the reality really set in, you know, I was like, okay, you know, this stuff is gonna happen. And again, we thought we had it all figured out. We thought we had all this plans. And, you know, there was a whole different, you know, purpose for some of us, you know, throughout this experience. So, I am very grateful for it. I'm truly grateful for because I believe that I have grown more in the last four years and I've grown in my entire life.

Paul J Daly: 9:10

I second that. Amen to that. Amen to that.

Kyle Mountsier: 9:17

I'm like, I'm like I've done enough work today. Like, I'm now reconsidering this whole, you know, like, like, you just said something you said, like leading up to the pandemic. We all like everybody started year 2020 with their plans and their goals and the things they were going to do and their aspirations and all that stuff and things toward that. Right. It was the most recognizable point where we could say, things were changed. But that's that's still a reality in day to day life. It's just that that That's a thing that that can stick in our mind and say, Oh, that was a massive, it majorly changed. But what you're pointing to is like, that gave me the recognition to know that even the things that I'm perceivably planning or aspiring to or working on today, there are things that we'll come up against that, that will consistently shift that narrative, without me creating those things. And so, my, like, your goal is to go, I know that's coming. And so I'm going to approach things as if like, that's always going to change the narrative, I'm always going to have to look left and look right, and adjust my people and train and lead and adjust myself, with what comes at me instead of like, being, honestly, instead of being shattered by it, be prepared, like being driven by

Karen Byrd: 10:55

and be prepared and be driven by because there's there are other people, you know, always rely on us, or depending on us are actually looking, looking to us for guidance, you know, or, you know, to come up with the answers, you know, because they themselves are lost there, they themselves are scared, they themselves are confused, and how do you how do you show up, you know, to to guide those people and to build trust, to build that trust that they can trust you to know, everything is going to work out? We got this, it's going to work out? You know,

Paul J Daly: 11:29

how does, okay, so let's, let's do this. This is obviously a substantial change in your life, you're heading into 2024, you have this open handed mentality toward what is going to happen and saying, like, hey, like, I believe our team is ready, I believe I'm ready for whatever it is. Right? We'll pay attention to that. And we'll make our way. How does that practically? What can you say to other managers out there executives and automotive as they're trying to orient their teams? How does that practically play out for you, in the stores with your teams. Um,

Karen Byrd: 11:59

you know, I don't know if I mentioned this in this segment. But as I said, before, you know, as leaders, we have to first learn how to lead ourselves. And that's big. One thing that I, I know for sure, that I want to do more of this year is being the first to show up and being the last to speak. And I feel that by doing so, I am going to be able to, to connect more with with with, with the people that are around me, with my customers, with my friends, with my family, with my children, because sometimes we are we're there, but we're not listening. We're just not listening. Explain

Paul J Daly: 12:40

what those two things communicate. So what is first to show up? What do you believe that communicates? First,

Karen Byrd: 12:46

a shock for me is, as we are entering into this major shift, you know, in our industry, for example, for me, I want to be able to educate myself in the sense that be open to learning. And what I mean by that is, how can we lead without knowing, and without learning? Is it just the team's responsibility to know and to learn, it is our responsibility to do that as well. Because when they're lost, we have to be able to, to guide them back to nudge them back, you know, where they need to be. So that's what I meant by being the first to show up, I want to be open to educating and learning, you know, everything that I need to learn about my

Paul J Daly: 13:36

needs be ready, right showing up as like metaphor, because like, I'm, I'm prepared, I'm ready to go about being less to speak. What does that mean last

Karen Byrd: 13:44

to speak for me is, is being able to listen more. And when I say listen more is. And again, I'm gonna speak for myself. I feel sometimes in our, in our, in our environments, sometimes when people speak to us, we often either shut down, or we're trying to assume where they're going with the conversation, right? So instead of hearing them, we have all these things that are coming up in the middle, and is distorting what it is they're trying to communicate to us. So I really want to do more listening, I want to be more open. And I really want to be the last one to speak and not interrupt them when they're speaking. I think that's huge.

Paul J Daly: 14:33

That's great. I mean, first to show up last to speak. I love it when things are boiled down to simple language. Because I think that that makes them memorable and unless you remember it, you can't execute it. So like even that first to show up last to speak, in my mind. Like I'm like put that on a wall somewhere. Right. So I like to put things on T shirts,

Kyle Mountsier: 14:55

everywhere on T shirts, like we've got eight t shirts that we're making. Oh

Karen Byrd: 15:00

So last year in 2023, I had three, three big ones. And the three big ones I had in 2023 was the first one was always do the right thing when the situation calls for it. And the second one for me, and I'll tell you why that was important for me. The second one for me was, you know, treat each other's the way I hope to be treated. And, and the third one, which was, I think, I'm going to bring that into 2024. And I really, truly mean this is be the example of unconditional love. And what that is, because that is hard. That is really, really hard. But it's necessary, it is necessary in our role. You know, it is so so so, so necessary, it is so necessary to be forgiven. I want to bring that one and add it to those two that I shared with you, because we'll allow it Yeah.

Kyle Mountsier: 15:54

Okay, yeah, look, look, I need to point to like, the pace, the humility, the like respect of the people around you that you're giving in these words and phrases that are driving you, and how they are quite a counter narrative, in my estimation, to the typical, like, sales, or it's up month over month, like a counter narrative driven driven mentality. It is, it's a counter narrative to like, the typical narrative that we see in sales environments, in dealerships in the broad, stereotypical idea of what it means to be driven. And it's not that you're not driven. No, your office right

Paul J Daly: 16:47

now is full of people closing deals, which is why you had to step in here. Yeah.

Karen Byrd: 16:52

And they understand and they allow me to, you know, the space to be able to do that. So I can share what we do here every day with the rest of the team, and the world, you know,

Kyle Mountsier: 17:02

but, and so give us give us a little bit of like, how you moved into your role, I'd like to, I'd like to get backstory, I want a little bit of backstory, like we don't have to go deep into it. But to get here, I I'm sure your path wasn't exactly aligned with all of the paths, because the way that you are are pursuing your current role is a counter narrative.

Karen Byrd: 17:25

Right? So very good question. So, you know, again, you know, like I said, you know, I've grown significantly more in the last four years and learning so much more about life about live data than I've ever learned. Because it's always been the old narrative, as you said, you know, where p, we show up, and everybody's sort of like, you know, this, just just just so harsh and hard. And, you know, and there's no, there's no compassion, there's no empathy or nothing. And I remembered, you know, we had faced some, some disruption in our environment. And the question to meet, the question came up, actually, I do have a life coach, so I cannot take all the credit. Because I do need sometimes we need that extra layer of help, to help to guide us. And I remember speaking with her, and I said to her, I said, you know, how do I show up? How do I show up, you know, in the midst of all this disruption, to help to create the change that we need to move forward in a healthy way. And I remember, probably about maybe the end of 2020, maybe could have been 2021, I've decided to change my approach and how I lead. And I wanted to lead more from a compassionate perspective, rather than a compliance perspective. And what I mean by that is, we all know what we, we all know what to do. Right? We all know what to do. And that's why it's why we were hired within our role, right. That's why you hire those individuals within their roles. Because they know how to do the job, they really do know how to do the job. However, I think with all the other, you know, things in life that are taking place in our personal life, you know, with family, you know, it could be the economy could be maybe the ebbs and flows in our business, the changes that were taking place. You know, what do you mean that, you know, we're gonna go digital, what do you mean that I have to walk around and use this iPad? I think that I think that how do you shop as a leader, to really to really, you know, like you said, help to, I can't even think of the drive to be driven, right, and to help others to be driven as well. So coaching from a state of compassion to me, was a whole different approach and it's one that I still continue to, to do with my team to help to develop, you know, talent here in the dealership. And I think I think in the end, it really shows in how they treat each other in the workplace and how they end up, you know, how they treat the customers in the long run. So that that to me, I would have to say, that was the inspiration for me, coaching for compassion, versus coaching for compliance. Big difference, big shift. thing.

Paul J Daly: 20:30

I think, I don't know that we can end any better than that.

Kyle Mountsier: 20:33

any better than that? Like, I've just been so encouraged by our conversation. I'm, I'm sure like, our whole community is gonna reach out and be like, how, how, what must I do? From compassion to compassion? LED coaching, it's a really, really a treat to be joined by you. Yeah,

Karen Byrd: 20:56

I just real quick I you know, what I forgot to add coaching for compassion to me and inspire it's it inspires sustained change. Here the it inspires sustained change, change. Instead

Kyle Mountsier: 21:12

of just like one off Absolutely. Kids. Write complete said, yep.

Karen Byrd: 21:17

Yeah, there are many, many layers to it. So maybe the next time we talk, maybe we can dive a little bit more deeper into what that really is.

Paul J Daly: 21:26

We should we should actually have you come to a soda con as well,

Kyle Mountsier: 21:29

we should do? Absolutely. You're right,

Paul J Daly: 21:32

you're right down the road. It's gonna be right there. Really?

Karen Byrd: 21:35

Yeah, right next door,

Paul J Daly: 21:36

just circle it on the counter may 14 through 16 to circle it awesome right now. And then we'll make sure that we get the hang out and introduce you to some more, I

Karen Byrd: 21:43

would love to you guys are so much fun. And I listen. And I want to say thank you to all of you for what you're doing. Because every time I see you guys, you're always doing something so positive and so inspiring. And I think that we really need this in our space today. So thank you so much for the work that you're doing. You know, as much as I tell other people, I tell them, they gotta watch. You gotta watch these guys. They're just so awesome.

Unknown: 22:09

And they're a little crazy. They're a little crazy, and a lot of

Karen Byrd: 22:13

crazy is good. Hey, crazies. Good.

Kyle Mountsier: 22:16

Karen, thank you so much for joining us today.

Karen Byrd: 22:20

Auto Collabs. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for having me, guys. It's been fun.

Unknown: 22:28

Told you did

Kyle Mountsier: 22:30

mention the Eagles once unbelievable. I can't even I can't even believe that happened. You mentioned it in the pre con. I

Paul J Daly: 22:36

know I was trying to sneak snuck it in.

Kyle Mountsier: 22:40

You know, I like it always confounds me and excites me all at the same time when we get into these conversations with leaders all across the country in dealerships, that literally buck the narrative of what dealership managers dealership GMs are, where should be or have been. And she is literally rewriting what it looks like to be a leader in our industry, moving with empathy, and compassion and care for her employees. And like you, I tried to ask her about her. And she was

Paul J Daly: 23:20

like, No, my sheep. Let's talk, you know, just

Kyle Mountsier: 23:22

like redirected me immediately. It was unbelievable. Yeah.

Michael Cirillo: 23:26

I always think like, truth is truth period. When there is truth, you hear it and you see it from all all avenues. What I think you bring it up here is like, true leadership is there's a measure of selflessness in it. But there's also a measure of like, I mean, this is kind of the exercise, thinking about what one's emotional response to circumstances are, if they are like, all over the place, probably not quite yet at the level of leadership that that you think you

Paul J Daly: 23:57

are without a doubt that that's probably one of the biggest indicators that you can tell when when they're pressures on is that's the differentiator between like truly great leaders and leaders that still have some work to do.

Michael Cirillo: 24:09

Yeah, it's like the circumstances or the circumstances, they're that there. That's irrelevant. How I take action is actually what matters.

Paul J Daly: 24:18

Gosh, I wish I could remember that more often in the middle of it, right? Like just like, Hey, I can't change any of that. But my next step, I'm completely in control of.

Michael Cirillo: 24:27

Yeah, so that's the sense that I get Karen Byrd. We're so glad you could join us for this conversation on Auto Collabs. On behalf of Paul J. Daly, Go Eagles. Kyle Mountsier. Myself, Michael Cirillo, thanks so much for joining us on this episode. Boise, Idaho.

Unknown: 24:43

Sign up for our free and fun to read daily email for a free shot of relevant news and automotive, retail media and pop culture. You can get it now@asotu.com That's ASOTU.com 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

Kyle Mountsier: 25:14

Welcome to Auto Collabs Are we recording