The Automotive Leaders Podcast · Jan Griffiths

The Weight of Leadership: The True Cost of Poor Leadership in the Automotive Industry

·42 min·2 clips

Paul Tashinsky at Allied Signal told Jan Griffiths 'We can't ship effort. What is the date?'

1. The Automotive Leaders Podcast episode 'The Weight of Leadership' examines the cost of poor leadership in automotive suppliers, using Jay Butler's LinkedIn article of the same name as its anchor. 2. Host Jan Griffiths, who cites 35+ years in the auto industry, interviews Jay Butler, a vice president at Seraph who previously worked at Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and Brose across operations and quality. 3. Butler's thesis is that distressed companies usually have bad metrics because leadership struggled to do the right thing at the right time, and that workers carry the consequences home to their families. 4. Butler describes a client supervisor with five years of tenure who had never had a four-day Thanksgiving weekend, and says Seraph promised and delivered one, plus close to a full week off at Christmas, after negotiating resets with OEMs. 5. He says leaders should be 'tough on standards and tenderhearted with people,' a Doug Conant line Griffiths quotes, and recounts walking a plant manager to the employee entrance to ask 'what rules matter here?' about safety glasses and vests. 6. Butler explains Seraph's 'rematch board,' a laminated calendar with post-it notes holding the action, the assigner's initials and date, and the owner's initials and committed date, where missed items go to a red section instead of being moved. 7. Griffiths ties this to her 'accountability lab,' which meets at 7:07 and uses peer pressure, and to Brad Ring of Webasto replacing 'accountability' with the word 'promise.' 8. Griffiths recalls Allied Signal mentor Paul Tashinsky in South Bend telling people 'We can't ship effort,' and both guests flag vague terms like 'close of business' and 'middle of the month' as ways to excuse missed dates. 9. Butler cites a plant manager who parked an electric cart in a pedestrian walkway, possibly blocking a fire hydrant or extinguisher, as proof that 'team members are watching,' then advises tariff-hit leaders to build flexibility, form a dedicated team, and avoid worrying 'too much about being right.' 10. Suited to automotive supplier leaders, plant managers and operations professionals.

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