Headed to NAMAD, A Throwback, And Intentionality

Kyle Mountsier: 0:00All right, heading in hot to 108 Always in hot. I got Jordan here with me. And we're hanging out. We're talking on a Wednesday. We're headed to name Matt, we're flying. Let's go.

‍Jordan Cox: 0:11

Let's go. Man, the way that hits on a Wednesday. That's it.

Kyle Mountsier: 0:18

I'm telling you on a Wednesday just hits like, oh man, Jordan, it's good to have you on the pod. I don't think you on the pod since you've been an official associate member like I had you on the pod a few times before that, but

Jordan Cox: 0:33

you haven't you haven't been leveraging me all the way what's going on?

Kyle Mountsier: 0:37

Well, hey, look, if nobody has listened to you in a soda con sessions, that podcast, they gotta go do that because I think you were on like five or six of them. And the conversations that you had were so good. So,

Jordan Cox: 0:51

man, those are I just love sitting down and having a conversation with people like Dr. Nicole Lipkin, Ashley Cavazos, Dana Cleve, I think of the people like John Foley, or even like Tony Lucas, like every single conversation was just perfect every single time I sat down, so I love that

Kyle Mountsier: 1:06

environment for that was so chill, right? Yeah, that's the end of this little podcast booth. And it's like, right in the middle of the expo hall. It was it was really nice. So yeah, hey, we're, uh, we are Paul and I are actually headed to the name mad conference. Today, we're going to be hot, sunny Miami, hanging out with a few people down there. And learning, like the learning that I got from that event last year, I just wish it was more well attended. Because there's so much about just how minorities in America are approaching car buying or how OEMs are leaning into minority populations and what they're doing to serve those and like the learning from it. I just wish well, we'll make sure we'll cover it. We'll make sure we've got you know, Chris and Christie will give you some updates on the on the daily email. And I'm sure Jordan, you'll be you'll be dropping some social posts as we send you pictures, the whole nine yards.

Jordan Cox: 2:03

So we'll be sharing the download with everybody. How's that sound?

Kyle Mountsier: 2:06

There you go. There you go. Well, as we're headed out today, we're like I'm running. I'm headed to the airport and gotta get down there to Miami. So we thought we'd share with you a little bit of a special episode. We don't have a UAW update. I will say yesterday, Canada, UAW and are not their version of the UAW and GM reached a deal. We'll we'll talk about all of that stuff, all the regular news tomorrow. But today, we wanted to bring you some content from last year's named mad conference, we got to talk with Brian Armstead. And this guy, he's full of energy. He's got literally the voice of God. It's unbelievable. He kept every time there was a transition. He would like boom, it from the back, like I know, next, you know, when you hear His voice, you'll hear it, but he's also got a lot of passion for the industry, a lot of passion for serving minority populations and cultures. And so we thought we'd share with you, you know,

Paul Daly: 3:06

here Brian Armstead, aka the voice of God.

Brian Armstead: 3:11

Right. All right. I'll see what

Paul Daly: 3:12

I'm saying what I'm saying. Brian, you have a long history reporting in automotive. I give us a little background on you because I think our committee doesn't know who you are. So can you give us the summary Introduce yourself? Sure. Brian

Brian Armstead: 3:22

Armstead retired foreign service officer spent a lot of time in South Asia West African have been in 79 countries. For the last 26 years I've written automotive. So I started with on wheels incorporated organizations, started by Randy Payton, who published the first black car magazine in history. What year was that? What was that? Oh, God, Earl 1997. Okay, yeah. And I joined in 1998. The doing radio for 46 years. Car Talk Show doesn't surprise me. Did a car talk show on XM called Auto sense. Then on Radio One and presently on KC BQ in San Diego and WA okay in Atlanta. And just love cars. I write for Forbes and pursue this.com And I do the name Ed. E magazine called trades every month. I've been on your show before when you were in the clubhouse? A lot of fun. Yeah. So I love cars. I eat drink sleep cars. On six cars, even though I drive a couple of press cars every week. What's your favorite? I like Mercedes Benz products. Big guy. I need a big car that safe. You know this car of all time? For me personally? Yeah,

Paul Daly: 4:36

that's a subjective question. Wow.

Brian Armstead: 4:38

That's that's a hard question. My favorite car what I think the best car is of all time

Paul Daly: 4:42

your favorite car of all time.

Brian Armstead: 4:45

Who got up Ron? Yeah. You know, if you go if you go big. Go big or go home. So

Paul Daly: 4:52

the name add the energy around the neighborhood conference seems to be growing every year. Absolutely. What is your overall perspective on the next three? The six months in a man, what do you see the big opportunities being?

Brian Armstead: 5:02

Well, just to, for more manufacturers to understand the importance of diversity, at the diversity volume Leadership Awards this morning, Mark bland from s&p global, called out the manufacturers who won awards for being top choices among minority consumers. But they weren't in the house. He did. And then took over five tables, you know, Toyota won the bulk of the awards this year, they have five products, that five tables of executives here this year, and that's not

Paul Daly: 5:30

an accident. Those two results are not separated,

Brian Armstead: 5:33

you have to practice diversity and inclusion and equity in everything that you do. It's got to be a core strategy of your business, or you're leaving money on the table.

Paul Daly: 5:44

It's also like, I think that the element of diversity, equity inclusion can sometimes get lost at the higher levels, because they think it's only a social play. That's right. And what Mark was talking about, and what NEMA talks about was like, this is a strategic Intelligent Business play as well. Absolutely. And like, look, when you compare those two things together, I think everybody wins. Yeah.

Brian Armstead: 6:07

Future majority 2045 census data shows that white Americans will no longer be the majority in this country. Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, Native American. Yep. We'll make up the core majority of our nation's population

Paul Daly: 6:21

population purchasing power. And even I thought one of the most interesting stats was he said, in Miami, right where we are right now, that only 27% of purchases are by white individuals, Caucasians, it's right. Right now today.

Brian Armstead: 6:37

Look at the demographics of the state. Absolutely. Outside of Miami. You got people running around a golf carts, man.

Paul Daly: 6:42

That's right. All right. You need

Brian Armstead: 6:44

a big golf cart, a large cachexia XL

Paul Daly: 6:47

XL, right, we get three wheels on each side. If you had one, one chance to give a little exhortation to the industry, or people who are kind of on the bubble not participating in like proactively moving the industry forward. What would you say to them?

Brian Armstead: 7:01

If you choose sugar, honey, iced tea together?

Paul Daly: 7:05

sugar honey, iced tea. That's a great well, we're gonna make a graphic for that. We'll get it together. Thank you so much for spending a few minutes with us today and can't wait till the next time. Thank you.

Kyle Mountsier: 7:14

Look, man, now I gotta I'm gonna have to stop by a little shop whip out a little shirt, Tom. He pressed me a little sugar honey iced tea, sir. Well, this is what then just to like add some commentary here. And this is what I'm excited about being involved in in the name add conference again this year. And really appreciate also, I want to shout out TrueCar for giving us the opportunity, and also partnering with us to provide all the content that we're going to be shooting. So thanks to TrueCar we'll be talking to them when we're on ground as well as just sharing more content throughout the few days. But I think this is the key that it's like creating an intentional business strategy around people groups is so important, right? Like, that's right. I talk to people about this all the time. It's like, if you just if you're just hoping that people come to you, no matter that people doesn't matter what people group that you're after, as far as marketing or, or connecting or even employee culture. If it's not an intentional strategy, then it's going to be left to chance.

Jordan Cox: 8:24

Yeah, for sure. So even the marketing aspect of it because you need to know how to speak to a certain audience. And just like he said, that audience is definitely going to change by 2045 here in the United States. So that's it's mind blowing me to think about that. And the fact that getting more people involved, building up those people and just kind of proven that they can come to I think people like Tony Lucas, for example. He came to El Paso, Texas, just to prove in live out the fact that he believes that he if he if he can do it, anybody can do it. And that's just so cool to see.

Kyle Mountsier: 8:58

There you go, Well, hey, look, if you want to fly to Miami, now meet up your boy because I guarantee you find a way for you to connect with people and learn more about being intentional about your strategies around how to care for diverse culture. Because caring for people no matter what the culture, what the background is exactly what we're all about here and so do and in Toronto, and we know you're going to care for someone. Go do it.

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