Being Good People In Business with Liza Borches

August 18, 2022
Carter Myers Automotive has been around for 98 years, meaning they lived through the Spanish Flu of 1918. Liza Borches hasn’t seen all of that, but as the 3rd generation President and CEO of CMA, she knows the stories of the company. She knows the joys and the pains. And she has led the organization through growth and culture shift, overcoming her own ideas about retail auto and even some misogyny from those in her organization. Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly, and Kyle Mountsier ask her about an opportunity at General Mills, Honda’s 3 Joys, and why groups are asking CMA to acquire them.
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Carter Myers Automotive has been around for 98 years, meaning they lived through the Spanish Flu of 1918.

Liza Borches hasn’t seen all of that, but as the 3rd generation President and CEO of CMA, she knows the stories of the company. She knows the joys and the pains. And she has led the organization through growth and culture shift, overcoming her own ideas about retail auto and even some misogyny from those in her organization. Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly, and Kyle Mountsier ask her about an opportunity at General Mills, Honda’s 3 Joys, and why groups are asking CMA to acquire them.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 I
ntro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

7:59 Coming out of college, Liza didn’t want to work for the family business. She took a job with American Honda because it sounded like fun to live in Southern California. But that job showed her a whole new side of retail automotive.

“I started really seeing the difference that those leaders and dealership associates were making in their communities, I saw a different side of the business than I had grown up with. I grew up just seeing my dad working 24/7 some challenging times with our business almost going under a lot of stress and to be honest, he just wasn't around. So I just needed to see a different perspective on the business. And then I got to come home and see it through the lens that my dad was able to share with me more as an adult than versus when I was a kid.”

14:04 For Carter Myers Automotive, company culture is about influencing the whole person, not just that person at work.

“Tom Doll shared at the Subaru meeting a couple of weeks ago, and he said, ''We don't just want to be good business people. We want to be good people in business.” And I think at CMA, that's something that we've always focused on. We don't want to just create and pour into and invest in our team to be good business people. We also want to help them be good people in business. And I think that reflects back to encouraging our team to bring their whole self to work, not just their work self, and how do we help them grow both personally and professionally, that it has to be investing in them as a human being and not just an as an a team member of CMA.”

19:43 Liza’s grandfather gave the company its fiscal responsibility, her father gave it an aggressive growth desire, and Liza herself brought the company its soul. She learned how to build a great culture at a single store and then began scaling it to the other stores in the group with the help of some amazing general managers.

27:15 Michael Cirillo makes an observation that in some ways, the automotive industry is really one big family business. Liza adds to that by talking about the fear of failing in a family business, but how, if you aren’t afraid to be yourself and bring your own ideas to the table, you can add a whole new perspective.

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SPEAKERS

Kyle Mountsier, Liza Borches, Paul Daly, Michael Cirillo


Paul Daly  00:00

So I learned a really interesting fact about our friend Michael Cirillo.


00:10

This is Auto Collabs and


Paul Daly  00:13

that fact is that his lips have never touched coffee.


Michael Cirillo  00:16

Not once. Unbelievable. My nostrils have touched the aroma on people's breath. The worst part


Kyle Mountsier  00:23

I was, you know, the way he started with my nostrils have I was just wondering where that might trail off


Michael Cirillo  00:31

and burns my sinus.


Paul Daly  00:32

So you know, you don't know about someone until you start to speak with them and like different people make you feel different levels of comfort. You're probably wondering how am I gonna get into today's guests. But today's I think today's guests will appreciate this intro because she is always down for a conversation. She's always ready to have fun, but she means business. We're talking about the one and only Liza Borches who is the president and she President and CEO. Yes Carter Myers Automotive, a good friend of ours, a good friend of the industry and someone who is always, always always always ready to give her time to help somebody else.


Michael Cirillo  01:11

That's the first thing I wanted to say aside from she has substance from experience, she is a servant leader. Right through, look at what she did through the pandemic, how they quickly snapped into gear, how they reposition how they were doing grocery delivery, how they were doing all these sorts of things. She has such a kind, and giving heart she to me is just a shining example of servant leadership and just, you know, you feel a gravitational pull towards her because of that,


Kyle Mountsier  01:40

you know, every every conversation that I get to have with her all every time goes toward people. Everything single time, you're like, how can the industry approach and she says, Let me tell you a story about and it's either a story about her people, or the customers that they serve. And that's just her default mode. It's not let me tell you about what I think or what should happen. Or bah, bah, bah, it's like, let me let me explain that with a story. Because it's happening on the ground every day. I'm involved, I'm in the community in the both the community of the dealership and, and where the, the stores that were those stores that that she's a part of are and so that, for me, it's a reminder to continue to go back to that in all of my conversations. And


Michael Cirillo  02:29

I mean, you know, how many rooftops are there 19. Now, I think in County 23,


Paul Daly  02:34

it's growing, there might be more by the time we released this.


Michael Cirillo  02:37

Right? So obviously, this isn't a Mother Teresa organization. They're they're a money. Yeah. But she's the first person in the industry. Who's ever talked to me about culture, and how it maps back to revenue opportunities the right way, like, yeah, be a good person. Like, she's like, you want to know how culture maps and she laid it out for me. And I was, I was like, yeah, oh my gosh, like she sees she's in the matrix of the car business. She sees it at a different level than you know, I think most


Paul Daly  03:05

Yeah. You know, the way she embraces that strength, like every dealer, we see a lot of dealers we get to visit a lot and see behind the curtain of a lot of stores. And you realize that people can be really good at different facets. Some people are great at technology, some people are great at operations, you know, some people are great at sales, right? And motivation and inspiration culture, right. And they get that all going lies his superpower is that she is just great with people, right, and that map's back, like you said to everything. And I likewise have never seen someone who is so good with people who maps it back to an act like she's a she sound when it comes to business. She's a heavy play without savvy, she asks hard questions. She's always willing to as fun when we when we had her on the stage at Digital Dealer a couple years ago, right? And you had like Damon Lester and Brian Benstock and Brian Kramer. Right, all these big personalities on stage. And there's Liza and her little pink dress. Right? And she she'd be the first one say, Yeah, I don't I don't really see it that way. And this is why right so she's not afraid to to step in the ring and go toe to toe. So we're so excited to if you haven't met her to introduce you to last bushes. And if you have better before, I think you're gonna hear a little different angle a little different insight from this interview. So let's get into the interview


Michael Cirillo  04:26

the last time I had a chance to chat with you, Liza was all about culture. And I mean, that was a you know, this, this wave of culture conversations going through the industry, which I think are incredibly valuable, especially for the next generation of of operators coming up. But the question always remained like, can you quantify culture and Liza boys just so you know, Liza was like, oh, hold my hold my energy drink or Well, hold hold my mineral water. And she's like, here's how it maps and she laid it all out. My question for you to kick this off. cuz I know culture is important to you, we saw the moves that you made through the pandemic, with your, with your group of dealerships and how you were contributing back to community and to your people. Is that something that you were like? Is that a mindset you were raised with? Is it software? Is that something that you tended to see much more clearly, once you really step deeply into the operation?


Liza Borches  05:23

I think a great answer to that was I originally did not want to be in the car business or didn't see myself in car business. I watched it from afar growing up, you know, kind of working in and out of the dealership, but I always saw it as a very transactional industry. And since I'm not a car person, and that wasn't what I loved, like, I just didn't visualize that this would be a place that I would want to come for a career.


Paul Daly  05:48

What industry did you want to be in? I know, it's bad form to interupt you just as you're starting, but you didn't, you knew it wasn't cars. But what


Liza Borches  05:56

I knew wasn't cars. Sorry, I was in the business school at UVA. And actually, as I got close to graduation, I had two mentors in business school. And one was my econ professor who also did investment strategies and a couple other classes with me. And one was my marketing professor, a female who had really taken me under her wing in a couple of internships. And so there was a little bit of a fight going on between the two of them. One was really pushing me to go to New York and go into investment banking. The other one had me applying for marketing positions, I got a position with General Mills like doing something with cereals. So


Paul Daly  06:31

I made her dress up as the Lucky Charms Leprechaun.


06:36

The car business though,


Liza Borches  06:39

all of a sudden, the car business looked more enticing. So I did not want to live in New York City. No offense to those up in that direction. That was certainly not me


Paul Daly  06:51

different than


Liza Borches  06:52

and I happened to be out at NADA, that February of my fourth year of college. And I met Dick Culliver and Dick Zamborsky from American Honda Motor Company. And they encouraged me to just come out and apply. They had a management trainee program with Honda's called a national training program. And again, I wasn't thinking cars, but I was like, you know, living in Southern California can be kind of cool. And all these people that I met through Honda seem like great people. And they shared a little bit with me about the the three joys of Honda and the culture that Honda was built on as a company. And that was, I think, a little bit enticing to me. So I ended up applying and at the last minute making a trajectory change and taking this position with American Honda out in California. But I still didn't see myself as going into the retail car business. To me, this was still different. This was going for a large global corporation that had a lot more structure had a stronger foundation than what I saw as transactional in the retail side of our business. So to answer your question, I did not intend to come into the car business. I think where that that switch for me happened was when I was with American Honda and I was out visiting dealers, I was calling on dealers all over the country in different ways. And I started seeing that there was more than not only was there more than one way to run a car dealership or an automotive group. But I started really seeing the difference that those leaders and dealership associates were making in their communities, I saw a different side of the business than I had grown up with. I grew up just seeing my dad working 24/7 some challenging times with our business almost going under a lot of stress and to be honest, he just wasn't around. So I just I needed to see a different perspective on the business. And then I got to come home and see it through the lens that my dad was able to share with me more as an adult than versus when I was a kid.


Kyle Mountsier  08:52

Wow. You know, you said so I've never been a Honda dealer never worked for a Honda store. And you know, when what was interesting about the way you said it, what really attracted me is you said they got to share with me the three joys of Honda. And well one I'd like to hear what those are because I you know, I know Mazda. I know Nissan, I know a little bit of Kia and not a lot of other brands that have these deep seated values and core and core to their brand. So I'd like to if you remember what they are. But gosh, so many


Liza Borches  09:29

enjoy buying and the joy of it's not producing but it has something to do with making. But it's deeper than that Kyle so I do I'd love to share just like a 32nd little bit about Honda's culture. Yeah. But one of the best things that they did was way after I worked for Honda once I was on the retail side, they actually created a whole department within Honda that was all about sharing the Honda story and the culture behind it and they started these what they call the Honda Dreams trips. And they wanted to take the next generation of dealers to Japan understand the foundation that this company was built on. Because really what they wanted was they wanted us to be so engaged in the Honda brand that that was our number one focus, even if we represented 10 other brands, and it was pretty brilliant. I thought on their part,


Kyle Mountsier  10:19

okay, so I knew this was going somewhere.


Liza Borches  10:22

They focused on the next generation of dealers, like I love my dad and his whole crew, but they were not inviting those folks necessarily to go on this trip, they were trying to get us tied into the brand. And one of the my favorite parts of this trip. So we spent, I think, eight days over in Japan. And they took us through the hall of shame. And we went in there, and they had every mistake that Honda had made in producing a vehicle or an engine on display. And they would take words through there to share with them what they had learned from every mistake that they had made through their journey. Whoa, it was awesome. It was it was amazing to hear the stories behind it and but the whole point of their trip was to really dip us into their culture, understanding the joys, what Honda does what they've been built on, and that it's more than, than just selling and servicing cars. So that was certainly my kind of trip


Michael Cirillo  11:22

this year, because you had them, you had them perfectly right after all these years. I think that's that that speaks volumes to the culture that they've established. This is right from Hondaresearch.com. But you can also read about it on the global dot Honda website, the three joys outline a trio of essential experiences that any individual can expect to enjoy as a member of the Honda family. You said joy of buying, joint joy of selling, and then you're like something about creation. But it's That's exactly it. It's the joy of creating. Here's the line though that I wanted to hop in here and say, because I don't know if it's this way for all, but it says together, they form our spiritual guide and moral compass. See you guys later try the view. That was my first


Liza Borches  12:12

college was with a company that had a super strong culture and foundation. And so I think it gave me a lens to see that the car business was more than about selling and servicing cars.


Kyle Mountsier  12:24

Well, I love it. Because it's, it's like you experience this, this culture that's built on values, that then they they intentionally say, hey, we have to tell our story. And not just the story of all of the great accomplishments. But we're looking over here and saying, Hey, here's the here's the things that have not worked out well. And that's a story that I think as I've gotten to known, you know, you that you're telling every new employee, and every current employee that walks through your door, and you're not just doing that with with current employees, you're doing that to for the industry, and so on, I just want to say thank you for that because I like I recognize that you have a care a particular care both for your your team and your your dealerships, but also a care for our industry. But I'd love to hear kind of how you take some of the insights that you've learned, especially from, you know, OEMs, that a lot of people, at least these days, kind of look at the OEM and with a little bit of a stink eye, right. But there's so much to be gained from the work that they've done, and particularly companies like Honda that we can draw from the insights of like the corporation side and bring into the dealership or dealer group that you're doing with new employees and sharing the story. So can you share a little bit about what that looks like for a new employee or current employee at CMA to understand the story of not just, you know, CMA, but also brought a retail,


Liza Borches  13:55

I will, but I'm also going to give one other comment about an OEM because you said so often we, there's tension between the retail side of the business and OEMs. But there was a very small quote that Tom Doll shared at the Subaru meeting a couple of weeks ago, and he said, We don't want to just be good business people. We want to be good people in business. And I think at CMA, that's something that we've always focused on. And not just being but creating. We don't want to just create and pour into and invest in our team to be good business people. We also want to help them be good people in business. And I think that reflects back to even the first you know, time they come to our new hire orientation, encouraging our team to bring their whole self to work, not just their work self, and how do we help them grow both personally and professionally, that it has to be investing in them as a human being and not just an as an a team member of CMA. So the rest of this week, I'm going to be in a new hire orientation tomorrow in Richmond and then I'm going to To begin orientation meetings Wednesday, Thursday and Friday all day in Lynchburg for our stores. And so that was a timely question that you asked, because I'm going to be sharing the CMA story over and over again this entire week, to new or existing stores and to new stores. So we share first about the history of the company, and I have my dad come to each of the orientations. And he takes about an hour and fits 98 years of stories of our company into an hour. But a lot of those we talked about are not just the winds and the growth that we've had. But you know, where was the adversity that we've learned from because I can guarantee in 98 years there's been a lot of it, he even shares that prior to when we were Petersburg Motor Company, we went through the Spanish Flu back in 1918, when we were still a hardware store selling vehicles out of the front. So, you know, we have that we learned from back in 1918. And so, so when we talk about the good and the bad of the 98 years, and then we give them a current state of the union, where a CMA today, what is our organization look like? And then that leads into our mission vision values. And I share with them, you know, I can in 30 minutes talk to you all about this in the meeting. But what I really encourage them to do is to leave the orientation and identify times throughout their day, their week in their month, where they see our our mission, and especially our values in action, and recognize that we can write them on the wall. But that doesn't mean anything it means it only means something when it lives in the hearts of our associates. So we go pretty deep into mission vision values, during the orientation. And then I share with them our three year strategic plan. And because we're an ESOP, they they see all of our financials, they might be a week with our company, and they get a financial statement broken down by dealership, they see our last 11 years of profits, they see our plan for the next five years. And they see our current state of profits this year versus last year. And then at the end, though, there are two things that we talked to them about. You know, we share all these great things about the company in two hours. We tell them it's not a company, for anyone on cruise control. When you're an owner of the company, the peers sit next you expect a lot from you, you can't be here just for it to be a job. And as you guys know, we when we talk about what our mission is, and we say to move lives forward, for our associates, our customers, our community, it's more than just a job. When you join CMA, you become a part of the community. It's a career, we expect you to know our story, share our story, be proud of the company and community that you're a part of. And honestly, at the end of the orientation if, if this isn't a place for you, and you just want to come to work nine to five and shut the door and forget about it when you get home, CMA may not be the right place for you. And that's okay, too.


Kyle Mountsier  17:50

So do you intentionally build a brick wall at the exit door so people can run through it? Is that what the


Liza Borches  17:58

you know, we do share with them that at Zappos, at the end of their orientation they offer associates $2,000 to leave? Yeah, we always start with, well, at Zappos, they do this, actually, we're not going to give you $2,000. But we do expect you to be inspired and engaged in the message that we just shared and, and if it's not for you, we understand and we will applaud you from afar to to find a home elsewhere. But if you're gonna say we want you all in,


Paul Daly  18:26

you mentioned that, um, tie this back to something you said at the beginning of the interview, you said that that wasn't the car business that I experienced, which is why you were looking for an industry outside of automotive. Now you obviously went around the bout, right? You worked with Honda, you came back into the family business, to then take the lead in the family business. What did there are a lot of legacy auto groups, right, a lot of legacy generational dealers, and, you know, probably a lot of different perspectives on how a dealership should be run as the generations go. But there's also this level of respect that everyone seems to have for the people that built what it is that they're now taking ownership of. So my question is, how did you transition? or reframe the heart and soul of CMA when you came back into it with this desire with this experience at Honda to really put culture at the forefront? Was it already there? You just didn't see it? Or did you see avenues to like transition it I'd love to hear about how, how that happened?


Liza Borches  19:32

Well, I'm gonna say something it's gonna sound a little odd because I don't like talking about myself in this way. But my dad shares this and in that orientation, he says, you know, my grandfather, his dad really brought a level of fiscal conservative fiscal responsibility to our company and set us up in the right way early on, to make sure that that we have strong financials for growth. My dad came in and and really had more of an aggressive nature to figure out how he could scale the company and through structure and process. And he always shares in the orientation. He said that I came in and I put the soul in the company. And I'm very humbled every time that he says that, because I think each generation of our company brought something new and different the next layer that it took to grow CMA. And so I think your question was, how did I, what happened when I came in? How did I transition the company to what it is now. And I certainly didn't do it all at once I came in and had one little dealership. And I, in some ways needed to test out my theories and the way that I wanted to do business in a very controllable environment.


Paul Daly  20:44

And how long was that? But how long about how


Liza Borches  20:47

I came back in '03 and bought that little store in February before? Gotcha. And I didn't know what I didn't know. So I didn't know how to run a dealership either. So it was good for a lot of reasons that I went into the small store. And I had 13 employees to start on day one. And they were selling like five cars a month when we bought it. So it was very easy for me to get my arms around, and really easy to be able to know every associate and know their family. And every customer that came in that door. It was an environment that allowed me to figure out what it meant to put people first what it meant to have a relationship based business. And I saw it work well beyond what I could have even envisioned in that small store. But the biggest question was, can you take that and scale it beyond a store where I could no body? And, and we've done that? I haven't done it alone. But I have found other people that had the same vision, the same beliefs that I did, that wanted to do that in their own stores. And we could partner together and figure out how to scale the way that we wanted to do business as the that's worked.


Paul Daly  21:58

What was the first what was the first thing if you can remember it? The first instinct when you realized or memory you have when you realized it just transcended you.


Liza Borches  22:10

I think it was probably when we purchased the Stanton stores. Because that LT that was 2010 I really just focused on the Volvo store from 04 to about 09 as we tried to figure out what's happening in that major recession time. And it was when we brought in the Stanton stores. At the same time we were transitioning leadership in Richmond. So Scott Simons joined our group in Stanton, we transitioned away from two other general managers in our company who did not see eye to eye with me. One was in one of our Richmond stores, and one was in our Charlottesville store. And from 2010 to 2011. We brought in Scott, we promoted Ed Nicol, and we brought in a new general manager in Charlottesville. And it wasn't that the previous team didn't work. But I don't think they understood the direction of the company we wanted to take. In fact, actually the the gentleman in Charlottesville said blatantly in front of me, my dad and I are sitting in the room and he said I'll never work for a woman. to quell


Paul Daly  23:18

what makes this conversation way easier if


Michael Cirillo  23:20

you have a Polaroid camera and take a picture of your dad's face. I would love that photo.


Liza Borches  23:28

Very just he just said, Okay, we'll work through this mess. I don't think we're gonna work through this.


Paul Daly  23:36

You're like, well, there's this one thing. There's this one thing about what he said? Right? One thing


Liza Borches  23:41

that was an issue. So that was the transitional moment where we brought in three new leaders who understood that the company was going to start pivoting in a new direction, we were going to build on what we had had in place at that point for what was it 80 Some years, but that there was an a new, a new focus for the future. And Scott obviously has continued to be such a strong partner, Ed Nicol has been a strong partner. He's now over five stores in the Richmond market. And we've certainly brought in more leaders since then that from day one in the interview process, and even before the interview process, the relationships we have with them before they even joined CMA or as they grew from internally with CMA have helped transcend it well beyond me all.


Paul Daly  24:27

She was just so what you're saying is if you really pay attention, and you really work hard, you can have this too and just a shade under two decades. Sure.


24:40

I love that because a lot of


Michael Cirillo  24:43

9 decades,


Paul Daly  24:44

right? Really? Yes, for sure. Because you did


Kyle Mountsier  24:48

you built on the legacy of your grandfather and father right that they had to put in place structures and systems in order for you to operate in this and push In the sole of what you were able to do, because Had that not been there, you would have been starting from scratch. And


Paul Daly  25:05

yeah, it's hard to focus on, it started focusing on culture when like, you know, everything else that like, literally minute by minute the business requires to stay in business right back to Dave Meltzer, the first rule of business is stay in business.


Liza Borches  25:20

And you know, what I was just thinking is, you overlapping, there was another pivotal point that happened just a handful of years ago. And that was the fact that we started having dealer groups, calling us to purchase them, because they felt that their team and the culture of their group was a good fit for what we were trying to accomplish. So now, instead of having to go build new teams, and bring in new people, we had people kind of watching the short and outside saying, that kind of aligns with us, we need to join forces. And so I mean, every acquisition that we've had, in the last five or six years have all been people contacting me saying, I think we'd be a good fit for CMA. We're looking for an exit strategy. So I think that's the pivotal point.


Michael Cirillo  26:13

This is why every time I see a LinkedIn post that says, Can culture scale, can you quantify it? I don't know, enter Liza with what you just said. I mean, like, Come on, guys. Can culture scale, that's why you do this. Something that I just want to, I don't know the right word, it's I'm gonna use pricked my heart, as I've been listening to you speak. Because I'm in a family business. And some, as I've been listening to you talk about this, and to kind of, you know, go off of what Kyle was saying, you know, just layering in new generation of the business. It's, it's been interesting, because you, I think anybody that's in a family business sometimes feels like, am I contributing? Am I growing it? It was it all them was at all the past generation, and so on and so forth. And the way that you phrase that was very heartwarming, and very validating, because it's like, you know, it's never to discredit that previous generation. But I can really sense the gratitude, in your tone, speaking about how your father and grandfather had brought in what they could bring in and now that it's you, how you've now ushered in that next phase of growth, I just, I don't know, I felt that very heartwarming, and it and it also ties into the fact that, like, Come on, guys, this the auto industry, it's a family business, like, this is a big family. But it's also like this is a place that families can do business together, I think is so tremendous.


Liza Borches  27:44

Well, I think there's a lot of fear, when you're a generational business of am I going to live up to what my father or mother was able to accomplish? Am I going to live up to the standards, they've set the expectations that they have beyond them? And I think one of the most important lessons that I learned was, it's not about can I meet their expectations or live up to their standards? It's how can I add to it, and not to be not afraid to be yourself and bring your own ideas that that is going to be the biggest benefit you can bring to a generational business. It's to bring a new perspective new lens, and combine that and integrate with what has already been there, as you said,


Paul Daly  28:29

well, Liza, it has been so good to spend a few minutes with you, as always, in every time, right, you always learn a little bit more, and see behind the curtain just a little bit more. And I definitely learned a few things about your journey. And I know it's going to be helpful because there are so many people in automotive that really are required to take the torch and run with it another mile and another mile and another mile. So thanks for being transparent, and as always, just being open handed and serving the industry.


Liza Borches  28:57

Well, thank you guys. I don't know how that time just flew by so fast. I could do this for another hour. It was awesome.


Paul Daly  29:03

Well, we'll see you at a soda con and we'll get to do it for another hour.


Liza Borches  29:06

Sounds wonderful.


Kyle Mountsier  29:09

Talk to you soon. This is a very, very small portion of what she said here, and I know that the CMA is an ESOP. But the fact that a brand new employee within their first five days of entering CMA gets a financial statement reviewing their prior 11 years and financial plans for the next five boom is staggering to that one. How many people have in one place there 11 years of financial five, level of business attenuation and then have the competence and clarity to be able to pass that on to to new team members in a way that seat like, allows them to appear behind the curtain but still have energy to move forward. Right?


Paul Daly  30:07

Like given the appropriate context for it right,


Michael Cirillo  30:10

but also in a way that they're not like, holy crap. They're making so much money. How come I'm only getting paid x? Right? Yes, we all know that's the thing, right? They say just like that every time. Yeah, just like that, when they're holding a slice of pizza folded,


Paul Daly  30:26

we need to think we need a female voice to help. Am I the right, it's good, like from Greece, right.


Michael Cirillo  30:34

That was our cue that was eaten.


Kyle Mountsier  30:36

Oh, Edith bunker,


Paul Daly  30:38

talking about the bunker family anymore, they're out


Michael Cirillo  30:41

canceled, maybe.


Kyle Mountsier  30:43

Because it's all because it starts. It's the contextualization from the from the story. And I think that it's similar to the Honda story. If if you went in as a Honda dealer, or or anything like that, to that eight day trip, not believing in Honda not knowing the full story. And all you they just took you right to the Honda Hall of shame. And you would be at the end of that you'd be like, this is just terrible,


Paul Daly  31:07

made the wrong career decision.


Kyle Mountsier  31:11

Right. You know, so it's the context of the whole story. And I think that that's something that that when we talk about culture, you know, a lot of people talk about culture is this very ethereal kind of thing that maybe leadership, maybe management, maybe it's the people. And I think that there's something to be said about story, having a real impact on culture. And if you know the story, then there's a walk, or there's a step into culture, that's a lot more clear. And I think that's a piece of culture that we haven't explored in a lot of business conversations of how story, you know, pulls forward into culture a lot, a lot more clearly.


Michael Cirillo  31:53

Not only that, she said that she wanted to prove out her thesis with her store starting in oh four, worked through it all the way to Oh, nine Dude, we can't break most dealers, or business owners for that matter out of a 30 day cycle. Like she put in the work. So So which only further adds to the story, right? Yeah.


Paul Daly  32:16

There's no substitute. I mean, when you talk to somebody like Liza, you realize there's no substitute for like a consistent execution over a long period of time. And the expectation and understanding going into it, that this isn't going to be done in a day, this isn't going to be easy, but this is going to be worth it. Which is why she is such an example for so many of us. We hope you enjoyed this interview. We hope you get to meet Liza someday in person if you haven't already, because we can all attest to the fact that she's 10 times better in person than she is on a zoom call and a podcast interview. So we hope you enjoyed it. On behalf of Michael Cirillo the one and only comments here and myself. Thanks for listening to auto collapse.


32:59

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