Greg Noethlich, CEO, Old World Industries

Join Behzad as he chats with Greg Noethlich, CEO of Old World Industries. Greg shares his candid work and life experiences and the backbone of his leadership style. His anecdotes, filled with humor and authenticity, will resonate with anyone juggling professional and personal commitments.

Greg walks us through his early days, his unexpected pivot from aeronautical engineering, and the mentorship that propelled him into leadership roles. Along the way, Greg opens up about the impact of frequent relocations on his career and family life, and the unique lessons each move taught him. His reflections on likability and teamwork offer valuable insights for aspiring leaders.

Dive into Greg's thoughts on the evolution of corporate culture, the challenges of remote work, and the irreplaceable value of face-to-face interactions. We explore the generational shift towards digital communication and its potential pitfalls, especially for younger workers. Greg's perspective on corporate values, mentorship, and the emotional complexities of career progression is both enlightening and thought-provoking. Wrapping up with a discussion on integrity, energy, and passion, Greg leaves us with powerful lessons on making a lasting, positive impact in the professional world. Don't miss this episode brimming with wisdom and real-life stories from a remarkable career.

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Episode Transcript

Behzad Rassuli (00:00):
So feel free to curse.
There's no, we'll cut it out.
We can just bleep it out.

Greg Noethlich (00:04):
Okay, yeah, I mean, sometimes it just
naturally happens.
So that's why it's part of myvernacular Even in all employee
meetings.
At the end of them, jeanette,who runs HR, she'll always be
like you said three times andalmost said once I'm like man,
wow.

Behzad Rassuli (00:22):
That's.
I think that's safe, I thinkthat's a you, that's like within
the bounds, you know, as longas you don't say words like you
know, no, like the connotationthat um you know, like don't you
know don't that's sure?

Greg Noethlich (00:40):
Well, this person was being a there's
probably a little much.

Behzad Rassuli (00:44):
Yeah, no, I reserve that for my siblings.
I get that.
Welcome to Auto Care On Air, acandid podcast for a curious

(01:05):
industry.
I'm Behzad Rassuli, Senior VicePresident of Strategic
Development at the Auto CareAssociation, and this is The
Driver's Seat where we embark oninsightful one-on-one
conversations with leaderssteering the companies that are
shaping tomorrow's landscape.

Greg Noethlich (01:25):
Did you Peloton this morning?

Behzad Rassuli (01:26):
I did not Peloton, but I worked out with
the trainer.

Greg Noethlich (01:28):
Soul cycle.
I did not soul cycle.
I worked out with the trainerwhat time 6 am.
Why do you do that?
It's just I need it, and moreand more that I.
When I told you I started latein life last night yeah, working
out, working out and reallykind of focusing on that.
And when I got into SoulCyclein late 18 and all through 2019,
that is like when I started myreal kind of change in my health

(01:52):
journey or my activity exercisejourney.

Behzad Rassuli (01:55):
When the first time you tried SoulCycle.
Was it like an afternoon classor were you like?
I'm going to try this, and it'sgoing to be at six in the
morning.

Greg Noethlich (02:04):
I give my wife a lot of credit for getting me
there.
Probably was a Saturday orSunday, uh, and she's like I'm
going cause she'd alreadystarted going during the week
with her girlfriends and the uh,another buddy of mine was going
.
So the four of us went and itjust turned into this great way
to get a good cardio and you'rein like a nightclub environment,

(02:24):
which I love the lights and themusic and all that.

Behzad Rassuli (02:27):
So I totally get that and I I've done that
before and it's infectious andit really makes you push
yourself and you know it's likeyou feel like you're.
You feel like you're at a party.
But I don't want to be at thatkind of party at six in the
morning.
No, I'm probably at that time.
I'm probably having a nightmareabout somebody taking me to
SoulCycle at six in the morning.

Greg Noethlich (02:47):
Well, and then during the COVID I got this
chair squeaking.
During COVID I started workingout with this trainer who came
to the house and subsequent tothat he only takes appointments
after seven.
So if I have to work out withhim at six, we do a phone call.

Behzad Rassuli (03:03):
Oh, so he.
So he came to your house.

Greg Noethlich (03:07):
No he comes to the house if I haven't.
If I can do it after seven,okay, which is not normal.
Oh, so right now he's a 6amphone call.
Got it Like?
He talks to you over the phoneyeah, just put my earbuds in and
walks me through.
You got this Greg yeah, do 10.
If you can imagine me gruntingin his ear with the earbuds,

(03:28):
that's what's happening.

Behzad Rassuli (03:29):
What do you think?

Greg Noethlich (03:30):
he's doing.

Behzad Rassuli (03:31):
He's showering.
He should shower and shaving.
Yeah, I'm sure.

Greg Noethlich (03:35):
And having coffee and probably drive and
drives and not probably.
And then he's driving to hisappointment at seven.
So that's the most fascinating.
It's such a win-win.
And my buddy tried to help jointhe session with us and like on
a conference call yeah, it waslike a three-way call and it

(03:56):
didn't work because if I committo 6am tomorrow morning so last
night we were at dinner, I knewI had the 6 am call.
If I would have been like, oh,I got in late, I don't want to
do this, he would have held meaccountable and charged me, oh,
yeah, of course, because it's a24 hour rule.

Behzad Rassuli (04:13):
You know how do you.
You'd interrupt each other,though, if it was like six, and
if you're on a conference call,you know you're not like video.
At least no one's sitting therelike watching each other sweat,
Right.
It's just like grunting overeach other.
Is anyone muting the phone?

Greg Noethlich (04:27):
No, no.
And then my buddy never reallygot into the sink of you know,
if you commit to the morning 6am, you can.
You can't be up doing causehe's an attorney.
You can't be up all nightreading materials and then
cancel at five in the morning orfour in the morning he's going
to charge you, and so, once youknow you pay the fee a couple of
times for a commitment andyou're like, damn, why am I?

(04:49):
You know, why am I even doingthis?
So he backed out because hejust didn't understand the
program, and my wife gives meshit all the time before too.
Why are you paying somebody fora phone call?
He's a trainer, he should bewatching your form and,
essentially, though, he's a veryI stick to the basics and I'm
not doing any.
You know, one leg off the bench, a pushup with one arm, crazy

(05:09):
things to get hurt.
I'm focusing on my core.
I'm focusing on buildingmuscles with dumbbells and, you
know, burpees and stuff likethat.
Did you play sports growing up?
I did, went through high schooland then I did NIC and reels in
college.
What were the sports I played?

Behzad Rassuli (05:24):
soccer and ran track and cross country, those,
uh yeah, those are not.
I mean, I don't know how you,you didn't just like keep
running on a track when you wereadult, right?
No, I did not.
And then soccer at some pointit just gets competitive and the
intramural stuff is just theway.

Greg Noethlich (05:37):
You kind of gravitate towards that and I
didn't do, I just did intramuralflag football and soccer in
college, yeah, and then that wasit in my adult life?

Behzad Rassuli (05:45):
I have not, so you didn't do any like weight
training.

Greg Noethlich (05:47):
When you were younger, though, no, I mean you
couldn't find me, you couldn'tpay me to be in a gym back then.
I mean I tried every now andthen it'd be like I'll get on a
little kick and do it for a bit,but nothing near what I did.
I actually have you heard ofP90X?
Yeah, so, tony Horton?
Yeah, so I did the P90X in 2012, 2011, 2012, for like the 90

(06:08):
day period, and had a reallygood success with it, loved it.
But then I fell off and I letwork get in the way of it and
didn't put it as a priority.
It's like, oh, my work and mykids and my family have got me
really grinding and so I didn't.
I didn't focus on my health.

Behzad Rassuli (06:28):
But when we were touring our office I saw you
doing like you just picked upthe medicine ball and just
started slamming it.
Is that a core workout or isthat just that's not?
So you don't.
You don't gravitate towardssomething heavy, and just kind
of like I have slam balls.

Greg Noethlich (06:37):
I mean my.
My biggest weight I have in mybasement is 60 pounds.
So my, my dumbbells go up to 60.
Now that's good.
Yeah, I mean, it's a great homegym.
Let's work out sometime weshould.
Yeah, you'll be posting biggerweights than me, I'm sure.

Behzad Rassuli (06:51):
I'll bring a sandbag and we'll have you climb
a rope or just hang from a ropefor a while.
Change your grip.
Greg, thanks for sitting downwith me today.
I've known you for severalyears and every time I talk to
you I enjoy the conversation andI learn more about you, and you
seem to always have a new andentertaining story.
So I'm sure today's not goingto be any different.
But you've had a pretty dynamiccareer.

(07:12):
Currently you're CEO of OldWorld Industries, which is one
of the largest privately heldcompanies in the automotive
industry, manufacturingantifreeze, death, wiper blades,
lights, amongst other things.
But before you're at Old World,you were CEO of Champ Labs and
Fram.
Before that you were atPrestone.

(07:33):
So I mean just doing the maththere you've been president or
CEO of three companies.
In what?
10 years, 12 years?
And those are just thepresident and CEO roles.
So before that you were, youknow, vice president of Pactiv
and COO of.
How do you pronounce this?
Alleria?
Alleria, a foundry, like a,like a?

(07:57):
They.
They melt metal and pour castiron.

Greg Noethlich (08:01):
Yeah, we were making extremely large castings
at that time.
I mean big as this room thatwe're sitting in today, kind of
cast iron.
Yeah, we were making extremelylarge castings at that time.
I mean big as this room thatwe're sitting in today, kind of
castings All right.

Behzad Rassuli (08:07):
So I think it's fair to say that you've had a
fairly dynamic career, but thatyou've fairly quickly.
In your career, you weretrusted with and tasked with
leading organizations, and notjust once, so I think that's
objectively impressive and youmight be doing something right,
and I'd love to learn from youpersonally, and I'm certain that

(08:28):
anyone who listens to this willlearn something as well.
Do you remember when your firstjob was?

Greg Noethlich (08:34):
I do, yeah, for sure you know.
Going back into college I wasan engineer and I thought I was
going to be a graduate studiesin engineering and go from there
into some test lab or productengineering roles.
And my last semester atUniversity of Dayton I had a
co-op ship with General Motorsand I had ended up with a

(08:56):
production supervisor role onthe shop floor making anti-lock
brake systems in Dayton Rightout of engineering school,
systems in Dayton, right out ofengineering school.
Well, while I was finishing mydegree that was my last term
with General Motors was in theproduction supervisor
environment.
I don't know what kind ofengineering is needed to test

(09:17):
anti-lock brakes.
But did you feel qualified forthat?
Well, we were mechanicalengineers, and certainly during
a co-op program, there wasalways people that were watching
over us and ensuring our mathwas right and analytics were
being performed well.
And then again I got to go outon the shop floor and work with
the UAW in making the breaks forthat semester.
And so, as I was planning formy career, leaving college, I

(09:38):
really enjoyed kind of makingproducts and so I targeted going
out in the world to makesomething when I, when I
graduated and I ended up gettinga job making radiators believe
it or not, a value.
So I was, and I ended up on anight shift.
So I was a second shift working2 PM to 10 PM, with an
engineering degree which both myparents are like.

(09:59):
You just went to college forfour years and you're now
working a second shift job inthe middle of nowhere.
I moved to, you know, make makeradiators for the Chrysler
predominantly Chrysler and Ford,why were your parents kind of
surprised at that?

Behzad Rassuli (10:16):
I mean, what did they do?

Greg Noethlich (10:17):
My dad was an attorney and my mom was a school
teacher and so I think theyfelt, you know, when I was in
engineering, originally my dadwas thinking was I going to
really make it throughengineering school?
Just because it was achallenging first semester, so
to speak, kind of transition forme.
But once I found my groove, itwas amazing.
I loved my.
I was kind of a nerd in college, to be honest with you.

(10:39):
I was teacher's aidepre-transfer.
I was you, I was at nightgrading papers for other
students, I was doing studyhalls for people, and so really,
really buckled into theengineering degree and loved
what I did.

Behzad Rassuli (10:54):
That's all four years you were an overachiever,
you think.
Would you call yourself a nerd,or was there kind of like first
two years you were figuring itout and then you really kind of
kicked into gear?

Greg Noethlich (11:02):
It took me one semester, once I got into
college to get my groove andfigure it out, and I was so
focused on it I loved it.
I think I missed one class inover a four-year period.

Behzad Rassuli (11:13):
What did you, when you were, kind of sophomore
year, junior year, crankingaway being a giant nerd, I guess
, as you put it what did youthink you were going to do with
that?

Greg Noethlich (11:22):
I didn't know.
I again I would say I wanted toget into propulsion.
I was thinking aboutaeronautical engineering.
I was big just big intoanalytics and understanding how
things worked, and so I wasfocused on that area.
Do you?

Behzad Rassuli (11:35):
still think.
Do you still think about that?
You know, when you see a planefly, are you thinking about kind
of drag and the kind ofaeronautical coefficients that
go into flying?
Probably not because I'm asleepon the airplanes watching a
show.
You're a sleeper on planes.

Greg Noethlich (11:52):
But you know, I graduated college and I went to
that night shift job makingradiators and I was a supervisor
, so I was responsible for ashift of people to make a
certain amount of productsthroughout that shift.
People, um, to make certainamount of products throughout
that shift.
And you know, it was my firstkind of onset into having a
response management type ofresponsibilities and you didn't

(12:12):
have your boss on that shift.
So we were the.
You know we had to makedecisions based on that.

Behzad Rassuli (12:18):
So early on I was able to get into that kind
of mode when, when, did yourparents kind of come around to
like being proud of you, I wantto say, but like, when did they
understand that, hey, this is,you know, not what we assumed
right out of the gate, but also,this is pretty great.

Greg Noethlich (12:33):
I think they were very supportive.
Once they saw me thriving incollege and I had my job with
General Motors and got to berotating around different areas
and finding my way.
I think they were verysupportive of it.
It was just a big.
I think.
I remember talking to themyou're going to be a night shift
supervisor.
What does that really mean withan engineering degree?
And just walking them throughthat dynamic was pretty

(12:55):
interesting.
Did you have any?
Do you have any siblings?
I do.
I have two younger sisters.
What did they do?
They my um?
In school at least, theystudied education and
hospitality.
So you're were.

Behzad Rassuli (13:07):
That was that kind of more.
You were your parents like ohthis, I understand this, you
know, I understand.

Greg Noethlich (13:12):
Maybe, maybe, yeah, more tangible um being.
Uh, we didn't have an engineerin the family, so to speak, Um,
but then I I have not had anengineering title behind my.
Any of the jobs that I've hadin my entire career Is that hard
for you, you know, like to tosay you know.

Behzad Rassuli (13:28):
One of the things I think about is I also
know that you, you got a, yougot an MBA, you have, you have.
Do you have two MBAs?

Greg Noethlich (13:35):
I have an executive MBA and I got an MBA
um in business.

Behzad Rassuli (13:39):
So I was listening to, uh, jamie Dimon,
ceo of JP Morgan, talking abouttalent and there's a trend in
the economy today wherecompanies are removing the
college degree requirement fromjob applications.

(14:03):
I think maybe a survey said 45%of companies are removing that
requirement.
And the way Jamie Dimon phrasedit and I'm just going to
paraphrase, I don't I'm notgoing to pretend like I remember
the quote, but it was that youknow people go to, we get these
students that come out ofcollege and the first year, year
or two we have to teach themhow to work.

(14:25):
So you know, sometimes we justit makes more sense to get a
highly skilled student notnecessarily something, somebody
with like a resume, because youcan't really tell their skill
set on a resume but take a lowerrisk on kids out of high school
and teach them to work the sameway you would a kid out of
college.

(14:45):
And that made me think aboutyou know, when you look back on
your engineering degree that youdon't have a title.
You don't have the engineeringtitle kind of behind anything
you're doing there's still value.
Do you find there was stillvalue in what you got out of
that?
Or were you like, oh, that waskind of just a.

(15:06):
You know, knowing that IUniversity, I did it at night,
while I was working.

Greg Noethlich (15:27):
Do I get that same case study kind of MBAs
that a lot of other larger IvyLeague colleges have?
No, I didn't get that.
It was important to me to do it.
Do I feel like it's a gamechanger in business now?
No, I don't, but I knew I wasreally focused on the science of
heat transfer, fluids and fluiddynamics and all those other

(15:49):
classes.
I took chemistries and the MBArounded me out.
I can understand a little bitmore about accounting, finance,
marketing, hr, organizationalthings, but did I apply that
immediately after I got my MBA?
No, and is it long-termsomething I could say I
completed?
Yeah, and that's probably moreof what I did and why I did it

(16:09):
than anything else.

Behzad Rassuli (16:12):
So that student that you were, you know the kind
of hardworking student tryingto being the teacher's aide.
That's just a part of you.
Like you do work, but then youalso still want to kind of
academically achieve.

Greg Noethlich (16:26):
Yeah, I've been a constant learner on that.
Early on, specifically, I feltlike it was an important step in
the process as much as anythingelse.
But there are so many peoplethat I've run across in my
career that navigate and charttheir paths so differently, so I
don't think there's one rulethat fits them all, so to speak.
And just having my kids gettingaccepted into colleges and

(16:51):
going out and trying to fulfillwhat they want to do in life we
were, you know, obviously it wasexpected for them to go to
college, because I feel likeit's a you go, you study, you
complete another task.
It just helps you prepare forlife in general.
But I mean the community,colleges and the trades are
deadlines and all that, and Ithink that that's that's

(17:11):
incredibly valuable.

Behzad Rassuli (17:12):
I think that's well put.
So you went from an engineeringdegree to man, right into

(17:33):
manufacturing.
And so when did you move intoautomotive?
What was after your first?
The value job.

Greg Noethlich (17:43):
So I made radiators for several years down
in southern Indiana and then Imoved to Detroit and was
responsible for developingprograms.
So like a program manager, soto speak, running tasks
interesting role just in termsof leadership development, where
you have functions that youneed to help support your
program launch but they don'treport to you directly.
So it's really interesting totry to incentivize the engineers

(18:06):
or the designers or thepurchasing people to do what you
need to get done but theydidn't report to you so they had
a lot of different tasks andassignments they had to get done
.
So it was a fun job.
I got my first exposure tocustomers and last for probably
20 years being.
I was launching a program forChrysler at the time, a radiator

(18:27):
cooling module system, and Iended up taking a job in Grand
Rapids, michigan and made fuelinjectors job in Grand Rapids
Michigan and made fuel injectors, so moved from.
By then I was in my earlytwenties and already moved three
times to different states.

Behzad Rassuli (18:43):
How many times did you move across all your
different jobs?
I've lived in nine states overmy career.
That's amazing.
Do you think that that was kindof why you've reached the level
of success you have at the ageyou have?
And let me put it in contextwhen we were introduced, we were
introduced by mutualacquaintance, michael Klein, and

(19:05):
it was on the Hill at alegislative summit.
He paired me with you and hesaid I want you to be with Greg,
I want you to shadow Greg.
Greg is a really smart, reallyhard charging, high energy guy
and I think that you two wouldhit it off.
And when I I hadn't seen you atthat point I just assumed you

(19:28):
know, white hair, older or nohair, you know, gentlemen.
But when I saw you you werewere fairly close in age at the
time.
Uh, you were younger.
But when we met I you knowyou'd had all this experience,
all this leadership experienceat a very young age.
The relative right it was.

(19:49):
What were you in?
Like mid forties, late forties?

Greg Noethlich (19:52):
mid forties, when I took over Preston on 2012
.

Behzad Rassuli (19:55):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's, I think that's
amazing.
What was the ingredient to getyou into such a leadership role
for a, you know, prominentcorporate brand with the?
And they were private equityowned at the time right they
were I.

Greg Noethlich (20:07):
I I always think back and people ask me this
question a lot about it andthere's a lot of different
things, I believe, that playinto somebody's career Mine
personally.
I was always able to get into arole at can manufacturing plant
making 3 million cans a day,and so we had like 95 people in

(20:38):
the plant in totality.
I showed up green plant managerand you know corner office,
traditional location, so tospeak and move my office to the
middle of the shop floor and Ithink everybody in the plant was
like what is really happeninghere?
The plant manager is going tobe out here when machines go

(21:01):
down or helping support us indifferent ways, and that was
part of my development as aleader.
A young leader really is gettinginto it and working alongside
people.
So I've been able to alongsidepeople, so I've been able to get
that experience at an early age.

(21:21):
Number two I think I had theopportunity to have somebody
take a chance on me, and I'm afirm believer in people's career
that somebody's not going tohire you to be the CEO of a
company if they don't A know youor that you've already been a
CEO before, and those two thingspeople really need to navigate
and think through what do youmean?

Behzad Rassuli (21:40):
somebody took it .
What does that look like?
Someone took a chance on you.

Greg Noethlich (21:42):
I had a big mentor in college during the
General Motors time and then wereconnected about five years
after college and that mentorwas a really smart guy as well
and did a lot of manufacturingoperational jobs and he and I
worked together for many years.
Are you comfortable?

Behzad Rassuli (21:57):
sharing his name Bruce Smith, bruce Smith, so
Bruce was with you throughoutyour, throughout your career, or
we?

Greg Noethlich (22:05):
we probably touched each other in some way
or shape or form worked with orI worked in the same
organization that he was in, 15,20 years, so to speak, and in
that kind of part of my career Iwas working for either somebody
that Bruce knew, or in anetwork of folks that we all
knew, or Bruce himself.

Behzad Rassuli (22:25):
Did Bruce?
Did you shadow him at any point, you know, just for a specific
job, or was it that he had arole in a company and he would
recommend you to come into thatcompany, exactly?

Greg Noethlich (22:37):
He would have a role in the company and say I
want to hire Greg I know he's, Iknow he's a known entity,
understand his strengths andweaknesses, what he's good at,
and I want to bring him in to doX, y, Z, how hard is it to move
as many times as you have?
I actually got used to it andliked it early on.
I mean, I got to live inSeattle Washington.

(22:58):
I'm born in Ohio, midwesternguy Got to, of course did the
Ohio, indiana, michigan.
Then all of a sudden I'm inSeattle Washington, then
Oklahoma City, then Michiganagain, then El Paso, texas,
where I met my wife, and so on.
So you can just, I got to seethe top and the bottom of the U?
S and the East coast and Westcoast.
You hit all four corners.

Behzad Rassuli (23:20):
Were you single for most of the moving or were
you married?

Greg Noethlich (23:24):
My wife and family moved five times with me,
so we moved from El Paso toMinnesota and then Minnesota,
north Carolina, north Carolina,cleveland, cleveland, chicago.

Behzad Rassuli (23:34):
When you met, you know, in your courtship,
were you like, hey, listen,being with me is going to
involve a lot of moving.
Or was it just kind of ElPaso's great?
And then suddenly, six monthslater, we're, we're ready to
move?

Greg Noethlich (23:48):
Yeah, I think there was a she.
Ronnie probably knew my wifeprobably knew that that could
happen.
Ronnie probably knew, my wifeprobably knew that that could
happen.
But the reality of it maybehappening came a little bit
faster than she and her familythought.
And I can remember I took thejob in Minnesota.
I took her there in January tointroduce her to the opportunity
or the idea of it and she gotoff and saw these mines of snow

(24:12):
and is like no way we're notdoing this, there's no freaking
way.
By April it was a differentstory and I thought for sure we
were ready to roll.
And I came back in May to ElPaso and the yard the for sale
sign was like down in the yardwe're not really moving, or we
are, but we moved and she stuckby me and all these moves for
sure.

Behzad Rassuli (24:32):
That's fantastic and I imagine that must've come
with some tough conversations.
But maybe helping with thoseconversations was you mentioned
earlier that there were peopleat the plant that you needed to,
or the organization or youneeded to do something and they
didn't report to you.
What's the most effective waythat you found to kind of get

(24:53):
people to kind of march to thesame beat or support one another
without having a directreporting relationship?

Greg Noethlich (25:01):
Hey, I think it starts with likability for sure,
and somebody that's willing tohave have an understanding of
what's happening with each oneof those functions that you need
to get something done in andmake sure they understand the
bigger picture of the wholeprocess.

Behzad Rassuli (25:20):
So would you translate that, as you know,
using like human psychologicalspeak, Like is that empathy?
Is that just, is that youunderstanding another human
being and you're puttingyourself in their shoes and
saying another human being andyou're putting yourself in their
shoes and saying, you know,okay, so if I'm going to
approach this person, this is,uh, what they're involved in,

(25:42):
this is, you know, theirperspective, and me approaching
them would look like this tothem.
And is that?
Would that characterize it?
Or?

Greg Noethlich (25:49):
Yeah, I mean, as I would be back then assigning
tasks to people hey, I need youto redesign this radiator tank
and I know it's probably goingto take you eight hours or more
that you did, but we've gotinterference now with the
cooling module, so we got tochange the tank and really just
think through that, with themthe task, instead of just saying

(26:10):
, okay, come back and report tome when you can get it done.

Behzad Rassuli (26:13):
So can I.
When you're making theseautomotive products, this is
kind of a tangent.
But when the design for theengine is put forward and you're
building the individualproducts, or you're building the
radiator or the coolant module,how much is repairability a
part of that thought process,like future repair?

Greg Noethlich (26:36):
I actually don't know.
Back when we were doing thedesign work it was, you know we
knew for sure that the coolingwas going to have to go in and
we knew accessibility to pullthe radiator out and we knew
hose connections needed to beaccessible.
So the engineers did a lot ofthat work.
Of course I never had anengineering title, so I didn't
do it.
The engineers did a lot of thatwork.

(26:57):
Of course I'd never had anengineering title, so I didn't
do it but certainly theautomotive designers.
By the time I was in, we werejust transitioning away from
paper designs into AutoCAD and3D modeling, and so it was
pretty unique to be able to seeall of that come to life there.
And people were thinkingthrough that for sure.

Behzad Rassuli (27:13):
Do you use those kind of skills today in your
job, like the AutoCAD and the?
No, personally, I don'tThinking about moving when you
were moving let's say, take thatfirst job to Minnesota was it a
part of your calculus to say Ihave to have everything set up
there and family first?

(27:35):
To say I have to haveeverything set up there and you
know, family first and make surethat everyone's comfortable so
that this move is as low stressas possible.
Or is it get in the job, getmoved, get in the office day one
and then we'll figure it outfrom there?

Greg Noethlich (27:49):
Probably as much as I'd like to tell you that it
was all about making sure allthe ducks in a row.
I like to tell you that it wasall about making sure all the
ducks in a row, the I's aredotted and T's are crossed, so
to speak, for the family.
I relied a lot on my wife tohelp me get there and I was
probably over-indexing on thework and have continued that
kind of philosophy up until thisday, to be honest with you.

(28:10):
But no, it's a challenge.
It's a challenge to move.
It's a challenge to move thefamily.
To think through when thetiming you're separated until my
daughter would finish schooland then we'd move over the
summer or move over a Christmasbreak or some timing of all of
that.
Even here in Chicago, wherewe're headquartered in the

(28:32):
suburbs of Chicago, finding thetalent that has experience,
they're not always in town andpeople need to move and relocate
and they don't like thatanymore.

Behzad Rassuli (28:51):
I'm really concerned over time that people
limit themselves as they'rereluctant to take a chance and
go somewhere.
How do you let's say you'reexplaining this to your kids,
like trying to instill thisvalue in them.
What do they say back?
What's their protest and how doyou deliver the message?

Greg Noethlich (29:06):
Well, my son's going to be a super senior this
year at Michigan State and he'sgoing to be preparing himself
for the world and he would liketo come back to Chicago.
But I've told him you've got tokeep your options open and go
where the right opportunity isfor you.
Don't let your early yearsdefine you.
That has to be somewhere, causeyou could sit for quite some

(29:26):
time before you actually findsomething in that region.
So there's always ways to gainexperience and then, over time
time, migrate back to where youwould like to live overall.

Behzad Rassuli (29:37):
Do you feel like the digital age, the kind of
post-COVID world of videomeetings and remote work, helps
you find talent abroad at all,or is it still absolutely
necessary that they're in person?

Greg Noethlich (29:54):
I'm a huge face-to-face leader.
I don't know people call me oldschool management style these
days, which I don't really care.
I feel like it.
I had a conversation thismorning here in the office with
several people that would nothave happened around a really
key topic if we were virtual andit just it.

(30:17):
There is a lot of value inhaving people face to face and
you know it helps a lot becauseour industry people are hanging
parts on cars, repairing productand going to a store to buy it.
Some people are buying themonline, but a lot of people like
to go to stores and buy themand people are in the plants
manufacturing that they're notat home.

(30:37):
And so I always feel like, whydo people in finance think that
they can do their job at homeand not need to interact with
people?
You know they have vendors thatwe have to pay or customers we
have to receive money from.
If there are issues, they walkdown the hall and talk to the
salesperson about accountsreceivable issues or talk to
purchasing people about vendorsand setting them up and

(30:59):
utilizing that kind of crossfunctionality is a big, big key
to success.

Behzad Rassuli (31:04):
So the you came from a manufacturing background
and so that being at the plant,seeing the part or the product
and touching it, seeing theproblems, talking to the person
who can fix that problem that, Iimagine, helped you have a good
way of making the case tosomebody who says I'm interested

(31:40):
in this job but I want to beremote.
Or do you just kind of skippast them and say I'm looking
for people who want to be in theoffice?
There's a distinct differencethere between coaching and
educating people on the value ofbeing in person, without just
saying like, because I said so,uh, versus, and then just saying

(32:02):
like, listen, you know, we'regoing to filter for people who
are the best, and I'm, I'm abuild big believer in filtering,
so I'm, you know, I both.
I'm curious about bothperspectives.

Greg Noethlich (32:10):
Well, I mean I don't want to say it's a dead
fast rule that if you, if weknow the jobs in Chicago, you're
not going to be working remote,because we do have certain SIMS
situations that come about.
But I would say predominantlywhen we're interviewing
candidates and the job is inChicago, that the job is in
Chicago and personally from mydirect reports they have to be
here and that kind of cascadesdown in the organization as a

(32:34):
culture.
I do agree with you that I grewup in the plants pounding the
pavement and realizing gettingthings done were because people
were interacting in front of amachine to figure out what's
wrong or people are makingproducts.
So that probably has a big pieceof who I am and how I lead.
But you know, and I thinkeverybody that is in certain

(32:56):
roles and in leadership havedifference of opinions on it.
You know, I was just with oneof our banks that works with us
and they're 100% back in theoffice and you would think, like
a lot of our IT people think,well, I can work 100% remote, I
can just log into your computerfrom my home and work it out and
go on to the next problem andsave the commute time and I

(33:17):
still am a huge believer thatsuccess is built through teams
and to a candidate that wants tocome in and work hybrid 100%,
it really hurts and limits theirability to connect with the
organization and connect withpeople on a broader scale, to
learn how companies get thingsdone and to be more than just a

(33:38):
task pusher.

Behzad Rassuli (34:05):
To be more than just a task pusher, and I think
it'd be really hard to promotesomebody into a legitimate
concern that they're the.
I don't know which generation ismaybe it's Gen Z or there's a
new one, I don't know if it'salpha or something but um, that
their world is so much moredigital than ours and, uh, we
grew up in a much more analogworld where there was actual
physical contact with people andand items and you know, and

(34:27):
materials that uh, there's areal risk, in my opinion at
least and I and I there'sthere's a lot of research around
this that the combination ofpredominantly digital digital
interaction between, uh, youknow, teenagers and and then
early teens is is already abarrier to uh entering the

(34:52):
workforce where there isin-person contact.
But I imagine that taking a jobthen that is remote only kind of
fortifies that digitalinteraction with people and at
some point you know youmentioned your leadership team
your direct reports need to bein the office.
That makes a ton of sense.
You know they're incrediblyresponsible for the production

(35:15):
and activities of the company.
But there's a real risk thatthe people who kind of the next
generation who has digitalexperiences, digital
communication and then theystart off in digital jobs.
You know what happens in thattransition period.
Have you, have you put anythought to that, or have you
experienced that at yourorganization?

Greg Noethlich (35:35):
Well, I mean, I experience it every day because
we run into challenges aroundpeople and do they qualify for
the role, are they in Chicago orthey want to work remote, and
so we run into those challengesall the time and I feel like
you're right.
I mean, especially havingyounger kids and the social
media and the addiction to thephones is a big thing.

(35:55):
Interestingly enough, in 2007,I was living in North Carolina
and there was a couple that wasgoing to all 50 states and
interviewing Americans, and sothey came to our house and
interviewed us and one of thequestions that they asked was
what was our biggest fear foryour kids?
And I at that time said thephone.

(36:15):
You know, I was just moreworried about pictures, so to
speak.
Oh yeah, this was when this was2007.
Oh my gosh, yeah, this was likepictures on phones versus no
TikTok.

Behzad Rassuli (36:26):
I don't even know if Instagram was purchased
by Facebook at that point.

Greg Noethlich (36:30):
Yeah, it was way early on in that insight
associated with what was goingto be a big challenge for
society today.
Society today and for me, Iguess it's hard for me to be
anybody different than I am, andI'm a very in-person,
face-to-face leader and so,culturally, that's what you'll

(36:50):
find at Old World or that'swhere you're going to find
wherever I end up in life,because I like to be
face-to-face.

Behzad Rassuli (36:56):
How do you think of.
You know, when I think of yourjob history.
Obviously we talked about theleadership side.
You know multiple leadershippositions, multiple leadership
opportunities, but there'sanother side of the spectrum
where people stay at the samecompany for 30 years, then work
them themselves themselves upinto a leadership position.
Do you have a position on that?
You know which is the rightpath for the optimal level of

(37:22):
experience and then careerprogress?
You know, is it, and I don'tknow if there's a right answer
here.
I think it might just berelated to the individual, but
would you guide somebody tospend 30 years at Old World to
work their way up into aleadership position, or would
you say five years in your roleand then, like you know, I
welcome you to explore otheropportunities to really advance

(37:44):
your career?

Greg Noethlich (37:44):
Yeah, I think everybody crafts their career in
many, many different ways.
I feel like experience isreally important and somebody
that wants to take on additionalresponsibilities or new roles.
The experience could be withinthe company, over time or with
other companies, and for a longtime there was about everybody's

(38:06):
job hopping.
So I used to have this.
Well, you were at this job fortwo, two and a half years, three
years on this one.
What was going on?
Well, I ended up working forvery similar individuals Bruce
Smith I talked to you about overtime and because I had that
relationship with him, it wasdifferent than just job hopping
because I was unhappy.

(38:28):
It was a next opportunity withworking with people that I knew.
But we have a lot of peoplethat have a lot of good tenure
and long tenured here at OldWorld and I love it.
I think it's great experience.
They provide a greatperspective on things, and then
we kind of mesh that with newtalent.
Think it's great experience,they provide a great perspective
on things, and then we kind ofmesh that with new talent and
it's been remarkable for us soyou were able to position your.

Behzad Rassuli (38:50):
You were able to really communicate this like at
the next job that when somebodyasks why so many stops on their
resume, you can associate itwith.
You know, I was recruited intomultiple, multiple different
roles with one person.
Were you ever released from ajob or fired from one?

Greg Noethlich (39:06):
Yeah, I actually had had that experience.
So the individual that I workedfor for so many years, Bruce um
, we ended up in a real tightsituation at the foundry we were
talking about earlier and hehad to let me go.
I was really surprised.
Yeah, he had to let me go, Likepersonally letting you go.
It did.
How did that go?
It strained our relationship.
I was A shocked, strained ourrelationship and I think you

(39:32):
know, having to be replaying,that I should have had thought
about him as much as I thoughtabout me.
But ultimately it was a greatthing for me because it forced
me into going back to work atPactive, where I had left to go
to work for him and I had turnedinto a great opportunity
long-term.
But our relationship sufferedover those years for sure so you

(39:55):
.

Behzad Rassuli (39:55):
so I just want to recount this.
So you worked with Bruce formaybe like 20 years you said Off
and on, yeah, 15, 20.

Greg Noethlich (40:01):
worked with Bruce for maybe like 20 years.

Behzad Rassuli (40:02):
You said While I was on, yeah, 15, 20.
And there were constraints atthe company, I'm assuming
financial things were tight andsomebody you know.
There were headcount reductionsand he told you that you're one
of them.
I can imagine that must hurt.
It strained your relationship,you said, but was it hard for
him to?

Greg Noethlich (40:20):
deliver that to you had to have been.
I mean, I know that becauseI've had to do the very similar
thing.
Your relationship, you said butwas it hard for him to deliver
that to you?
Had to have been.
I mean, I know that becauseI've had to do the very similar
thing on the flip side.

Behzad Rassuli (40:28):
Meaning somebody that you I'm very close to and
I had to let go.
Okay, so you're in Bruce'sshoes in that situation.
How did that-.

Greg Noethlich (40:36):
It was almost worse than getting let go, than
having to do the let going, soto speak.

Behzad Rassuli (40:43):
Was it an easy decision for you because the
numbers were so clear?
Or was it like, look, this isthe, there's no way out of this
and I really, really don't wantto do this?

Greg Noethlich (40:52):
or you know, in anybody in the leadership role,
you're always faced withchallenges and sometimes
reductions in force happen overtime and people get consolidated
and jobs change.
So you have to, as a leader,make those hard decisions.
I think some people are veryit's easy for some leaders to do
it.
They separate themselves, theyhave a different leadership

(41:13):
style, so to speak.
I've had to make a lot of harddecisions, as everybody else has
, and they're just not easy andin some cases I feel leaders get
a little disconnected to it.
They're saying I need to make a20% headcount reduction, go,
execute that and versus.
Sometimes you have to looksomebody in the eye and make

(41:33):
sure you're still connected withthe decisions so you don't let
your organization get to thatpoint.

Behzad Rassuli (41:39):
So you made it your responsibility to actually
communicate that.

Greg Noethlich (41:41):
Yeah Well, especially because it was a
direct report of mine, so I hadto.
So you know it's tough.
It's a hard lesson in life.
You know take advantage of youropportunities.
It will happen to people and itcontinues to happen to people
in business.
But now you got to learn fromit, move past it, and I at the
time didn't think that that wasgoing to be possible, but it was

(42:03):
amazing how it worked out forme.

Behzad Rassuli (42:07):
So in your situation, how long were you out
of, or not working at that?

Greg Noethlich (42:14):
point.
I actually started pretty muchthe next month and then ended up
moving to Chicago and workingfor Pact of again, which I had
worked with them in the past.

Behzad Rassuli (42:24):
So did that help you kind of soften the blow, or
was it still tough to hear itfrom Bruce?

Greg Noethlich (42:29):
Yeah, I think that probably was the bigger
piece of it, because we wentinto this challenge together and
obviously we were in a toughtime and yeah it wasn't fun, but
I would tell you, it turned outmiraculously for me because it
got me back into a greatorganization and I was able to
run all the manufacturing atPactive and got exposure to the

(42:53):
owner, Graham Hart, and he ownedPrestone and so he saw all the
accomplishments that we madethere and he took a chance on me
and he moved me from Pactiveand I had recommendations from
the CEO and my boss, CEO Kevin,and he put me in the job.

Behzad Rassuli (43:13):
Was that the obvious move?
You know, were there othercompanies under his portfolio
that he thought?

Greg Noethlich (43:22):
all you that he thought yeah, I was shocked.
I told him that that I wassurprised that he actually put
me in the role, because Prestoneis not heavy manufacturing.
It's blending fluids, blowmolding bottles, so to speak.
And there was a there was ahard parts company water pumps
and fuel pumps which is likemachining and assembly work,
which I had a lot of experiencein, and he he wanted me to learn
sales and marketing.

Behzad Rassuli (43:36):
Why, why, why did you?
I mean it's you know I'mputting my leadership hat on
here and I have a hard partsbusiness and I have a you know
talent who's extremelyexperienced in manufacturing.
That feels like the natural.
You know, I need a steady handhere, right?
So?

(43:56):
And it sounds like he said Ihave that steady hand and I'd
like him to do somethingcompletely different.

Greg Noethlich (44:02):
Well, part of.
I don't know all the psyche anddecisions behind it, but if I
was making that decision, maybethat challenge is a bit harder
overall, and so for a new CEO togo in, maybe giving them a
softer challenge, so to speak,if you will could have been it.
I don't, I don't know, but itwas great for me because I

(44:23):
didn't know anything about whata planogram was.
What a pog was was a buy one,get one.
I had not had any of thatactivities in my career up until
that point, and so they werevery committed to seeing me be
successful, and I had a lot ofgreat sales and marketing people
around me to help so so you're.

Behzad Rassuli (44:39):
You know a nerd as a student, but like were you
a nerd about learning this?
You know the, the cpg world aswell.

Greg Noethlich (44:46):
You know the consumer, the consumer, brand
and package goods world I wasincestuous and I had like my
lunch hour for the better partof three months.
I was like three times a week Ihad like c CPG 101 classes, so
to speak, like I'd cycle throughdifferent people, whether it be
from hefty bags or a Reynoldsemployee helping me learn about

(45:09):
all the different tactics.

Behzad Rassuli (45:11):
But you know, going out and seeing customers
even that was new to me, and sojust you know, when you're

(45:32):
working in a manufacturing plant, you're focused on how many
pieces that I make that shiftand that day and that week and
that month, not the end customerand realizing that there are
negotiations and there's allthese other things that happen
with relationships.
So that's amazing.
I mean you must have reallymade an impression.
If you got a, you know, CPG CEOrole and we're also learning
CPG 101 at the same time Do youfeel like you can make that kind
of leap with people that haveworked for you?
Have you found yourself in thatposition where you say you've
given that opportunity tosomebody, like in a similar

(45:53):
situation?

Greg Noethlich (45:54):
Yeah, I mean, if I know the capabilities of
somebody and I've worked withthem or in seeing them, then I
will absolutely give them anopportunity to do something
different in a bigger, broaderrole.
I like that.
Some people that I hear at OldWorld I used to work with in
prior companies I like that.
I think it's a great means tothe end to building your team.

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Behzad Rassuli (46:54):
What were some of the exciting parts about
actually running a prominentbrand like Prestone or maybe
Fram?
Yeah, it was always fun becauseyou can find all the
paraphernalia like a prominentbrand like Preston or maybe you
know Fram.

Greg Noethlich (47:04):
Yeah, it was always fun because you can find
all the paraphernalia.
I mean, you see my office today.

Behzad Rassuli (47:10):
We're sitting here and I have more pee.
It is littered with from everydecade.
There's peak antifreeze in aglass bottle, in a tin, and
these are look like things thathave been salvaged from you know
someone's backyard.
I mean it really does capturethe history and you must be, you

(47:32):
must be incredibly proud ofleading that, that kind of a
brand.
But I mean it must be sodifferent than making a piece of
equipment that goes into abrand you know.

Greg Noethlich (47:42):
Yeah, very different.
I mean all of what you see, ora lot of what you see behind me.
I've collected on my ownthrough eBay's and all these
things and I get a lot of shitfor having this cluttered up
office.
It certainly needs a lot ofhelp to amplify, but it's just
part of what I do.

Behzad Rassuli (47:56):
So Preston is a competitor to Peak right.
And so what was that like?
Moving from, uh, preston itwasn't an immediate move, but
you were at Preston, new of peakand uh, you know, now you're a
peak at Preston.
What were some of the dynamicsthat came out of that exchange?

(48:16):
Were there dynamics wherethey're like fun stories?

Greg Noethlich (48:19):
when they're well, I'll tell you a couple,
two, two two quick stories isone when I first took over
pressed on the song black andyellow.
If you ever heard that by wiz Ithink it's like wiz khalif or
something hat and did.
I had that as my ringtone, so Iwas literally, you know,
bleeding yellow you changed thatbefore you got the to this.

Behzad Rassuli (48:38):
The interview for this job?

Greg Noethlich (48:39):
yeah, of course yeah, yeah, but it described me
at the time of being kind of allin with it and I was incestuous
about Peak.
I wanted to know everythingabout their success and so oh,
from Preston.
When I was at Preston, I wasincestuous about my competition
and understanding and wanting toknow more and more and modeling
them and how are they winningbids and what is it going to

(49:01):
take for me to win.
So it was a really interestingobsession, so to speak.
I used to see some because wewere both based in Chicago, so
I'd see some of the peak.
You know head sales, jerryRichie, who has passed away,
unfortunately early in life, butI'd see him on the airplanes.
I bumped into him at therestaurant we went to last night

(49:23):
, um, back in 2012 or 13, andtook me all dinner long to get
the energy up to go over there,the whatever, the courage to go
up and say hey, jerry, do youremember me?
I'm Greg from Preston.
He's like who are you?
Again, I knew that kind ofstuff.
It was just.
It was so defining for me overover in those really early years

(49:43):
of running a business.
And then I got into Fram andFram and Champ Labs were two
filter companies that had cometogether and I was running that
for a couple of years, which wasreally more exciting, I think,
because there was a lot moremanufacturing, kind of back to
my core, you know, makingfilters and we really made like

(50:03):
85% of those filters.
So it was fun to stamp themetal and pleat the paper and
assemble that product and I gotthe leverage of a lot of the
relationships with the customerbase that I had built when I was
at Preston.
So it was really natural to getin there.
And you know, same thing, whenI joined Old World, it was like
I had the perfect resume andbackground to help bring this

(50:27):
company from all the.
You know we just turned 50 lastyear as a company and 1973, tom
Herbison, riyadh, started thisbusiness with $2,000 and built
it into this in what they havetoday and it's.
It's been a great honor for meto run this company, for sure.

Behzad Rassuli (50:45):
How important is that story that they, Tom and
Riaz, spent 2000 bucks and, uh,your private company, you don't
broadcast your financials butyou're not a million dollar
company, You're not.
This is not a $10 millioncompany, the large company.
This is not a $10 millioncompany, the large company.
How important is that story,kind of on a daily basis, to
your, your team and to you justoperating?

(51:07):
You know the, the business, theresponsibility that comes with
that.

Greg Noethlich (51:11):
Yeah, man, it's a.
It's a real play.
I love talking about it.
I love, I think the story isgreat.
Of course, the company has beenin and out of so many fun
things as they've grown over the50 year history.
We have some of the employeesthat have been here 30 plus
years and so being able to walkin, talk to these people, hear

(51:31):
about all the fun, excitingthings.
Rick Jago ran the company for20 years or so and he's on our
board today and he's an amazingindividual to be kind of walked
in my shoes with this businessand with the owner Tom, and it
was.
It's been awesome.

Behzad Rassuli (51:48):
What are some of their lasting the original
founders, what are some of theirlasting mottos?
Or you know the, the kind oflessons that they left for the
organization that you feel likeyou have a responsibility to
continue.

Greg Noethlich (52:02):
Well, if you ask pretty much anybody in the
company what is one of TomHerbst's main mottos and how he
ran the company, and how Rickdid and Jerry Riccione and now
Greg Nadelick, is have fun, makemoney.
And it's kind of an ironicsaying, so to speak.
But if there's one thing thatdescribes me as like I love to
have fun, it's part of how, whoI am and how I lead and, and you

(52:24):
know, making money is obviouslyvery important for all of us
and for a company at large.
So they came together reallywell.

Behzad Rassuli (52:35):
So my, I get my personal leadership fit right in
.
When I was preparing for this,I asked some people about you
and uh, they one personcharacterized it.
As you know, old world wasknown as the company that said
yes and had fun, and perhapsthey lost their way for a while.
But Greg is the epitome of theperson who has fun and says yes,

(52:57):
and so it's an absolutelyperfect kind of profile match.
But the company has resulted.
The results of the company showthat it was a perfect match,
you know in the first place.
So what is?
What is that?
How do you do that?
What is having fun?
You know how does that come outat work for you or for your
company?
You know what are some examplesof that?

Greg Noethlich (53:17):
As whoever whoever told you that, by the
way, I, oh they, they get a goldmedal.
Yeah, they get a gold star,because they were spot on on it
and I don't know how it happened, but it just happened.
Some of the things that we dothat are fun.
I mean, we did last year we did50, 50 events for the employees
for turning 50.
And so we had some.
Really, you know, ice cream iseasy, but we did company picnic

(53:38):
for the first time.
We, when we did company picnicfor the first time, we had a
humongous turnout for thecompany picnic.
Which day and age.
When do you hear aboutcompanies doing picnics?

Behzad Rassuli (53:45):
Yeah, I don't.

Greg Noethlich (53:46):
You don't hear about them.
No, we do.
In the company, the familystarted this many years ago a
holiday party and we all godowntown and it's you know,
dress up.
It's suits, tuxedos, if youwant.
It's suits, tuxedos if you want.
It's a formal holiday party.
Those are usually the firstthings that get cut at private
equity companies and we keepthat alive and thriving Even

(54:08):
2021, when I first got here,when things were coming out of
COVID and challenging the fam islike this is very important for
us and we need to keep it.
So I mean, anytime I go tocustomer events, I'm very
upfront.
I'm out there with my, my folks.
I love to be involved.
Poor Christy, who runs salesfor us, she's she has has had a

(54:29):
hard time getting used to mebeing with customers, maybe when
she's not there, but that'spart of how being upfront and
out leadership and, as a resultof being out and about, you have
a lot of fun.
Yeah.

Behzad Rassuli (54:46):
So you, that means just leading by example.
So you're just an energeticperson, you're comfortable
having fun with your colleaguesand at work and everyone just
able to let loose with it.
I mean, I saw your 50thanniversary party at Apex.
You rented out one of thebigger restaurants and you
completely transformed it into agigantic party.
It was that.
Was that something you'd beenlooking forward to for years?

(55:08):
Or was it and you wanted tokind of throw money against it?
Or were you kind of like, ohyou know, let's, let's not,
let's not overdo this.

Greg Noethlich (55:17):
So that's a really ironic story about the
Preston Peak kind of Greg Turnerfrom black and yellow to
bleeding blue is when I was atthe apex for the first time in
2012,.
Danica was signing autographsin the Peak booth.
That day, danica, patrick and Iwas standing there looking at

(55:39):
the line of people around theirbooth in the Preston booth like,
oh my God, what am I missinghere?
I just had so much envy of thatsituation and I vowed at that
time.
I'm like I have to do somethinglike that.
And that 50th celebration thatyou talked about not only did we
have Danica at our booth, butwe had Willie Robertson from

(56:01):
Duck Dynasty, michael Waltrip,kyle Petty and John Force.
Oh, you went all out.
We went all in and then some,and then we got the sugar cane
right on the exit of Apex sothat everybody knew what we were
celebrating and it was anamazing business that has been
built in the automotiveaftermarket and it was so fun.

(56:24):
We went all out for sure.

Behzad Rassuli (56:26):
I mean, that must have been really rewarding
for you and personallygratifying, given going, you
know, going from standing in theline to being the person you
know with people hosting theline.
Exactly right?
Yeah, no question.
Yeah, I didn't stand in thatline.
That looked too wild for me.
Yeah, when you joined this,when did you join the company,
april?

Greg Noethlich (56:42):
2021.
Covid.
So one year after COVID kind ofwas identified.

Behzad Rassuli (56:49):
Yeah and uh, when you got to the office was,
was it humming, was it, you know?
Was it buzzing or was it?
Um, everyone, everyone wasstill.
I imagine you came, you know,being the person, the in-person
employer.
Uh, that you, you came straightto the office.
What?
What was it like when youshowed up?

Greg Noethlich (57:09):
Yeah, the office hadn't been occupied for over a
year, and so I felt like I'm abrand new CEO.
I have to connect with theculture of this company and now
I'm responsible for it.
And how am I going to do thatwithout having people around me
so I can get to know?
I'm just obviously came fromChampion Laboratories where we
were making oil filters down inSouthern Illinois and really we

(57:30):
were out for maybe one week andso people were always in the
office.
So when I was running thatbusiness, people were there.
So coming here was different.
It was a new challenge that, asa leader, I had never, and a
lot of everybody that was inorganizations, whether you're an
employee or running thebusiness at large to figure out

(57:51):
and navigate.
The COVID challenge was tough,but we were able to, and we had
our majority of our managers andleaders came in in October.
So it took, you know, whateverfive, six months to make that
happen here.
But we haven't looked back andwe have a hybrid schedule now,
which people have the option tocome in Mondays and Fridays if

(58:11):
they want, but the Tuesday,wednesday, thursday they're here
, yeah, so when you.

Behzad Rassuli (58:15):
I was walking around your office before this
meeting and on the floor aboveus I saw this, this plaque, or
this, this series of, um, uh,different kind of.
I think these are valid, thecorporate values, I suppose, uh,
and I make that associationbecause have fun, make money is
one of them.
But, um, some of the othershere.

(58:37):
I love these and I took apicture of them and I'm going to
read them off here.
So, never, never, never, giveup.
That was a quote or a book orsomething.
I had a book that said that, uh, when I was growing up, and I
absolutely love that Handleconflict.
Talk is cheap.
Always fulfill your commitments, the team wins.

(58:57):
Timing in business iseverything.
Hire and deal with people ofpassion, separate business from
personal and talk to everyone.
So, did these come from you orwere they here before you joined
?
Yeah, they were here before Ijoined.
Actually, what?

Greg Noethlich (59:15):
is your reaction when you saw them?
Oh, I was like this describesme to a T.
I don't know how that couldhave happened, but it did happen

(59:39):
and a lot of that.
You mentioned passion or thatboard has passion on there, or
that board has passion on there.
That is a big thing in myleadership style, that I think a
lot of people need to have more.
Show passion around somethingand I'm into the initiative in a
big way.
People get rallied around that.
It's infectious, and they don'twant to show up without that as

(01:00:00):
well.

Behzad Rassuli (01:00:01):
Yeah, they got to match your energy, yeah, so
to speak.
Yeah, yeah, I think that's trueand I think I mean it's
certainly reflected in thebusiness.
I mean, the office is buzzing.
You know, company cultures arereally fascinating, I suppose,
organisms if you want to callthem that because they're not

(01:00:21):
like a strategy right, you can'tjust state a strategy.
A culture is something that theorganization kind of has to
live.
When you joined, let's callthose kind of the the values or
the culture of the company iswere they being exhibited, do
you feel like?
Or they had the organizationkind of lost its way prior to
you joining?

Greg Noethlich (01:00:40):
Yeah, I think about that from time to time and
you remember those.
If you go to a party and youpop the top and something would
like explode out of it.

Behzad Rassuli (01:00:48):
Yeah, I actually just got one of those and like
blown on my face.
Recently my kid found one ofthose.

Greg Noethlich (01:00:53):
Popped it open.
Yeah.

Behzad Rassuli (01:00:54):
Yeah, so I know exactly what you're talking
about.

Greg Noethlich (01:00:55):
So I felt like all of that, of those values,
were in that jar of old world.
When I walked in and literallyI popped the top and they all
came back out and it was in avery, very short order.
We got our mojo back and as anorganization it's.

Behzad Rassuli (01:01:19):
We have been humming and we are really,
really excited about thebusiness and where we're going.
What?
What happened there?
Like, what was the?
Was it just that the teamneeded one more ingredient or
new leader and they were allready to go?
Or was it that, you know, theyneeded to build trust with you
first?
How did?
How did that?
You know?
How did it happen that youcould just pull a string and
like get this company.

Greg Noethlich (01:01:37):
I feel like that was part of the culture number
one already that had not hadbeen gone for several years, and
it was.
It's easy for people to go backto their natural strengths,
given that they don't have anyrestrictions anymore, and so
that was easy for me.
Number two it was reputation.

(01:01:58):
So we actually had people thatused to work with me at Fram or
Preston, that worked at OldWorld at that time, and so they
were able to say, hey, we knowGreg, we've worked with him in
the past, we know how he is,he's great.
No, hey, we know Greg, we'veworked with him in the past, we
know how he is, he's great.
No, don't worry about it, orwhatever the rumor chat was.
I feel like that helpedeverybody feel more at ease with

(01:02:18):
me coming in too.

Behzad Rassuli (01:02:19):
I think that's a really.
It speaks to the personalityand the reputation you built
before showing up here.

Greg Noethlich (01:02:28):
That, prior to even showing up and having to
say anything, that there arethere are people who say it's,
this is going to be great whengreg gets here yeah, I think you
know sometimes people don'tthink about the how small the
world really is and that thesecond and third degrees of
separation seem to find theirway.
It's not just a linkedinprofile, because there will be.

(01:02:49):
I mean, ironically, we arewe're in the process of
interviewing for a pretty bigposition in our business and one
of our board members used towork for a company that they
knew people and we're talkingabout in another country to get
a reference check on somebodythat's applied that we're really
highly considering.
So you wouldn't think aboutthose types of connections that

(01:03:10):
end up happening.
And so you're coming in feelinglike references aren't
important or reputation is notimportant.

Behzad Rassuli (01:03:18):
It really is, because it definitely helps when
you think of successionplanning.
How quickly do you think ofsuccession planning Like for you
, you know, for your role.
Let's say you vacate your role,retirement whatever reason, but
is it?

Greg Noethlich (01:03:31):
Well, really quick.
I'm not retiring anytime soon.
I love what I do, so I've got along, long path.

Behzad Rassuli (01:03:35):
But if I got hit by a bus, so to speak, yeah, as
our head of people operationslikes to call it winning the
lottery, right, so you'd yeah,it's a positive way.
I lean on the getting hit by abus kind of thing.
But so what what?
I?
And I think about this becauseyou know, you've led other
organizations and every timethat you leave that spot, you
kind of leave a vacancy, and sosuccession planning must, must,

(01:03:57):
be something that you, you focuson.
How does it manifest here?
Is it that you, you feel likeyou have a, a number of people
who could fill the role?
Is it something that's statedearly on, or is it something
that's just kind of you know,look, there are a number of
people that could do this joband the companies can be in
great hands.

Greg Noethlich (01:04:15):
No, we spent a lot of time on it as an
organization.
Now it's prior.
In my prior lives I never wasprivate equity centric, one
single owner centric andinvestor.
So I think succession planningis different across the
situations or company thatyou're in.
This organization we're largeenough and prominent enough that
succession planning isimportant, and especially for

(01:04:42):
the leadership team andcontinuity for the organization
at large.
I think there was someexperiences over the last 10
years that this company had thatsuccession planning needed a
little bit more mapping out, andso we work in as a, as a board,
and I work with our, with ourboard, on that, for sure what
was.

Behzad Rassuli (01:04:55):
Uh, you know one of your, your hardest jobs.
What was of all the jobs youwent through?
You know some.
Maybe we'll do some quick hitquestions here.
You know what was, what was thehardest?

Greg Noethlich (01:05:02):
job when I was a plant manager for the first
time Oklahoma city hardest job.
What was your favorite job?
My favorite job?
Wow, I was a plant manager inMinnesota and injection molding
that was really fun.
Great group of people, uh, funplant.
Knew everybody by name?
Um, yeah, it was.
That was probably one of myfavorite.

(01:05:22):
One of my favorite ones?
Oh man, when I was at Pactive,I got to run all the
manufacturing for them.
It was like 35 plants.
So I always felt like that wasmy ideal job and that's probably
where I was going to retiredoing and then ultimately ended
up landing this job and it'sbeen the best and most fun ever.

Behzad Rassuli (01:05:41):
I mean it's you seem like you're having the time
of your life here and youmentioned you had a mentor
growing or going through yourcareer.
Do you view, how do you, how doyou manifest your mentorship
now?
Do you view yourself as amentor to many people?
Do you kind of have the hey?
You know I, I had all theseexperiences with a few people
and here are some valuablelessons I learned, you know, do

(01:06:03):
you cognizantly mentor people?

Greg Noethlich (01:06:06):
Well, I mean I've had, I have had three large
mentors in my career and I feellike they were.
You mentioned Michael Klein.
He's one of them.
I feel like they were veryinstrumental in my success,
helping guide me in the righttimes, making sure I was patient
at the right times, as I, as inmy career Now, do I feel like
I'm mentors?
Yeah, sure, I think that thereare people that I would work

(01:06:29):
with or still don't work withthat call me chat about their
career a bit.
So sure, I mean I'm happy to doit anyways.

Behzad Rassuli (01:06:37):
You're happy to do it, but you don't find it to
be like a responsibility that'sburdening you.
No, not at all, it's justnatural.
So, as I was saying, you know,I kind of offered up something
that somebody described you as.
I want to give you theopportunity to describe yourself
, and not now, but I want to putit in this context.

(01:06:57):
It's 10 years from now and Irun into somebody who has worked
with Greg Natelik.
What do you want them to say?
And I say, hey, did you knowGreg or did you work with Greg?
What do you want them to say?
What do you want you know?
And I say, hey, did you knowGreg or did you work with Greg?
What do you want them to say?
You know, oh, yeah, he had thisimpression on me, or I'd
learned this from Greg.
You know what?
What impression or values wouldyou like to leave?

(01:07:19):
Um, would you like other peopleto associate you with?

Greg Noethlich (01:07:22):
Well, I want people to think that I'll do
what I say, so I have integrityabout it, about what I do and
how I do things.
I want people to look at me andbe like man.
He's got a lot of energy andpassion for what he does and has
fun doing it, and so I.
If I can leave that lastingmemory on anybody that has come
across my path and I've workedwith over the years, that'd be

(01:07:42):
awesome.

Behzad Rassuli (01:07:43):
I absolutely leave this conversation feeling
like it's been fun talking toyou.
It's been fun knowing you forthe years that we've known each
other, I think since 2017.
And your passion and yourenergy is contagious and it's
infectious, and so keep doingwhat you're doing.
Thanks so much for doing thiswith me.

Greg Noethlich (01:08:01):
Yeah, I appreciate it, it was fun.

Behzad Rassuli (01:08:02):
Great experience , Great time Thanks.

Greg Noethlich (01:08:04):
Greg.

Behzad Rassuli (01:08:45):
Thank you.
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