In this episode, Matt Granados interviews James Ricci, the President and COO of the Royfoss Automotive Group. They discuss how the company pours into its employees through training, personal development, and community involvement. James emphasizes the importance of the Foss Circle, which focuses on individual development, relationships, and impact. He also highlights the company's open-door policy and willingness to seek external training and support. James shares how they prioritize employee well-being, mental health, and work-life balance. He also discusses the importance of continuous learning, unconventional approaches, and creating a culture of connection and depth. James acknowledges the gaps in leadership development, focus, and execution that the company is working on.
Keywords:
employee training, personal development, community involvement, open-door policy, external training, mental health, work-life balance, continuous learning, unconventional approaches, leadership development, focus, execution
Takeaways:
The Royfoss Automotive Group focuses on individual development, relationships, and impact through the Foss Circle.
The company has an open-door policy and seeks external training and support when needed.
Employee well-being, mental health, and work-life balance are prioritized.
Continuous learning and unconventional approaches are embraced.
The company is working on gaps in leadership development, focus, and execution.
Sound Bites:
"Your people said that if you can't solve it here, you guys go outside to find solutions."
"We bring our work home and we bring our home to work."
"At 50 plus years old, it taught me that I can try and accomplish new things."
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and Overview
01:23 Pouring into Employees: Training, Personal Development, and Community Involvement
10:58 Prioritizing Employee Well-being and Work-Life Balance
13:46 Continuous Learning and Unconventional Approaches
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
team's time to do this.
So we'll get started.
All good.
And it's Richie is how I pronounce your last name, right?
Richie.
Thank God I asked.
All right.
Cool.
All right.
Hey everybody.
Welcome back to best people, best place.
This is a podcast where we try to find the best places to work and the way we figure outif they're good places to work as we go and we talk to the people who are working in them,
(00:29):
not necessarily the people who are running them.
Then we bring that conversation here and we are so excited to talk with James.
James, do me a favor, introduce yourself, let us know who you are, what you do, and thenwe're gonna jump into what your employees said about working for your organization.
All right, yeah, so nice to be here, Matt.
I'm James Ricci.
(00:49):
So I'm the president and COO of the Royfoss Automotive Group.
So we are a 62 plus year old business, third generation family business in the automotivespace.
So we've got car dealerships, we've got a fleet management leasing business, and thenwe've got some real estate and other investments.
(01:10):
We're really about mobility and the future of sustainable transportation and that's kindof our focus and we're thinking about the future and we're thinking about how our legacy
lives on in the next 60 plus years.
So that's me.
Awesome.
And one thing I love, James, about what you do is being in a 60 plus year old industry, anindustry that all of us have experienced in one way, shape or form.
(01:32):
But the way you're constantly pouring into your people.
We got about 15 to 20 pages of comments back from your staff on the good that you all do.
The way we do this, we break it up into three sections.
First is what do you do to pour into the employees?
So how do you actually train them to do their job?
The tactical side.
Then we jump into how do you actually pour into the individual who's the employees, how doyou personally develop the individual?
(01:57):
And then finally, what's the good that you do in the community you're in outside of justbuilding out your business and obviously earning for your stakeholders.
So first thing, and we're just going to take quotes directly from your people, right?
And James, you haven't seen these yet, but here's one that says it's exactly right.
You got to get ready for it.
It says it's our culture at Roy Foss to help each other out.
(02:18):
So what they offer is an open door policy to help us grow.
And if something that we cannot help identify, they offer outside training.
This was a common thread that came through many, many times.
I just wanted to summarize it with that one comment.
Your people said that if you can't solve it here, you guys go outside to find solutions.
(02:39):
How does that work?
And why do you not limit yourself to just what's internal?
Yeah, so what I want to pick up on something you said a little bit earlier and then I'llanswer that question.
So the way that we think about it, we created what was called the Foss circle.
I want to say like eight years ago and at the core of it is three dimensions of thecircle.
(03:00):
So at the center is me, the second ring is we and the outer ring is work or impact.
So me is about the individual and personal development.
And that spans a number of different things.
It could just be mental health.
It could be how people show up from an energy point of view, people's kind of individualaptitude, learning and growth.
(03:22):
And then beyond that obviously is the we.
That's the relationships that people have with their team, their boss, their directreports, other parts of the organization.
That's the we and then even outside of work.
And then the third realm is work.
It's really impact.
through the work that we do and that the obvious stuff is you know if it's selling carsthat's that's work if it's servicing vehicles if it's generating fleet business
(03:47):
opportunities whatever the work is you know in the business and outside the businessthat's how we think about it and so I think it's just part of our legacy over the last you
know since 1962 that we've been constant learners at all levels of the organization
from my grandfather Roy who started the business to my mother Karen who was the second gento myself.
(04:10):
There's a like an appetite, an appetite across the board, starting with ourselves toreally grow and identify areas where we need to improve.
And so, you know, obviously a lot of organizations focus on the functions that they, youknow, if it's a sales organization, they focus on sales training, but we look at all rung
to the FOSS circle and we're constantly looking for gaps and whether that's gaps that weidentify and some of the team members and leaders.
(04:35):
or whether it's gaps that people on our team self -identify.
And so we're always looking for ways to improve.
It starts with, you know, not necessarily focusing on what we lack, but really focusing onhow do we grow, how can we expand, how can we drive impact, how can we grow as leaders.
And so that's really what drives a lot of the conversations.
And at a personal level, I love bringing in things that are really unconventional, whetherthat's, you know, for example, we did an offsite a few months ago.
(05:03):
where I brought in breathwork to our entire leadership team.
And it was a very fundamental shift for many of the different experiences that we've hadbefore.
Matt, I don't know if you've done breathwork before, but for people that aren'tnecessarily exposed to that realm, it was an eye -opening thing.
And I think the goal is, to make a long answer to your question longer, is really shiftingthe mindset so that we can have other kinds of conversations and connect at a different
(05:31):
level.
So yeah, that's kind of how we think about learning and engaging in third party support.
I think when it comes to the constant answer, right, we ask people specific questions likehow do they train you technically?
And everyone kept coming into that kind of those three rings to the, to the personal side,which is interesting because I think it's the right way to do it because the tactical side
(05:53):
of what you do that's trained pretty quickly, right?
And it's not, I don't want to say yours, but most things aren't that difficult.
The individual comes with some foreknowledge, but then it's more of how does it work inour system?
Right?
If you've sold cars over there.
the concept of selling a car is similar, but here's how we do it on our end, right?
So that side gets quick.
Another thing somebody said was when they asked what was the best part about just how youguys pour into them as employees was transparency.
(06:19):
They put it in all caps.
They say goals, business needs, numbers, emotionally with benefits like the dialogueprogram, which we are definitely getting into what the heck that is.
And also approachable and understanding leadership goes a long way in a positive mindset,which helps productivity overall.
Right after that, the next one said, again, we have the dialogue program, which helps uspersonally understand and overcome challenges and lots of great training quarterly off
(06:45):
sites like you just talked about workshops on challenging ourselves to open up about ourtrue feelings.
Like you guys, sure you're a car company.
Like when we hear these things, like that's not what a traditional car company does fortheir people.
So how does that, in your opinion, help people sell cars?
(07:06):
Yeah, well, that's a great question.
And I bet you a lot of people listening, especially in my industry would say, why are wewasting our time on these kinds of things?
Right.
What's so I mean, I think I learned a long time ago that a lot of the changes at anorganizational level are much more upstream.
than what we think.
Most often, just in my experience, and I don't want to say I woke up and had these grandvisions.
(07:31):
I've failed on many different initiatives that we've launched before.
I've had great ideas and all from great intentions, but I've missed the mark most oftenbecause I feel that...
tried to address the symptom as opposed to some of the root cause.
And I think fundamentally, one of the biggest ways that we can impact at a corporate levelis through leadership.
(07:55):
And I'm not just talking about leadership as a general term that gets thrown around.
I think that there's a lot of suffering, a lot of misdirection, and a lot of wasted timeand energy by people who are in management positions that don't understand themselves,
don't understand what they value, and don't understand how to connect with
(08:15):
beyond a transactional, do this, go here, and you know what have you done for me lately.
And I've been guilty of that at times, but I think that the investment in some of theseprograms is like we say check up from the neck up, right?
Is making sure that like first if you're in a bad mood, if you're grumpy and you show upin a meeting, you know that the quality of that meeting is going to be impacted.
(08:39):
And if you've got a manager with 15 direct reports,
and they're all dealing with three customers.
What's the impact of the ripple effect of that negative wake, emotional wake that youleave on them?
And so we realized that so much of our time and energy as leaders is in
psychology is in mindset is in thinking about like how are we going to show up for peoplein a way that helps but also creates accountability.
(09:03):
We don't do all these things because we want to feel good and be in some sort of woo -woocircle.
We do them because they help us connect deeper and drive impact, right?
So
dialogue, I mean, that's a great example of a tool that we came across through ourbenefits provider and it provides essentially no charge, virtual mental health support for
(09:24):
people that are going through.
whether it's crisis or different forms of depression or anxiety.
And it's a tool that we just give for free.
And it's an amazing tool because we recognize that, look, I mean, there's a lot of peoplethat say business and personal are separate, but I think those people have never actually
(09:45):
run businesses if they think that way.
There's a difference, of course, between creating boundaries, healthy boundaries.
But the reality is that we bring our work home.
and we bring our home to work.
And if we don't recognize that, then I think we have a lot of people who go in differentdirections and don't understand like the person behind the position.
(10:06):
And so these things are really important.
And, you know, another initiative that we did, I want to say eight years ago, seven yearsago was we called it the FOSS Challenge.
It was part of an organizational platform that we were launching.
And basically it was a bike ride from
Montreal, Canada to Toronto, Canada.
(10:28):
And we provided bikes for over 60 of our employees.
We gave them training sessions and together it was just a way for us to connect at adeeper level to understand what resilience meant and kind of building that capacity.
that would obviously translate.
And I think a lot of people that are still with us that were part of that program, thatamazing bike ride, it was one of the most incredible experiences, in some cases of their
(10:57):
lives.
And it was a really special experience.
me share with you what someone said about that, right?
Cause that was something I wanted to bring up.
It says, our company has done some very interesting things.
It's not every day that you have a company that pours on their people the way ours does.
One of them was the false challenge where they supplied us with bikes and we trained for ayear to complete a bike ride from Montreal to Toronto at their expense.
(11:19):
This is the part that I love.
At 50 plus years old, it taught me that I can try and accomplish new things.
We have a motto, obviously, that all of us use, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
And what I think you're showing there is, yes, you can, if you actually pay attention tothe person.
The other thing, just to double down on what you were just talking about, our HRdepartment has one of the best offers I've ever seen, and it's an app called Dialogue,
(11:45):
which they have put in place.
This is to assist us with any personal struggles, regardless of what it is, and there'ssomeone there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for us to always communicate with.
So like the reason I love hearing this is a lot of times as leaders of a company of yoursize, you put a lot of effort into an investment, right?
Yeah, it's free to the employee, but it's not free to you, right?
(12:08):
Like there is a fee that comes with it and do our employees ever get it?
With all the things you do for your team and as widespread as your team is, numbers,difference in just kind of their background and what their knowledge is.
How do you make sure that the investment you put into your team is being received by yourteam and is positively impacting the business?
(12:31):
Well...
would say that it's a constant work in progress, right?
Because for every great intention or idea, there's a million things that cross anyindividual's mind and any team's mind in a given day, week, month, year, right?
And so I think what we try and do, and we need to do a better job, we always could do abetter job, is making sure that we communicate some of these things, that they don't get
(12:55):
lost in kind of the overwhelm of everyone's daily whirlwind, right?
And so what I like
do and what I started a few months ago is kind of a monthly you know email to the fullcompany that highlights a few things right so it highlights some of our top performers
across the business it highlights some of our verbatim quotes from
(13:18):
from our customers.
It highlights our employees of the month winners.
And then lastly, related to your question, it highlights a few benefits that we offer toremind people, hey, listen, we have this tool.
I don't know if you recognize or remember that we have this, but we have this one resourcehere, whether it's a healthcare spending account or dialogue or whatever it is.
(13:40):
So there's a lot of different things that we try and do it.
But the reality is that it takes leadership.
at all levels of the company just to remind people because there's so many differentthings going on and I think just holding space for it and just recognizing that we do have
to remind people, that's our approach.
that's good.
Here's one.
(14:00):
Someone just put continuous trainings, a focus of the company, various social events tohelp employees develop social skills.
And it says work -life balance to refocus our values.
A couple of parts that I thought was really interesting.
Number one, social events, right?
We spent a lot of time and the company spent a lot of money on these social events, butthey said this so that we can develop our social skills.
(14:23):
Is there an intention behind these social events that you want your people to recognizeand has that been shared by you or is that something they've just taken up?
Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, most of the interactions we have with the team arebusiness oriented, right?
I mean, but if we look at any time, I'll speak personally, if I, anytime I've reallyaccomplished or been part of a group that's accomplished something, there's been a level
(14:50):
of connection or depth of realness in the relationship that underpins that group or team,or even if it's a one -to -one thing, that is just intangible.
And you can go through life and be a dictatorial kind of do this for me or transactionalin how you approach people.
(15:11):
But I just find that if people understand kind of what you're about.
and that you're not just a guy who dresses in suits and kind of walks through from meetingto meeting and says good morning, but doesn't really take a time.
The more that you can connect with people, and not just me, but everyone across differentdepartments, the deeper the depth of the cultural foundation becomes.
(15:34):
And it's just a genuine thing.
The more human we can reveal each other, the more that we're able to connect and do greatthings.
And so sometimes it's bullying.
Sometimes it's just an ice cream truck on a warm
Sometimes it's you know meeting in the shop, sometimes it's you know we do an annual Fossbash where we invite everyone and their significant other to kind of come to a special
(15:57):
gala.
Like all these things can add up right?
One of them, someone says, encourages a positive work -life balance.
And again, very, very clearly says respects family, encourages and promotes employees toemploy positive relationships by providing a forum to do so.
So I'm hearing all these different things that you've put into place.
(16:18):
Your employees are seeing that you're doing this, right?
It's not going unseen.
It's going very much recognized and very much grateful for.
Are there any other forums that you've
put into place that maybe someone listening to this could add into their place to gettheir people to come together and build that family mindset.
Yeah, I mean, I think that there's a few things.
(16:40):
I think one of the things, it's less of a forum, but more of a...
So last year we launched what's called, what we call internally the FOSS Pillars, which isbasically a scorecard for how we define success.
We kind of code name our quarterly meetings, our off sites is LFG meetings.
I'll let you think about what that acronym stands for.
(17:00):
But anyway...
(17:23):
Hehehehe
of them.
And I bring this up because one of the things that we realize is that we don't spendenough time thinking about our community beyond the customer.
And so we're about to launch a program right now that came out of these meetings, theseforums together called FOSS Cares.
And essentially FOSS Cares is a mixture of our investment in
(17:48):
what I would call three categories of philanthropy and volunteer work.
So strategic support of community organizations and nonprofits that are at, for example,I'm on the board of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and we focus on mental health and youth
mentorship.
That's one of the core themes of our giving.
(18:10):
But the second and arguably equally, if not more important, is a budget that we're puttingin place that's empowered
for all the different business unit leaders to support individual team members, soemployees at all levels that say, hey listen, I'm involved in this charity initiative, or
I do this with my son's hockey team, or whatever it is, and they have that purse that theycan then use to support causes that are meaningful.
(18:39):
And then the third run is we're volunteering employee time, and we're actually trackingthis.
people will go in and be able to, through the payroll system, connect something that ismeaningful.
Maybe they just don't have money to give, but they have time to give and we'll help themdonate their time by allowing them to use, in a pre -approved way, some of their volunteer
(19:02):
time.
during company hours.
So this is a good example and then we have other committees as well.
We've got our social committee that helps think through how are we going to, you know, wedon't have unlimited resources to do all this stuff, but we're just very intentional about
some of the things that we prioritize.
So that's kind of how we think about it.
me through that because that's an interesting concept.
(19:22):
I hear a lot of really interesting things.
This is a new one.
So it's not PTO that you're giving them, but it's similar to that, but it's for volunteerwork.
So if they feel like they want to help something and it's happening on Tuesday at one o'clock till four o 'clock, they can come get pre -approved time off.
Is it paid or not paid?
(19:43):
It is paid.
OK.
So in other words, we're donating their time at our cost.
Now it's not, we're not gonna go crazy and say like, I've got a three week trip to CostaRica where I really wanna help somebody make a profit on their beachside bar.
(20:04):
But, and it does take a little bit of faith and...
We're just about to launch it right now, right?
So I'll let you know how it results, but it's not just about money.
Oftentimes people just need time.
You know, like we did a few years ago, we did a collaborative initiative with a local, wedid two organizations.
One was a local park cleanup.
(20:24):
Believe it or not, there's a lot of need for like filthy parks to be cleaned up ofgarbage.
And you know, it was just, there was something, it's simple and maybe not that sexy, butit was very powerful.
doing that.
And another one, we had people volunteer at a senior retirement home.
You know, a lot of these people don't have anyone to visit them.
And so just having somebody to talk with them, you know, so these are some of the thingsthat we're thinking about.
(20:49):
And I think that when we do these things, they energize people going back to what we'retalking about, like, when you feel kind of in alignment with yourself as a good human,
you're just in a better spirit when you show up at work.
I don't know if you've seen that in your life, but it's definitely, I found it for me, forsure.
I mean, not only that in my life, that's our entire business is exactly what you're doing.
(21:12):
Like is if we get the optimal version of the person to come to work, the job itself is notthe hard part.
It's life.
That's hard.
Job is honestly the most sustainable thing most people have in their life.
And that's what's so cool about that concept.
If you're listening to this and you're like, what's my one takeaway, find a way to set up.
What did you call the, the volunteer time?
(21:33):
Do you have a name for it at all?
Cares is the overarching program.
But just some type of way to set up a certain amount of hours per week that an individualcan take, or if it's a monthly thing or an annual thing, probably mimic it off your PTO
program.
Very similar to that, I would think.
And I think most softwares that are doing payroll right now should be able to pop that inpretty easily for anyone who's listening to this.
(21:57):
And I could just imagine people being able to go volunteer at things they care about thatyou then...
can support and pay for it without actually writing a check to these actual nonprofits.
Because as someone who owns a foundation and works with a lot of nonprofits, bodies aresometimes more important than money.
And it's real easy for, especially car dealerships, right?
(22:18):
Let's stroke a check and let's put our name on the back of this and over here.
But no, no, we're gonna put our people in your world and let you help.
That is, again, maybe I'm just as salty for nonprofits and serving and giving back.
We haven't gotten to that point yet of how you guys give back, but that is a huge benefit.
that I think few people will ever think of.
Where's all this come from, man?
(22:39):
This is a very old school industry, right?
Extremely successful group of car dealerships.
Where does it all come from?
Do you wake up in the middle of the night and these ideas pop in your head?
Is it a group, I got to know you said some of them came from the forums.
Yeah, I would say this particular...
So my answer to that question is, I like to consume different types of knowledge, insight,whether it's in the form of reading podcasts, whether it's in the form of peer groups or
(23:14):
lectures or conferences.
And I think we have similar themes.
So I like to consider myself like the curator.
of some of these ideas and I look at our business like a laboratory, right?
So we come in, we have these ideas and like, you know, if they, if, you know, 51 % of thetime.
(23:36):
you know, these things that we try, you know, are working and that's great.
And so it will start as a conversation and oftentimes it's in the right mindset.
So these LFG offsites have been great ways for us to think through that, but it's justpart of our DNA.
Like in the same way that we're looking for what's happening in our industry, we're justlooking for creative ways to connect with people and to do things a little bit
(24:00):
differently.
And that's where the results are at the end of the day.
come from in my opinion.
It's not by doing what everyone else does because by definition that yields averagereturns.
So we're looking for a little bit of difference but in a practical and meaningful way, notgetting carried away by the flavor of the month.
Yeah, and that's the other part is it seems like you're taking information and you'readapting it to where how you guys need it, right?
(24:26):
I come in, you hear me speak.
You're not sitting there trying to mold it around what Matt said is you're taking whatMatt said and you're molding it around your culture.
And I think one question, God.
go ahead.
Yeah, I think that's the biggest takeaway that the learning, the biggest learning at a CEOlevel, it's so easy to, it's easy to come up with an idea and even implement it, but for
(24:52):
sustaining it and not having it become a flavor of the month and actually creating morenegative backlash because here's the newest.
greatest idea that we're gonna forget about in six months.
Learning that lesson has taken me my entire 15 year career.
(25:13):
Because time and time again, I've launched, and especially around eight years ago, thislast kind of LFG process has been born out of a very humbling failure of...
Eight years ago, we did a pretty aggressive, you know, 2020 game plan to double ourbusiness.
(25:33):
And, you know, just speaking honestly,
It was kind of, while it was ambitious and exciting, it showed a bit of aloofness on mypart because at that time there were some obvious things that needed to be focused on and
addressed and we were focusing on this grandiose vision.
And so I think to your point, it's so important.
(25:56):
It's kind of molding the idea.
to serve the organization as opposed to changing everything about the organization tobring one idea to life.
Well, I think that's what's so interesting.
And even what you're talking about here is it seems as if you've built a culture that nowallows you to do it.
And for the first seven years or so, right, versus the eight years since you kind of madethat transition, it was almost like the culture wasn't there to receive it.
(26:25):
Like there was no one there to catch the ball.
It's like you had a great idea.
You brought it and everyone like, well, what do we do with it?
We're selling cars.
What are you trying to?
So there was a process.
This doesn't seem like it was an overnight.
All of a sudden you had a great idea, LFG starts and boom, we're amazing.
It was a grind.
Yeah, and at different parts of the journey, there were different needs that theorganization had.
(26:47):
I mean, yeah, so it's very much, I think, a case of just, I think you said it very well,which is that it can't be a one person show.
And ideation has to come at the top, but also at the grassroots level and meet in themiddle.
That's where the beauty happens.
And that's where I think we're coming into a stride right now.
(27:09):
And I'm really excited.
We've got a whole bunch of things that we're working on.
You know, we can reconnect in a year's time and I'm more excited.
The LFG part is about our future as well.
And we just spent our last offsite meeting reviewing our values.
And that's an interesting process, which I could share maybe another time with you.
But at the end of the day, it's also about driving, getting clear about what are theresults that you want to drive, right?
(27:36):
It's not just the idea for the idea's sake.
It's relating back to the pillars, our people, our customer, our community, our business
our future and each of them has different metrics that we want to optimize for.
Cool, so 15 years into this, you got a lot of really amazing things going on.
And you and I have been talking back and forth for the last few months, right?
So like, this is not like the first time you and I have heard about this.
(27:57):
What advice do you give someone listening to you that's going, wait a minute, I'm way offthe mark.
I wanna get back on path.
Like how would you streamline your 15 years of trial and error?
to get someone to get started, to get back where they need to be.
To be able to build a culture that will accept these new crazy ideas that I think a lot ofus want to implement.
And a lot of my clients, they really want to do what you're doing, but they haven't builtthe foundation yet.
(28:24):
I think the learning that comes to mind for me right now, and this is part of what we werejust talking about, is a shift in mindset of having to perfect all parts of a vision and
strategy and business plan.
and tying everything, there's this kind of instinct that a lot of people have, leadershave, that it has to be perfect and it has to be perfectly laid out.
(28:50):
But I think the real awareness that I've felt is that so much in life, individually,personally, and at work, so much of life is a momentum game.
And so to build quick wins is such a huge part of this, and I'll give you a specificexample.
So...
We read the book Traction as a leadership team together, my executive team and I.
(29:12):
We implemented some of the principles in EOS.
And so I would highly recommend that as just an exciting read to give the structure.
But the biggest impact on our business has been the concept of identifying and developingbig rocks, no more than two to three.
And so what I, big rock just to...
(29:35):
to clarify in case people aren't familiar with, are basically, you're gonna have a millionthings as a leader or as an employee that you're gonna have to do today, this week, this
month, this quarter, this year.
And rather than try and do everything to maintain the business plus 10 different businesspriorities, looking at our business and saying, hey listen, based on our customer
(29:56):
feedback, based on our assessment of the business, what are the top two to three
big rocks that we want to say holding everything else constant would have the biggestimpact on our business.
And then creating accountability with champions for each of those big rocks, defining themas a smart goal with the end of the quarter and really just creating momentum.
(30:20):
Forget about all these other creative ideas that will come as you develop momentum, butit's really creating clarity around this.
And then from there, I think the reality is, is just understanding
where do you want to go as a business and honestly, and engaging the team in that process.
Are the values that we have for the business, do they mean anything?
Are they just writing on the wall?
(30:40):
And is the team engaged around it?
And then shifting, getting clear on what does success look like one year from now, threeyears from now, five years from now, 15 years from now, getting clear on that, and then
working backwards to say, hey listen, if success is this on people,
and we don't know how engaged or well retained our employees are, how are we supposed toimprove what we're not measuring?
(31:07):
And then once we do measure it, what are different ways, whether it's volunteer programsor new and unique benefits that we can do to really move the needle?
But I think it starts with momentum and building confidence that we can say, hey, we knowhow to prioritize, we know what's important, and then going from there.
The other thing I see in your, just your character, the authentic who you are is yourwillingness to say, look, I tried that, that didn't work.
(31:29):
I want to try this and here's how, here's, I kind of reflect on why that didn't work.
I know that didn't work.
And because of that, we're not going to do that again.
And we're going to come over here.
And I know we talk about as a leader, it's the one thing to take responsibility, but a lotof people take responsibility and kind of skirt the issue, right?
Like they feel like, I messed up.
So give me grace and let me come over here.
It's like, no, no, let me sit on this and tell you how I messed up.
(31:52):
what we learned from it and why we're not going to do that again.
And if I try to do it again, smack me back on path.
And I think that's something that I've seen you just connect back and forth with yourleadership team.
Real quick, before we wrap up, I always like to ask people because we talk about howperfect your company is and how there's no flaws and all that stuff.
But in reality, every company is banged up and messed up.
(32:12):
That's the only reason we have a job, right?
So we focus on gaps with Life Pulse.
You know this already, but
What are some of the gaps that are stopping your team and your organization fromoptimizing the results that you can get?
What are some of the hurdles that you're running into right now that you're trying to workthrough with your team?
Well, I'll be honest, for as much as we've talked about how we've invested in leadershipdevelopment, I mean, we still have leadership gaps across the board at all levels of the
(32:42):
organization.
And I think being honest about that, including even in myself, I think that there firstand foremost is there's a natural conversation between focus and the...
widening the aperture to focus on different creative possibilities and different ideas.
And so that tension between saying no and just being focused and being seduced by othershiny opportunities, there's a great quote that says, I think it was, anyway, Jonathan
(33:19):
Sacks, I think his name is attributed to, I think the key part is differentiating betweenan opportunity to be seized and a distraction to be avoided.
And it's a great quote and we're still trying to figure it out because, you know, sothat's one thing I think at a practical level, I think increasing the right now there is a
(33:40):
bit of a disconnect, I would say between some of the great stuff and the progress at theleadership level and the rest of the employees.
And I think that I would love to see in the next few weeks, months and really years us toreally
open the circle a little bit to a wider community of people and do a better job.
So we just launched, we're calling it the Moonshot pipeline in the spirit of LFG to kindof bubble up new ideas, not just from managers, but from every part of the organization.
(34:11):
But we're trying to create a culture of positive, constructive disruption.
And to do that, I think we've got to do a better job of getting people exposed.
to some of these things.
And then I think last is that, you know, execution.
I would say idea, 1%.
(34:32):
Execution is the 99%, right?
Is maintaining an idea, implementing it, making sure we're evolving is the businessdemands.
And so I would say that...
ability to get alignment from all levels of the company around, hey, this is how we wantto do business.
This is why it's important.
And when you do this, when you go off script, you know, it creates a whole bunch offrustration for our customers, for other team members that have to pick up the slack,
(35:01):
right?
So like, you know, those are 30 ,000 foot level challenges and opportunities that we'rereally focused on right now.
No, and I think it's huge.
And I think I, we ask questions to your people, what are the gaps?
And you've summarized, I would say a high majority of what your people are seeing as well.
Which again, it shows the connection that you have as a leader up top with the people allthe way down.
(35:22):
A couple of things you said that I want listeners to understand.
Number one is take whatever you're doing with your leadership team and find a way to pushit down through the whole organization.
Don't stop at your first level.
It's not going to work because it needs to, it needs to go through almost like waterdripping through the whole thing.
Number two is a concept that we talk about, which is the goal is not to get everythingdone, it's to get the right things done.
(35:43):
And that's what happens when you're running into that.
And then the final piece, James, if people are trying to find you, like I said, I see youas a thought leader again, we didn't talk much about selling cars.
So if you came on here to learn how to sell cars, that's not what the point of thispodcast is James.
How do people find you, reach out to you, hear what you're doing, understand some of yourphilosophies outside of just what we heard here, where can they find you?
(36:04):
Yeah, two places that I'd recommend people have checked me out.
The first is on LinkedIn, first and foremost.
So just enter my name, James Ricci on LinkedIn.
And the second is my personal website, jamesfossricci .com.
Those would be the two great places to start.
Awesome.
We'll put those in the show notes.
We'll put them out there.
Everybody.
James, I appreciate you doing all the things you're doing in an industry that you're doingit in, but at the level you're doing it in is commemorable.
(36:31):
And it's honestly, your employees are seeing it and the success of your businesses aswell.
So thank you so much, James.
Everybody.
We appreciate you being here, listening, watching, being a part of this.
Check out James, check out the stuff he has going on and we will see you on the nextepisode of best people, best place.
Have a great day.
Thanks for watching.
team's time to do this.
So we'll get started.
All good.
And it's Richie is how I pronounce your last name, right?
Richie.
Thank God I asked.
All right.
Cool.
All right.
Hey everybody.
Welcome back to best people, best place.
This is a podcast where we try to find the best places to work and the way we figure outif they're good places to work as we go and we talk to the people who are working in them,
(00:29):
not necessarily the people who are running them.
Then we bring that conversation here and we are so excited to talk with James.
James, do me a favor, introduce yourself, let us know who you are, what you do, and thenwe're gonna jump into what your employees said about working for your organization.
All right, yeah, so nice to be here, Matt.
I'm James Ricci.
(00:49):
So I'm the president and COO of the Royfoss Automotive Group.
So we are a 62 plus year old business, third generation family business in the automotivespace.
So we've got car dealerships, we've got a fleet management leasing business, and thenwe've got some real estate and other investments.
(01:10):
We're really about mobility and the future of sustainable transportation and that's kindof our focus and we're thinking about the future and we're thinking about how our legacy
lives on in the next 60 plus years.
So that's me.
Awesome.
And one thing I love, James, about what you do is being in a 60 plus year old industry, anindustry that all of us have experienced in one way, shape or form.
(01:32):
But the way you're constantly pouring into your people.
We got about 15 to 20 pages of comments back from your staff on the good that you all do.
The way we do this, we break it up into three sections.
First is what do you do to pour into the employees?
So how do you actually train them to do their job?
The tactical side.
Then we jump into how do you actually pour into the individual who's the employees, how doyou personally develop the individual?
(01:57):
And then finally, what's the good that you do in the community you're in outside of justbuilding out your business and obviously earning for your stakeholders.
So first thing, and we're just going to take quotes directly from your people, right?
And James, you haven't seen these yet, but here's one that says it's exactly right.
You got to get ready for it.
It says it's our culture at Roy Foss to help each other out.
(02:18):
So what they offer is an open door policy to help us grow.
And if something that we cannot help identify, they offer outside training.
This was a common thread that came through many, many times.
I just wanted to summarize it with that one comment.
Your people said that if you can't solve it here, you guys go outside to find solutions.
(02:39):
How does that work?
And why do you not limit yourself to just what's internal?
Yeah, so what I want to pick up on something you said a little bit earlier and then I'llanswer that question.
So the way that we think about it, we created what was called the Foss circle.
I want to say like eight years ago and at the core of it is three dimensions of thecircle.
(03:00):
So at the center is me, the second ring is we and the outer ring is work or impact.
So me is about the individual and personal development.
And that spans a number of different things.
It could just be mental health.
It could be how people show up from an energy point of view, people's kind of individualaptitude, learning and growth.
(03:22):
And then beyond that obviously is the we.
That's the relationships that people have with their team, their boss, their directreports, other parts of the organization.
That's the we and then even outside of work.
And then the third realm is work.
It's really impact.
through the work that we do and that the obvious stuff is you know if it's selling carsthat's that's work if it's servicing vehicles if it's generating fleet business
(03:47):
opportunities whatever the work is you know in the business and outside the businessthat's how we think about it and so I think it's just part of our legacy over the last you
know since 1962 that we've been constant learners at all levels of the organization
from my grandfather Roy who started the business to my mother Karen who was the second gento myself.
(04:10):
There's a like an appetite, an appetite across the board, starting with ourselves toreally grow and identify areas where we need to improve.
And so, you know, obviously a lot of organizations focus on the functions that they, youknow, if it's a sales organization, they focus on sales training, but we look at all rung
to the FOSS circle and we're constantly looking for gaps and whether that's gaps that weidentify and some of the team members and leaders.
(04:35):
or whether it's gaps that people on our team self -identify.
And so we're always looking for ways to improve.
It starts with, you know, not necessarily focusing on what we lack, but really focusing onhow do we grow, how can we expand, how can we drive impact, how can we grow as leaders.
And so that's really what drives a lot of the conversations.
And at a personal level, I love bringing in things that are really unconventional, whetherthat's, you know, for example, we did an offsite a few months ago.
(05:03):
where I brought in breathwork to our entire leadership team.
And it was a very fundamental shift for many of the different experiences that we've hadbefore.
Matt, I don't know if you've done breathwork before, but for people that aren'tnecessarily exposed to that realm, it was an eye -opening thing.
And I think the goal is, to make a long answer to your question longer, is really shiftingthe mindset so that we can have other kinds of conversations and connect at a different
(05:31):
level.
So yeah, that's kind of how we think about learning and engaging in third party support.
I think when it comes to the constant answer, right, we ask people specific questions likehow do they train you technically?
And everyone kept coming into that kind of those three rings to the, to the personal side,which is interesting because I think it's the right way to do it because the tactical side
(05:53):
of what you do that's trained pretty quickly, right?
And it's not, I don't want to say yours, but most things aren't that difficult.
The individual comes with some foreknowledge, but then it's more of how does it work inour system?
Right?
If you've sold cars over there.
the concept of selling a car is similar, but here's how we do it on our end, right?
So that side gets quick.
Another thing somebody said was when they asked what was the best part about just how youguys pour into them as employees was transparency.
(06:19):
They put it in all caps.
They say goals, business needs, numbers, emotionally with benefits like the dialogueprogram, which we are definitely getting into what the heck that is.
And also approachable and understanding leadership goes a long way in a positive mindset,which helps productivity overall.
Right after that, the next one said, again, we have the dialogue program, which helps uspersonally understand and overcome challenges and lots of great training quarterly off
(06:45):
sites like you just talked about workshops on challenging ourselves to open up about ourtrue feelings.
Like you guys, sure you're a car company.
Like when we hear these things, like that's not what a traditional car company does fortheir people.
So how does that, in your opinion, help people sell cars?
(07:06):
Yeah, well, that's a great question.
And I bet you a lot of people listening, especially in my industry would say, why are wewasting our time on these kinds of things?
Right.
What's so I mean, I think I learned a long time ago that a lot of the changes at anorganizational level are much more upstream.
than what we think.
Most often, just in my experience, and I don't want to say I woke up and had these grandvisions.
(07:31):
I've failed on many different initiatives that we've launched before.
I've had great ideas and all from great intentions, but I've missed the mark most oftenbecause I feel that...
tried to address the symptom as opposed to some of the root cause.
And I think fundamentally, one of the biggest ways that we can impact at a corporate levelis through leadership.
(07:55):
And I'm not just talking about leadership as a general term that gets thrown around.
I think that there's a lot of suffering, a lot of misdirection, and a lot of wasted timeand energy by people who are in management positions that don't understand themselves,
don't understand what they value, and don't understand how to connect with
(08:15):
beyond a transactional, do this, go here, and you know what have you done for me lately.
And I've been guilty of that at times, but I think that the investment in some of theseprograms is like we say check up from the neck up, right?
Is making sure that like first if you're in a bad mood, if you're grumpy and you show upin a meeting, you know that the quality of that meeting is going to be impacted.
(08:39):
And if you've got a manager with 15 direct reports,
and they're all dealing with three customers.
What's the impact of the ripple effect of that negative wake, emotional wake that youleave on them?
And so we realized that so much of our time and energy as leaders is in
psychology is in mindset is in thinking about like how are we going to show up for peoplein a way that helps but also creates accountability.
(09:03):
We don't do all these things because we want to feel good and be in some sort of woo -woocircle.
We do them because they help us connect deeper and drive impact, right?
So
dialogue, I mean, that's a great example of a tool that we came across through ourbenefits provider and it provides essentially no charge, virtual mental health support for
(09:24):
people that are going through.
whether it's crisis or different forms of depression or anxiety.
And it's a tool that we just give for free.
And it's an amazing tool because we recognize that, look, I mean, there's a lot of peoplethat say business and personal are separate, but I think those people have never actually
(09:45):
run businesses if they think that way.
There's a difference, of course, between creating boundaries, healthy boundaries.
But the reality is that we bring our work home.
and we bring our home to work.
And if we don't recognize that, then I think we have a lot of people who go in differentdirections and don't understand like the person behind the position.
(10:06):
And so these things are really important.
And, you know, another initiative that we did, I want to say eight years ago, seven yearsago was we called it the FOSS Challenge.
It was part of an organizational platform that we were launching.
And basically it was a bike ride from
Montreal, Canada to Toronto, Canada.
(10:28):
And we provided bikes for over 60 of our employees.
We gave them training sessions and together it was just a way for us to connect at adeeper level to understand what resilience meant and kind of building that capacity.
that would obviously translate.
And I think a lot of people that are still with us that were part of that program, thatamazing bike ride, it was one of the most incredible experiences, in some cases of their
(10:57):
lives.
And it was a really special experience.
me share with you what someone said about that, right?
Cause that was something I wanted to bring up.
It says, our company has done some very interesting things.
It's not every day that you have a company that pours on their people the way ours does.
One of them was the false challenge where they supplied us with bikes and we trained for ayear to complete a bike ride from Montreal to Toronto at their expense.
(11:19):
This is the part that I love.
At 50 plus years old, it taught me that I can try and accomplish new things.
We have a motto, obviously, that all of us use, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
And what I think you're showing there is, yes, you can, if you actually pay attention tothe person.
The other thing, just to double down on what you were just talking about, our HRdepartment has one of the best offers I've ever seen, and it's an app called Dialogue,
(11:45):
which they have put in place.
This is to assist us with any personal struggles, regardless of what it is, and there'ssomeone there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for us to always communicate with.
So like the reason I love hearing this is a lot of times as leaders of a company of yoursize, you put a lot of effort into an investment, right?
Yeah, it's free to the employee, but it's not free to you, right?
(12:08):
Like there is a fee that comes with it and do our employees ever get it?
With all the things you do for your team and as widespread as your team is, numbers,difference in just kind of their background and what their knowledge is.
How do you make sure that the investment you put into your team is being received by yourteam and is positively impacting the business?
(12:31):
Well...
would say that it's a constant work in progress, right?
Because for every great intention or idea, there's a million things that cross anyindividual's mind and any team's mind in a given day, week, month, year, right?
And so I think what we try and do, and we need to do a better job, we always could do abetter job, is making sure that we communicate some of these things, that they don't get
(12:55):
lost in kind of the overwhelm of everyone's daily whirlwind, right?
And so what I like
do and what I started a few months ago is kind of a monthly you know email to the fullcompany that highlights a few things right so it highlights some of our top performers
across the business it highlights some of our verbatim quotes from
(13:18):
from our customers.
It highlights our employees of the month winners.
And then lastly, related to your question, it highlights a few benefits that we offer toremind people, hey, listen, we have this tool.
I don't know if you recognize or remember that we have this, but we have this one resourcehere, whether it's a healthcare spending account or dialogue or whatever it is.
(13:40):
So there's a lot of different things that we try and do it.
But the reality is that it takes leadership.
at all levels of the company just to remind people because there's so many differentthings going on and I think just holding space for it and just recognizing that we do have
to remind people, that's our approach.
that's good.
Here's one.
(14:00):
Someone just put continuous trainings, a focus of the company, various social events tohelp employees develop social skills.
And it says work -life balance to refocus our values.
A couple of parts that I thought was really interesting.
Number one, social events, right?
We spent a lot of time and the company spent a lot of money on these social events, butthey said this so that we can develop our social skills.
(14:23):
Is there an intention behind these social events that you want your people to recognizeand has that been shared by you or is that something they've just taken up?
Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, most of the interactions we have with the team arebusiness oriented, right?
I mean, but if we look at any time, I'll speak personally, if I, anytime I've reallyaccomplished or been part of a group that's accomplished something, there's been a level
(14:50):
of connection or depth of realness in the relationship that underpins that group or team,or even if it's a one -to -one thing, that is just intangible.
And you can go through life and be a dictatorial kind of do this for me or transactionalin how you approach people.
(15:11):
But I just find that if people understand kind of what you're about.
and that you're not just a guy who dresses in suits and kind of walks through from meetingto meeting and says good morning, but doesn't really take a time.
The more that you can connect with people, and not just me, but everyone across differentdepartments, the deeper the depth of the cultural foundation becomes.
(15:34):
And it's just a genuine thing.
The more human we can reveal each other, the more that we're able to connect and do greatthings.
And so sometimes it's bullying.
Sometimes it's just an ice cream truck on a warm
Sometimes it's you know meeting in the shop, sometimes it's you know we do an annual Fossbash where we invite everyone and their significant other to kind of come to a special
(15:57):
gala.
Like all these things can add up right?
One of them, someone says, encourages a positive work -life balance.
And again, very, very clearly says respects family, encourages and promotes employees toemploy positive relationships by providing a forum to do so.
So I'm hearing all these different things that you've put into place.
(16:18):
Your employees are seeing that you're doing this, right?
It's not going unseen.
It's going very much recognized and very much grateful for.
Are there any other forums that you've
put into place that maybe someone listening to this could add into their place to gettheir people to come together and build that family mindset.
Yeah, I mean, I think that there's a few things.
(16:40):
I think one of the things, it's less of a forum, but more of a...
So last year we launched what's called, what we call internally the FOSS Pillars, which isbasically a scorecard for how we define success.
We kind of code name our quarterly meetings, our off sites is LFG meetings.
I'll let you think about what that acronym stands for.
(17:00):
But anyway...
(17:23):
Hehehehe
of them.
And I bring this up because one of the things that we realize is that we don't spendenough time thinking about our community beyond the customer.
And so we're about to launch a program right now that came out of these meetings, theseforums together called FOSS Cares.
And essentially FOSS Cares is a mixture of our investment in
(17:48):
what I would call three categories of philanthropy and volunteer work.
So strategic support of community organizations and nonprofits that are at, for example,I'm on the board of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and we focus on mental health and youth
mentorship.
That's one of the core themes of our giving.
(18:10):
But the second and arguably equally, if not more important, is a budget that we're puttingin place that's empowered
for all the different business unit leaders to support individual team members, soemployees at all levels that say, hey listen, I'm involved in this charity initiative, or
I do this with my son's hockey team, or whatever it is, and they have that purse that theycan then use to support causes that are meaningful.
(18:39):
And then the third run is we're volunteering employee time, and we're actually trackingthis.
people will go in and be able to, through the payroll system, connect something that ismeaningful.
Maybe they just don't have money to give, but they have time to give and we'll help themdonate their time by allowing them to use, in a pre -approved way, some of their volunteer
(19:02):
time.
during company hours.
So this is a good example and then we have other committees as well.
We've got our social committee that helps think through how are we going to, you know, wedon't have unlimited resources to do all this stuff, but we're just very intentional about
some of the things that we prioritize.
So that's kind of how we think about it.
me through that because that's an interesting concept.
(19:22):
I hear a lot of really interesting things.
This is a new one.
So it's not PTO that you're giving them, but it's similar to that, but it's for volunteerwork.
So if they feel like they want to help something and it's happening on Tuesday at one o'clock till four o 'clock, they can come get pre -approved time off.
Is it paid or not paid?
(19:43):
It is paid.
OK.
So in other words, we're donating their time at our cost.
Now it's not, we're not gonna go crazy and say like, I've got a three week trip to CostaRica where I really wanna help somebody make a profit on their beachside bar.
(20:04):
But, and it does take a little bit of faith and...
We're just about to launch it right now, right?
So I'll let you know how it results, but it's not just about money.
Oftentimes people just need time.
You know, like we did a few years ago, we did a collaborative initiative with a local, wedid two organizations.
One was a local park cleanup.
(20:24):
Believe it or not, there's a lot of need for like filthy parks to be cleaned up ofgarbage.
And you know, it was just, there was something, it's simple and maybe not that sexy, butit was very powerful.
doing that.
And another one, we had people volunteer at a senior retirement home.
You know, a lot of these people don't have anyone to visit them.
And so just having somebody to talk with them, you know, so these are some of the thingsthat we're thinking about.
(20:49):
And I think that when we do these things, they energize people going back to what we'retalking about, like, when you feel kind of in alignment with yourself as a good human,
you're just in a better spirit when you show up at work.
I don't know if you've seen that in your life, but it's definitely, I found it for me, forsure.
I mean, not only that in my life, that's our entire business is exactly what you're doing.
(21:12):
Like is if we get the optimal version of the person to come to work, the job itself is notthe hard part.
It's life.
That's hard.
Job is honestly the most sustainable thing most people have in their life.
And that's what's so cool about that concept.
If you're listening to this and you're like, what's my one takeaway, find a way to set up.
What did you call the, the volunteer time?
(21:33):
Do you have a name for it at all?
Cares is the overarching program.
But just some type of way to set up a certain amount of hours per week that an individualcan take, or if it's a monthly thing or an annual thing, probably mimic it off your PTO
program.
Very similar to that, I would think.
And I think most softwares that are doing payroll right now should be able to pop that inpretty easily for anyone who's listening to this.
(21:57):
And I could just imagine people being able to go volunteer at things they care about thatyou then...
can support and pay for it without actually writing a check to these actual nonprofits.
Because as someone who owns a foundation and works with a lot of nonprofits, bodies aresometimes more important than money.
And it's real easy for, especially car dealerships, right?
(22:18):
Let's stroke a check and let's put our name on the back of this and over here.
But no, no, we're gonna put our people in your world and let you help.
That is, again, maybe I'm just as salty for nonprofits and serving and giving back.
We haven't gotten to that point yet of how you guys give back, but that is a huge benefit.
that I think few people will ever think of.
Where's all this come from, man?
(22:39):
This is a very old school industry, right?
Extremely successful group of car dealerships.
Where does it all come from?
Do you wake up in the middle of the night and these ideas pop in your head?
Is it a group, I got to know you said some of them came from the forums.
Yeah, I would say this particular...
So my answer to that question is, I like to consume different types of knowledge, insight,whether it's in the form of reading podcasts, whether it's in the form of peer groups or
(23:14):
lectures or conferences.
And I think we have similar themes.
So I like to consider myself like the curator.
of some of these ideas and I look at our business like a laboratory, right?
So we come in, we have these ideas and like, you know, if they, if, you know, 51 % of thetime.
(23:36):
you know, these things that we try, you know, are working and that's great.
And so it will start as a conversation and oftentimes it's in the right mindset.
So these LFG offsites have been great ways for us to think through that, but it's justpart of our DNA.
Like in the same way that we're looking for what's happening in our industry, we're justlooking for creative ways to connect with people and to do things a little bit
(24:00):
differently.
And that's where the results are at the end of the day.
come from in my opinion.
It's not by doing what everyone else does because by definition that yields averagereturns.
So we're looking for a little bit of difference but in a practical and meaningful way, notgetting carried away by the flavor of the month.
Yeah, and that's the other part is it seems like you're taking information and you'readapting it to where how you guys need it, right?
(24:26):
I come in, you hear me speak.
You're not sitting there trying to mold it around what Matt said is you're taking whatMatt said and you're molding it around your culture.
And I think one question, God.
go ahead.
Yeah, I think that's the biggest takeaway that the learning, the biggest learning at a CEOlevel, it's so easy to, it's easy to come up with an idea and even implement it, but for
(24:52):
sustaining it and not having it become a flavor of the month and actually creating morenegative backlash because here's the newest.
greatest idea that we're gonna forget about in six months.
Learning that lesson has taken me my entire 15 year career.
(25:13):
Because time and time again, I've launched, and especially around eight years ago, thislast kind of LFG process has been born out of a very humbling failure of...
Eight years ago, we did a pretty aggressive, you know, 2020 game plan to double ourbusiness.
(25:33):
And, you know, just speaking honestly,
It was kind of, while it was ambitious and exciting, it showed a bit of aloofness on mypart because at that time there were some obvious things that needed to be focused on and
addressed and we were focusing on this grandiose vision.
And so I think to your point, it's so important.
(25:56):
It's kind of molding the idea.
to serve the organization as opposed to changing everything about the organization tobring one idea to life.
Well, I think that's what's so interesting.
And even what you're talking about here is it seems as if you've built a culture that nowallows you to do it.
And for the first seven years or so, right, versus the eight years since you kind of madethat transition, it was almost like the culture wasn't there to receive it.
(26:25):
Like there was no one there to catch the ball.
It's like you had a great idea.
You brought it and everyone like, well, what do we do with it?
We're selling cars.
What are you trying to?
So there was a process.
This doesn't seem like it was an overnight.
All of a sudden you had a great idea, LFG starts and boom, we're amazing.
It was a grind.
Yeah, and at different parts of the journey, there were different needs that theorganization had.
(26:47):
I mean, yeah, so it's very much, I think, a case of just, I think you said it very well,which is that it can't be a one person show.
And ideation has to come at the top, but also at the grassroots level and meet in themiddle.
That's where the beauty happens.
And that's where I think we're coming into a stride right now.
(27:09):
And I'm really excited.
We've got a whole bunch of things that we're working on.
You know, we can reconnect in a year's time and I'm more excited.
The LFG part is about our future as well.
And we just spent our last offsite meeting reviewing our values.
And that's an interesting process, which I could share maybe another time with you.
But at the end of the day, it's also about driving, getting clear about what are theresults that you want to drive, right?
(27:36):
It's not just the idea for the idea's sake.
It's relating back to the pillars, our people, our customer, our community, our business
our future and each of them has different metrics that we want to optimize for.
Cool, so 15 years into this, you got a lot of really amazing things going on.
And you and I have been talking back and forth for the last few months, right?
So like, this is not like the first time you and I have heard about this.
(27:57):
What advice do you give someone listening to you that's going, wait a minute, I'm way offthe mark.
I wanna get back on path.
Like how would you streamline your 15 years of trial and error?
to get someone to get started, to get back where they need to be.
To be able to build a culture that will accept these new crazy ideas that I think a lot ofus want to implement.
And a lot of my clients, they really want to do what you're doing, but they haven't builtthe foundation yet.
(28:24):
I think the learning that comes to mind for me right now, and this is part of what we werejust talking about, is a shift in mindset of having to perfect all parts of a vision and
strategy and business plan.
and tying everything, there's this kind of instinct that a lot of people have, leadershave, that it has to be perfect and it has to be perfectly laid out.
(28:50):
But I think the real awareness that I've felt is that so much in life, individually,personally, and at work, so much of life is a momentum game.
And so to build quick wins is such a huge part of this, and I'll give you a specificexample.
So...
We read the book Traction as a leadership team together, my executive team and I.
(29:12):
We implemented some of the principles in EOS.
And so I would highly recommend that as just an exciting read to give the structure.
But the biggest impact on our business has been the concept of identifying and developingbig rocks, no more than two to three.
And so what I, big rock just to...
(29:35):
to clarify in case people aren't familiar with, are basically, you're gonna have a millionthings as a leader or as an employee that you're gonna have to do today, this week, this
month, this quarter, this year.
And rather than try and do everything to maintain the business plus 10 different businesspriorities, looking at our business and saying, hey listen, based on our customer
(29:56):
feedback, based on our assessment of the business, what are the top two to three
big rocks that we want to say holding everything else constant would have the biggestimpact on our business.
And then creating accountability with champions for each of those big rocks, defining themas a smart goal with the end of the quarter and really just creating momentum.
(30:20):
Forget about all these other creative ideas that will come as you develop momentum, butit's really creating clarity around this.
And then from there, I think the reality is, is just understanding
where do you want to go as a business and honestly, and engaging the team in that process.
Are the values that we have for the business, do they mean anything?
Are they just writing on the wall?
(30:40):
And is the team engaged around it?
And then shifting, getting clear on what does success look like one year from now, threeyears from now, five years from now, 15 years from now, getting clear on that, and then
working backwards to say, hey listen, if success is this on people,
and we don't know how engaged or well retained our employees are, how are we supposed toimprove what we're not measuring?
(31:07):
And then once we do measure it, what are different ways, whether it's volunteer programsor new and unique benefits that we can do to really move the needle?
But I think it starts with momentum and building confidence that we can say, hey, we knowhow to prioritize, we know what's important, and then going from there.
The other thing I see in your, just your character, the authentic who you are is yourwillingness to say, look, I tried that, that didn't work.
(31:29):
I want to try this and here's how, here's, I kind of reflect on why that didn't work.
I know that didn't work.
And because of that, we're not going to do that again.
And we're going to come over here.
And I know we talk about as a leader, it's the one thing to take responsibility, but a lotof people take responsibility and kind of skirt the issue, right?
Like they feel like, I messed up.
So give me grace and let me come over here.
It's like, no, no, let me sit on this and tell you how I messed up.
(31:52):
what we learned from it and why we're not going to do that again.
And if I try to do it again, smack me back on path.
And I think that's something that I've seen you just connect back and forth with yourleadership team.
Real quick, before we wrap up, I always like to ask people because we talk about howperfect your company is and how there's no flaws and all that stuff.
But in reality, every company is banged up and messed up.
(32:12):
That's the only reason we have a job, right?
So we focus on gaps with Life Pulse.
You know this already, but
What are some of the gaps that are stopping your team and your organization fromoptimizing the results that you can get?
What are some of the hurdles that you're running into right now that you're trying to workthrough with your team?
Well, I'll be honest, for as much as we've talked about how we've invested in leadershipdevelopment, I mean, we still have leadership gaps across the board at all levels of the
(32:42):
organization.
And I think being honest about that, including even in myself, I think that there firstand foremost is there's a natural conversation between focus and the...
widening the aperture to focus on different creative possibilities and different ideas.
And so that tension between saying no and just being focused and being seduced by othershiny opportunities, there's a great quote that says, I think it was, anyway, Jonathan
(33:19):
Sacks, I think his name is attributed to, I think the key part is differentiating betweenan opportunity to be seized and a distraction to be avoided.
And it's a great quote and we're still trying to figure it out because, you know, sothat's one thing I think at a practical level, I think increasing the right now there is a
(33:40):
bit of a disconnect, I would say between some of the great stuff and the progress at theleadership level and the rest of the employees.
And I think that I would love to see in the next few weeks, months and really years us toreally
open the circle a little bit to a wider community of people and do a better job.
So we just launched, we're calling it the Moonshot pipeline in the spirit of LFG to kindof bubble up new ideas, not just from managers, but from every part of the organization.
(34:11):
But we're trying to create a culture of positive, constructive disruption.
And to do that, I think we've got to do a better job of getting people exposed.
to some of these things.
And then I think last is that, you know, execution.
I would say idea, 1%.
(34:32):
Execution is the 99%, right?
Is maintaining an idea, implementing it, making sure we're evolving is the businessdemands.
And so I would say that...
ability to get alignment from all levels of the company around, hey, this is how we wantto do business.
This is why it's important.
And when you do this, when you go off script, you know, it creates a whole bunch offrustration for our customers, for other team members that have to pick up the slack,
(35:01):
right?
So like, you know, those are 30 ,000 foot level challenges and opportunities that we'rereally focused on right now.
No, and I think it's huge.
And I think I, we ask questions to your people, what are the gaps?
And you've summarized, I would say a high majority of what your people are seeing as well.
Which again, it shows the connection that you have as a leader up top with the people allthe way down.
(35:22):
A couple of things you said that I want listeners to understand.
Number one is take whatever you're doing with your leadership team and find a way to pushit down through the whole organization.
Don't stop at your first level.
It's not going to work because it needs to, it needs to go through almost like waterdripping through the whole thing.
Number two is a concept that we talk about, which is the goal is not to get everythingdone, it's to get the right things done.
(35:43):
And that's what happens when you're running into that.
And then the final piece, James, if people are trying to find you, like I said, I see youas a thought leader again, we didn't talk much about selling cars.
So if you came on here to learn how to sell cars, that's not what the point of thispodcast is James.
How do people find you, reach out to you, hear what you're doing, understand some of yourphilosophies outside of just what we heard here, where can they find you?
(36:04):
Yeah, two places that I'd recommend people have checked me out.
The first is on LinkedIn, first and foremost.
So just enter my name, James Ricci on LinkedIn.
And the second is my personal website, jamesfossricci .com.
Those would be the two great places to start.
Awesome.
We'll put those in the show notes.
We'll put them out there.
Everybody.
James, I appreciate you doing all the things you're doing in an industry that you're doingit in, but at the level you're doing it in is commemorable.
(36:31):
And it's honestly, your employees are seeing it and the success of your businesses aswell.
So thank you so much, James.
Everybody.
We appreciate you being here, listening, watching, being a part of this.
Check out James, check out the stuff he has going on and we will see you on the nextepisode of best people, best place.
Have a great day.
Thanks for watching.
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