If there was ever a time in our industry that leadership was necessary, it's now! When Henry Ford built the first model T, who would ever know that the Automobile, once a filthy "Horseless contraption" would revolutionise and galvanise a Country so much and be the subject of so much controversy.

I had spent almost fifteen years of my life in the area of leadership development, both on the personal front and the business side. I had a wonderful opportunity to become mentored by one of the greatest experts on the cognitive sciences of how your mind works and decided that one day, I wanted to be the person sharing this information to all who wanted to learn and make an impact in their personal and business lives. This man was Lou Tice, Founder of the Pacific Institute. More about Lou later, this is to discuss why leadership in the automobile industry has been in such a disarray over the last thirty years.

Trust based leadership is something that very few businesses ever get to experience, but I did experience it and when trust in an Organization is prevalent, amazing things happen. There is no growth without goals, yet goals so often are never achieved, or for that matter, ever thought of and put to paper. It can be said that it is due to a lack of trust in the goal, or that the goal was not "My idea" therefore I don't see a value in attempting to reach it. There are five main debilitators to trust; The first is Fear.

Fear can kill any Organizations chances of growing. Their is also no growth without change and most People are afraid of change because they cannot see themselves safely moving toward the new vision or goal.

The second is anger resentment. When People do not want to change, they can resent the changes and this creates a tremendous loss of positive energy, also robbing them of the willingness to get the work done. When Animated leaders recognize this, they can swiftly move to show their employees the way, create pathways to steer the employee away from the anger or resentment.

Thirdly, Compulsive competitive egos. "I have to better than you at all cost". This is a highly damaging element that is often hidden in top producers, who keep others down beneath them by compulsive egotistical values. Let us not confuse those top producers who help elevate others around them. These are the true professionals and in the Automobile industry, it is quite common to see Managers praise top performers that also have poor work habits and keep others from succeeding, by undermining them or making problems in the workforce through stirring trouble among fellow employees. A good Manager or leader recognizes this and tends to the problem quickly.

Fourth is suspicion. With this one, trust becomes impossible. Managers who listen to idle gossip and then give sanction to what they hear will have a tendency to share their thoughts with other managers and salespeople alike. When a Company has suspicion, there is absolutely zero trust and you will see Organizations constantly changing employees, Managers and turnover in these Organizations is high.

Last is passive agression. there are so many ways to "Get back at someone" and Managers or leaders who use this can destroy what little trust there might be. A good leader will often share through open communication what the common goal or vision is and get People to buy into theat goal. The Peope issues must take priority if trust based leadership is to exist. The Automobile industry has been poisoned over the years because bad managers hire bad salespeople, who in turn become even worse managers and so the cycle continues.

The best organizations in the Country are highly efficacious, meaning having the ability to cause or bring about change. During my travels with Chrysler Academy in 2008, I saw this in every corner of the Country. The best performing dealer ships, or benchmark organizations always seemed to have happy co teaming individuals with a strong emphasis on empowerment and trust. On the other hand, the dealers who continually complained about poor results, high turnover and lagging sales and service, were the ones that did not take what I am saying here seriously. If you want to be successful, you must create successful thoughts and channel them to your Organization.

Animated leaders need to concern themselves with the debilitators and avoid them, they must also promote the good of the organization and the benefits that come to those who buy in to the goal or vision. They must trust one hundred percent, until given ample reason not to and they must have peace within the infrastructure of the Company. Two more things to require are co-teaming responsibility and open communication. The best ideas often come from the People who you would least expect, but when you do not have open communication, this can be lost forever.

As a final note, I have always remembered two quotes given to me by Lou and they were this; Why must I force you with words, to do the things that if you did them, you would benefit from doing and you know that!

The other one is; To know how to do something and not do it, is just like not knowing, so what's the point? if you know, do something about it. What are you going to do?