The Automotive Leaders Podcast · Jan Griffiths

Leadership, Culture, and Navigating Uncertainty as a CEO in the Auto Industry

·54 min·2 clips

Tony Trecapelli says the hardest leadership decision is "letting people go" because you have to size for actual demand, not hope.

Jan Griffiths opens by reminding listeners that the show is about stories, insights, and skills from leading voices in automotive. She quickly shifts the focus away from the usual attention on OEMs and tier ones. Tier twos matter here. She speaks from experience as a recovering leader of supply chain in a tier one supplier, which gives the conversation a grounded edge. The guest keeps returning to one core idea: leadership only works when people are willing to be part of a team. That starts the moment someone walks in the door in the morning. The person next to you has to matter more than you do. He ties that standard to sports teams, hiring decisions, and the uncomfortable truth that culture does not appear by accident. If a person is motivated mainly by career advancement, looking smarter, or staying above the next person, the environment starts to break down. He says some people are fine with being told exactly what to do, and that is a fit issue the organization has to recognize honestly. To screen for that fit, he describes an extensive interview process that includes role plays. The conversation then widens to the pressure of competing in a global industry that is changing fast. Chinese OEMs come up as the bigger threat. Tariffs are the headline everyone can see, but the guest argues that the deeper challenge is the competition coming from China. Jan presses on tariffs anyway, asking what they have done to Chinese OEMs, to the guest's business, and to suppliers in general. The episode keeps returning to leadership as a human problem rather than a slogan problem. You cannot control another human being by announcing a culture. People have to move through the emotional journey themselves, and leaders have to give them space to do it. They have to make people feel safe. The final tone is direct and collegial, ending with a reminder to stay true to yourself and lead with gravitas.

As heard by us

A direct look at team-first leadership, culture, and the limits of command and control.

Leadership in the auto industry comes through here as a test of temperament more than theory. Jan Griffiths and her guest keep circling back to what actually holds a business together: put the team first, make the hiring process demanding, and treat culture as something people…

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