Let Your Team Eat: Interview with Donnie Carr, CEO of Christian Brothers Automotive
I recently went one on one with Donnie Carr, CEO of Christian Brothers Automotive.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Donnie: I have gotten to the place where I am today through consistency. Every day, I show up and try to do my best through focusing on what is in front of me at that moment. When I do that, I am able to be present and put all of my effort into making something excellent. In my experience, there is a delicate balance between being in the moment and being concerned about the future. If I focus on doing great work in the moment, I do not necessarily need to be overly concerned with the long-term.
A pivotal realization that was instrumental to my growth was understanding that, while I make an impact on the organization with my actions, supporting every other person in my organization is how we make things happen. Nothing would get done without the hard work and dedication of our Home Office team members, franchisees and technicians. I have realized that I merely play a role in our success, and at the end of the day, everyone is important.
Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?
Donnie: While there are several key steps to growing and scaling a business, the most important of those steps is making sure that you are choosing quality over quantity in every aspect of your operations. That is the most reliable way to create a solid foundation that your business can build upon for years to come.
I choose to be present in my day-to-day work life, but when it comes to making decisions, I am always thinking and consulting with my leadership team on our vision for the future. The important thing is to make sure that you are doing excellent work now so that you can achieve those goals which you have set for yourself and the organization down the road.
To take it a step further, it is important to never lose sight of the “why” behind the goals you have set. Take some time to really think about why you are working toward a certain milestone and how it aligns with your company or business’ mission and values. When you have a clear motivation for yourself, it helps others that look to you for leadership to also understand the push around achieving the goals. It shows when leaders are only pushing their team members to work hard for the sake of numbers, not values.
Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing and branding?
Donnie: In our world today, guests and consumers are looking for companies and businesses that have the ability to be transparent and genuine. People buy into a brand when they understand who you truly are and what the brand represents. It can be easy to be swayed by consumer trends or enticed to adopt the successful tactics of others in your industry. However, people know when a company is being their least authentic self or putting on a façade for the public.
All sales, marketing and branding is about the message you put out into the world about who your company is and what they stand for. Our organization has found great success when we have stuck to our values-based roots. I always encourage entrepreneurs and business leaders to go back to the core values of the company if they feel it has gotten off course.
Adam: What are your best tips on building, leading and managing teams?
Donnie: My realization that I am one person that plays a role in the company contributed to my philosophy on building, leading and managing teams around me. I can only do, say and be an expert on so much. My advice is to focus on building and developing those around you. It is your job as a leader to be an asset to the professional development of the team around you. I am always asking myself, “How can I help grow this person’s skills in all areas of life?” I think that is another aspect that can get lost in business leadership sometimes – the bridge between the personal and professional life. If I am able to make a difference in both regards, I will.
Another piece of advice I will share with you is that none of this matters unless you make sure that you hold yourself to an even higher standard than those around you. I fully intend for my team to expect the same of me that I expect from them. In this way, I lead by example. It is important to show your team that you are also accountable to the expectations you have set of them to foster mutual respect of each other.
Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?
Donnie: I am a big fan of “letting your team eat.” What I mean by this is that my job is to set my team up for success. I do this by setting clear expectations and holding them accountable to those expectations. Part of that is actually teaching them and training them on how to meet their goals in the workplace. If I have done all of that correctly, I will have the ability to step back and let them run with it.
The trick to monitor and work with your team on a regular basis if you are not seeing the results you would like. As I mentioned above, my job is to be an asset to my team, so if something is not working, I would look at myself and see what I can add or change to help them be successful. I believe that is the hallmark of a good leader.
Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Donnie: That’s a great question. In my experience, it all comes down to the people that you surround yourself with. Great leaders surround themselves with people who are going to speak the truth to them and people that love them. These people will tell you where you are falling short and will push you to be better.
This kind of professional environment can only be created when you give those people the permission and authority to speak the truth on where you, as a leader, need to improve. I have been blessed to have people around me who are not afraid to push me to be the best leader that I can be, and I am extremely grateful to them for that.
I was also lucky enough to see this type of leadership modeled for by my father, Mark Carr. He imparted upon me his wisdom and experience leading our company to where it is today.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Donnie: I know that I might sound like a broken record on this, Adam, but it really is all about surrounding yourself with the best team. You are only as good of a leader as the team that is around you. Their strengths are your strengths – their weaknesses, your weaknesses. As an entrepreneur, executive or leader of any kind, you need to know who you are doing business with and the role that you want to play in the organization is. That will determine how successful you are.
One of the things that I often here from other executives is that it is the loneliest at the top. There is some truth to that, but I find that if you are alone at the top, it is because you have brought no one with you. Another tip is that you need to be willing to share ownership of your business or organization’s success with others. You need to be willing to allow them to make important decisions as well. The biggest question that I ask those leaders who say, “it is lonely at the top” is why are you there all by yourself?
The third tip I have for aspiring entrepreneurs, executives and leaders is to always refer back to the founding mission or values behind your business or organization. When you feel lost or unsure of the direction to steer your team in, it is important to remember the “why” behind what you are doing. If you lose sight of the motivation behind a goal you have set, then your team will as well.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Donnie: Two sayings immediately come to mind for me. During the course of my career, someone once told me that we are all replaceable. While that is very true, I think the bigger message or piece of advice that I took away from that is that being a leader does not mean you do not need to be continuing to work hard and better yourself. If I stop looking for ways to improve my skills or our organization, someone else will. We must strive to be the best we can be every day.
The second is a saying that I think about often: “If serving is below you, then leading is beyond you.” As a person in a place of leadership, I can not take what everyone in the Home Office and in our system is doing for granted. From our trusted technicians, franchisees and other team members, every one’s role is important to our success. If you are willing to put in the work that others are doing for you, then you know what it will take to be a good leader to them.
Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Donnie: In life and leadership, there are little things that we can do for each other.
The first is giving people the benefit of the doubt. I believe that we should seek first to understand others before we seek to be understood. I try to go into my personal interactions believing that others have the best intentions and try to figure things out from there. In confrontation or conflict, this is the way that we can more effectively communicate with each other.
The second is to be transparent and genuine in those interactions. As leaders, we are often looked at to have the hard conversations with others. Approaching those situations with grace, genuineness and transparency helps ensure that others can easily understand where you are coming from as well.
If we can all make an effort to do these, I truly believe we will find success in life.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
Follow Adam on Instagram and Twitter at @adammendler and listen and subscribe to Thirty Minute Mentors on your favorite podcasting app.