Leadership 2.0, the University of the Aftermarket’s annual Leadership Development Program, officially began its second session Sunday at Northwood University’s West Palm Beach, Fla., campus. This week, several participants in this year’s class will bring us their firsthand perspective on the experience. Today, we hear from Tyler Rossdeutcher, customer development/consumer contact associate, Gold Eagle Co.
Click here to read Blog Post No. 1, and here to read Blog Post No. 2 in this weeklong series.
As a fairly new automotive aftermarket professional, I stepped onto Northwood University’s Midland, Mich., campus back in August with a lot of uncertainties. What would we learn? Who would we meet? How will we apply what we learn? Eight short months later, those questions have become far easier to answer.
Our second full day here began with a roundtable discussion. University of the Aftermarket Director Brian Cruickshank facilitated a discussion related to the many changes our industry is going through currently and helped us look out a little further to potential changes down the road. The most interesting part is when you hear input from people in different parts of the industry. Each person brings a unique perspective, which helps to create a very dynamic discussion. Our industry, like any other, is constantly going through changes.
It’s our responsibility to address those changes and look for the opportunities to grow our businesses. Following the roundtable, Dr. Frank Morgan led a presentation about ethics and values. To me, sessions like this are essential. Too often I feel that we don’t review who we are and who we want to be. Each one of us makes difficult decisions each day in both our personal and professional lives. Sometimes arriving at the right answer to those questions is easier than others.
Whether or not we realize it, ethics plays a role in each and every business decision we make. It is incredibly important to take a step back and realize the impact our decisions will have both in the short and long term. When we make a conscious effort to do the right thing, our peers will value and respect that. This action can help produce a culture within a company that is built on integrity.
Admittedly, I am far from a financial guru. So as we wrapped up lunch, the looming financial session with Rick Guirlinger had me a little uneasy. Rick, however, does a great job at making the session relatable and understandable for those of us who maybe don’t review financial data as much as we should. We looked into some aftermarket financial data, which really gave us a glimpse in to how companies can be in the exact same industry but go about their accounting and reporting very differently.
For the past eight months we have been working on group projects with people we had just met, who came from different backgrounds and were located across the country. I want to thank the efforts of my teammates – Bob Meyers (Gates), Karl Westrik (WIX Filtration), Jon Sipe (Interstate Muffler) and James O’Dell (Motown Automotive Distributing) for putting together what I believe will be a meaningful presentation on Thursday.
I am incredibly grateful to have been a part of this program. The insight this program provides into different levels of the automotive aftermarket is invaluable. We get two weeks of hands-on experience with the ability to learn from professionals from around the industry. I want to thank everyone involved with the University of the Aftermarket for putting this program together and a big thank you to Gold Eagle Co. for allowing me to be a part of it.
