Digital Dealer - October 2019 - 12

D E A L E R OP S & M ANAGEM ENT: Own e r sh i p Continued from pg. 10

da, doo, doo."
"For heaves sakes, Doc,"
I responded in frustration
as Sarah's dad chuckled.
"Would you stop these
shenanigans and..."
Doc raised his finger
to stop me mid-sentence
and make an apparently,
well-rehearsed point. "Coincidentally, the tune I was
humming supports some
thoughts that Sarah may
want to consider." Having
our attention, he gathered
his thoughts to support his
next point. "Sarah, after an
impressive 10 years with a
tech start-up, you've been
here three years, during
which time you have made
some astute observations,
including it's time for your
dad to retire; you need a
new DMS, a BDC, social
marketing geeks; and deployment of excess working
capital to purchase more
rooftops."
"Yes!" Sarah responded
in frustration. "I have heard
from everyone that we must
change, or our dealerships are going to become
roadkill on the high-tech
highway."
"Yes, Sarah," responded
Doc with an affirming smirk,
"adapting to change is important. However, I contend
that the change you are
proposing amounts to a
cultural revolution whereas
I believe your best opportunity for succession is evolution. Otherwise, roadkill
may appear merciful compared to the firestorm you
could encounter if some of
the competing priorities surfaced while dealing with the
fallout of your revolution."
12

OCTOBER 2019

Her face softened, and
it was now apparent that
Doc had her attention.
She sat back into her chair
as he continued. "Would
you agree that your dad
is the accepted leader
at the moment?" Sarah
reluctantly shrugged her
shoulders encouraging Doc
to continue. "Revolution
removes leadership but
does not necessarily create
a new leader. Your implied
concept of asserting new
leadership is an oxymoron. You can dictate action
through control but cannot
make people follow you.
The fundamental requirement of leadership is trust,
which must be earned over
the test of time. And nobody
here trusts you, Sarah,
because you are a self-professed agent of change,
which scares your managers mindless. Even if your
dad declared you the new
dealer and walked out, few
if any would follow. Your
managers would go into
DEFCON 3, assuming they
were on the bubble. They
would start playing 'look out
for me,' and those who felt
they had horsepower would
jump to another less volatile
job. If during the turmoil of
your revolution, another hot
issue surfaced, you would
find yourself in a hot mess.
"So, what other hot
issues are you talking
about?" challenged Sarah
with continuing resistance
to being schooled by an old
fart.
Doc jumped back to
some quick seat-buggy
visibly celebrating the
stage he had achieved. He

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

pointed at Sarah and with a
big smile continued. "I am
glad you asked what we
could be doing, while you
were evolving into the next
generation leader of this
terrific organization." Doc
paused a moment to smile
at her dad, who was getting
the jest of what was coming
down and flashed a big grin
in return. "So, what if your
dad was unable to work,
and Charlie, the CFO and
approved successor on all
these franchises, became
your boss? These manufacturers are as serious as
a heart attack when they
say they will only deal with
the approved successor.
The only title the manufacturers care about is dealer
principal."
A visible grimace came
to Sarah's face, who was
about to respond when
Doc continued. "And Miss
Princess-of-Change,
what if your dad dropped
dead, and his will directed
two-thirds control of these
franchises to your two older
sisters who love Charlie
because he's the one who
sends them those stupid
checks every month?"
"What the?!" shouted
Sarah in disbelief looking at
her dad. "You told me you
had addressed that issue."
"Sweetie, since your
Mom died, I haven't had
the mental energy to figure
out how to remain fair to
everyone," responded her
dad in defense of what was
obviously a very delicate
point.
"And here's a news flash
Sarah," continued Doc.
"Your best two GMs are

beyond frustration about
stock ownership. They are
talking to head-hunters. If
you continue kicking that
can down the road, they will
be exiting stage left."
Sarah closed her eyes,
and leaned her head back
in her chair, murmuring
words under her breath that
were best not said. I felt
Doc had made his point,
and we needed to give her
a moment to adjust. Wrong
assumption as I heard the
tapping again. "Revolution,
evolution, what's it going to
be? Revolution, evolution,
what's it going to be?"
"Would you shut up down
there?" Sarah jabbed in
submission, with her eyes
still closed. "Your grasp of
the obvious is very unimpressive." "Just trying
to figure out what we are
doing here," responded Doc
impishly. "Because if it's
revolution, we are going to
need another five pages of
action items."
Moral of this story: It's
easy for Nextgen leaders
to get over their ski's. The
path to change can appear
so clear, but many potholes
are lurking in the shadows.
To avoid a revolution, work
to find ways to partner with
existing ownership and key
leaders, while building your
Nextgen team.
LOYD H. RAWLS, Chairman
of The Rawls Group, has
specialized in succession
planning for closely-held, familyowned businesses since 1973.
Well respected in his field, Mr.
Rawls is a highly requested
speaker and has published
numerous articles and
publications on this subject.
http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM
Digital Dealer - October 2019

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