American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
Lead People, Not Tasks: Build Relationships That Drive Results
Ready for leadership you can actually use on a busy Tuesday? We sat down with Lieutenant Kyle from Wentzville, Missouri to unpack conflict resolution, trust-building, and communication habits that turn stressful moments into steady results. Drawing from policing and the towing industry, we explore how relationships—not checklists—carry teams through change, and how small, consistent actions create a culture where people feel heard, prepared, and accountable.
We break down conflict resolution as a proactive practice: give high performers a voice, set expectations in plain language, and use brief debriefs to convert chaos into learning. Trust becomes measurable when leaders align words and actions, close loops publicly, and build inclusive routines that invite input before decisions harden. If you’ve ever rolled out a change and watched it stall, you’ll get a simple framework for communicating the why, setting 30-60-90 milestones, and shipping quick wins that show progress without burning people out.
This conversation also zooms out to personal growth. We talk about writing a one-page vision, choosing three skills to build, and running a weekly review that keeps motivation alive after the kickoff fades. Whether you manage a tow fleet, run a shop, or lead a small business with a handful of trucks, these tools translate to the field, the office, and home. And if you’re ready to go deeper, we share details on the Trailblazer Leadership Retreat in Cape Coral—two focused days on communication, change leadership, and building high-performing teams with experts from law enforcement, private sector, and nonprofit leadership.
Subscribe to the show, share this episode with a teammate, and tell us the one leadership skill you’ll build first this year. Your feedback shapes future guests and topics—leave a review and join the conversation.
You're on the train to success with April and Wes Wilburn. I'm DJ Harrington, the co-host, better known as the Toad Doctor. We're all on our way to the town of proper towing and recovery, along with our producer Chuck Camp in the studio. Don't go to the town of woulda, coulda, shoulda. You could have done this. You should have done that. Listen every week to thought-provoking wisdom from great guests. So if you have Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia, or the number one podcast, or maybe Amazon, or wherever you get your podcast, turn in on Wednesday and be turned on all week long. If you are a state association and want your announcements or upcoming state association news, or maybe a co-show that's coming up, let us know. Our podcast studio phone number is 706-409-5603. I'm proud to be part of a great team at the American Dome Recovery Institute. I will turn it to April and Miss.
SPEAKER_04:Thanks for those kind words, DJ. As always, I appreciate it. Appreciate our listeners over 20,000 subscribers. If you haven't done it, take a moment, hit that subscribe button for us. We really appreciate that. Hit that like and that share button also, but hit that subscribe. That's what we really need. We need subscribers.
SPEAKER_05:Yep.
SPEAKER_04:Well, as we're recording this, we're right at the end of the year. So um Are you ready for the new year?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I am more than ready. Uh we've decorated the house and of course we believe in little Christmas, so it we take our decorations down. One of our neighbors said, When are you gonna take 'em down? I said, We take 'em down every year, January eighth. That's little Christmas. So we take 'em down the January the evening of the eighth, the ninth. So the following weekend, you know, that weekend we take 'em down. Okay. So yeah, so it's it's a routine, but we're set up and the grandchildren, they're more excited than, you know, adults. And I have one autistic grandson, Wes, and he calls up all the time. He goes, Grandpa, the stuff we ordered, did it come in yet? Yes, it did. He did.
SPEAKER_04:It's it's here.
SPEAKER_05:And then he always wants to open stuff ahead of time. You know, can I open ahead of time? No, no. No, hey, we gotta wait till Christmas. But uh Christmas is good and hopefully for all twenty thousand listeners, uh Christmas will be good for them. You got a great guest. The only thing I would say prior to us getting our guests on is I hope we tell our listeners grab a paper and pen. Uh this guy is very, very informative. And he gave a lot of good tips. So you know, on these podcasts I I want 'em to be learning podcasts. You know, we have such great leaders coming on now because of colonial becoming because of Cardinal. We have such great people coming on that they need to take a pen and paper and and start making notes because they it's this will start the year off perfect.
SPEAKER_04:Definitely high caliber crew, Cardinal. I'm so thankful that we combine forces with them and they're gonna take the institute to the next level as we move forward. I think it's very obvious with the the bold step that they made for a leadership training conference.
SPEAKER_05:Oh yeah. And you don't have to wait till once a year, you know? It's one of these things where you get involved and then I you know, when you look at the website and all of a sudden start looking at what the event is on the end of January, and then you say, Oh, wait a minute, you mean down the road we'll be have access to it again? Or as leaders we could bring some of our key people with us and that'll be a really a plus. So that's why I think uh our best tip I got for all of our listeners, Wes, is to grab a piece of paper and a pen or however you take notes. Now some people take notes right on their computer. Take out your computer, your laptop, your iPad, and just get ready. Because uh our next guest coming up here he he was excellent.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, absolutely. Um coming from a different background, but also a background that interacts with the tow industry, uh he brings a unique perspective. He's very efficient in how he approaches things and he's a prepared uh way to share that with everybody. So I think it's awesome personally.
SPEAKER_05:Yes, I agree, Wes. Very difficult guy.
SPEAKER_04:What DJ's talking about is our Trailblazer Leadership uh retreat. It's gonna be the end of January. For more information on that retreat, you can go to www.amtow S H excuse me s- Ig-n-up.org. It's amco signup.org. Or you can call the office 636-800-A-T-R-I to get more information. It's gonna be a great event. Uh like I say, we have Lieutenant Runs here with us today for an interview. Right after we take a short break, we'll have him back and he'll introduce himself and talk to you a little bit about what's what's going on at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_05:Welcome back, listeners. Of course, you know you're listening to the number one podcast in the towing industry, and we can't appreciate you any more than you being here. Remember to listen every week to Wes Wilburn, April Wilburn, and DJ Harrington, the tow doctor. But we are available, and make sure you listen now and download. We're available on Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcast. This is gonna be a great one, Wes, and I'm looking forward to it. Of course, we're all looking forward to the meeting in Florida in January. So uh without further ado, can I pass it over to you or April?
SPEAKER_04:It's me today. April's uh out today. We're uh just in front of the holiday and she's out of the office taking care of some things. So I got I wish I say just in front of the holiday. As you listen as the listeners listen to this, it'll be on round about New Year's, but we're actually recording it just in front of Christmas. So first of all, with that being said, Merry Christmas to everybody.
SPEAKER_05:Um happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends. Uh do you know that in the recycling industry, West, twenty-three percent of recyclers are Jewish. And there's a good percentage of towing industry people that are also Jewish. So happy Hanukkah to them.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, good job, not forgetting that. Real good job.
SPEAKER_05:All right, my friend.
SPEAKER_04:So, and of course we do have the Trailbridge Laser Leadership Conference coming up. Uh that will be at the end of January, and that's gonna be a big part of our subject today, a big part of our interview. We're very fortunate to have one of our guest speakers that will be at the conference in Florida, Lieutenant Kyle Ruggs. Did I say the last name correctly, Kyle?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's great. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Kyle's uh involved in the conference and gonna run a whole section on uh conflict resolution. But Kyle, first, would you mind introducing yourself to our listeners?
SPEAKER_03:Sure. So I am Lieutenant Kyle Bruins. Um my background is in policing um in Missouri, um, but have also been a great partner partner with many towing companies throughout my career. Um as you well know, you know, law enforcement and the towing industry often work hand in hand on some very significant operations.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely, and that's good that you recognize that. Um so you what department are you with?
SPEAKER_03:Um I work in a uh city called Wentzville, Missouri. Um it's a suburb, western suburb of St. Louis, um, with a population around 50,000.
SPEAKER_04:Well, you know, I think uh there's another reason uh listeners of this podcast might know that area that area of the country. Isn't that where Purpose Record Sales is as well, right there in that town?
SPEAKER_03:That's right. It is actually right on the edge of our town um in St. Charles County, Missouri.
SPEAKER_04:Big player in the industry. Of course, they've always been big sponsors of education as well. Uh big fans of the podcast, so that that just gives our listeners a geographic location to nail down. Um how long have you been uh in law enforcement?
SPEAKER_03:Um, so I've actually worked for the city of Wentzville for twenty-two years. Um all of my time has been there. I started at a pretty young age and I've been very fortunate to continue a career there um all this time.
SPEAKER_04:Oh that's awesome, especially in this day and age for someone to stay loyal to uh a city like that. That's uh that's awesome. Um so talk to us a little bit about the presentation you're gonna do at the conference, or maybe just in general about uh conflict resolution. Obviously, being law enforcement you have to deal with that on many different levels. Talk to us a little bit about the the conflict resolution that you're gonna present.
SPEAKER_03:Well, maybe I'll start with kind of the general goal of um the conference. You know, we titled this the Trailblazer Leadership Retreat, and we're gonna focus on a lot of topic areas, things like organizational leadership, change management, um, strategic visioning, how to develop a high-performing team. Um, but one of the topics really close to my heart is relationship building, um, and that connects right into conflict resolution. So, you know, some of the topics within that conflict resolution uh area we're gonna focus on is how do we give uh a high members of the high performing team a voice, right? How do we understand that everybody has their story to tell and to create the true relationships that carry a team beyond just the task at hand?
SPEAKER_04:Wow. So you'll we'll be looking at things on many different levels that you're saying.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you know, some of the other things um we're gonna touch on, and this isn't just about you know our professional relationships within our organizations, right? Relationships um uh span a wide range, right? We have customers that we work with, um community members in my realm, uh, but also your personal relationships, right? Your children and your spouse and your friends. Um this isn't just about managing and leading organizations. This is really about um relationships in all facets of life and just you know being a good human.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, absolutely. And that's one of the things that really excites me about this new level of education that we're gonna bring to the industry is we're gonna give people skills that they can use in every aspect of your life. That's a great point that you make.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so a lot of times we get we're really good at our tasks, right? We're really good at um whatever our purpose is in the organization, but we have to be a little more intentionable about the relationship piece, right? As and everybody has a different personality. Me, I'm a little more strategic thinker or maybe conceptual thinker, and I have to try a little harder on the social aspect of things. It's not that I I don't have good relationships, but I have to be intentional about that. And it's it's a key to success um really in any organization, doesn't matter what the focus is.
SPEAKER_04:So there'll be skills there that'll be just as valuable as your home involvement, church, environment, as as well as business, is what you're saying.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's our goal here. You know, even the presenters have a wide range of backgrounds, right? For me, I'm in government, law enforcement, you know, public employment, um, but we have some uh those presenting that are in private business, right? Executive leadership or another that has a focus in more um nonprofit leadership. But but the goal here is to um focus on professional and personal growth, right? And that can touch any industry.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely. What are some of the other organizational skills you reference uh that we'll be working on as well?
SPEAKER_03:So you know, we have to think about how we can build trust in our relationships and in our organizations? Um are we building good well-being for all of our employees? Do we build an inclusive environment? Um how do we help a team member pursue their passion, right? Develop their personal goals, and how do they align with the team and the organization? Um, we're hoping to touch on some good concepts, I believe, and skills that can help move that forward, right? Because in all cases, it's all about our mission, right? For us in law enforcement, we often say it's all about the patch, right? It's all about the badge. We we want to move the organization forward in our case to help our communities.
SPEAKER_04:That's an excellent concept, and um I believe that can transfer into private industry as well in many, many areas.
SPEAKER_03:Uh right. Every every organization has a goal, right? Whether it's uh sales focus or a customer service focus, um a specific task, production. Um we need resources and usually people to move that forward.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely. Nothing moves forward in this world without people getting involved in a team effort to make things happen. So that's I definitely agree with that point. What are some of the other highlights of the conference that uh have you charged up about it?
SPEAKER_03:So we're also gonna have a focus on uh, you know, what I talked a lot about personal development, um, but also we're gonna touch on change management. Right? Usually when we identify a need for change in our organizations, it's because we need to be more efficient or we need to refocus a resource, um, but we don't often communicate well on the why, right? Why are we doing this? What is the thought process behind the change? And if we can't effectively communicate um that vision, then sometimes the inevitable is that our team is gonna develop the answer on their own, which may not be true. So we want to avoid those types of pitfalls. Um so we are going to focus heavily on the idea of change leadership within our organizations, and it all ties back to communication and relationships that I spoke about.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, when I got involved in training thirty some years ago, I understood that I needed to understand some practical training. training information in order to do the job. But I very quickly learned that communication was the biggest part of it all. And I definitely focused on learning different communication techniques. It's helped me tremendously in what I do and I some of the stuff that I've shared with people over the years I see that when they employ it it helps them as well. So I'm super excited about bringing this communication skill and a connection skill, which is one of the things I see Maxwell really focus on. Got a Maxwell training program. Um and it's really exciting to me because I think that's again a a skill we can share with people that they can use in every as aspect of their life.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah we often do, like I said, very good at um focusing uh training on whatever our task is, right? We we train up a new employee to do whatever the job they were hired to do is. We even seek out specialized training. I mean you you know that quite well in your background in the tilling industry on how to work through difficult situations, difficult recovery operations. But in all cases or at least in most cases in my view um there's all that also that personal component quite often it's a a customer right and and we run this risk of being desensitized in our work.
SPEAKER_02:In policing I know you could do you know hundreds of traffic stops throughout a year and it becomes kind of a routine thing in our interactions but uh we need to bring that back around to remember that each person that we interact with is is a true individual and and quite often they want to communicate to us that they're not the normal offender and you know there is an explanation for whatever the reason you know whatever the violation was that they that occurred but uh nevertheless my point is that open communication and relationships is the key to a lot of the things that we do um just as people yeah absolutely good communication can help uh take some of the strain off almost any situation speaking of communication I got to take a moment and communicate with our uh customers and commercials can you hang around until after the break and we'll uh talk some more about the uh that'll be great quick nine one oh seven four seven nine thousand nine one oh seven four seven nine thousand we look forward to starting welcome back listeners this is a great one this is a podcast a podcast I hope you're taking notes because Kyle is informing us about how we all of us can develop from within so we never ever go without I want you to remember to like and review everywhere.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you we got over 2000 listeners and growing it's because of each and every one of you telling your friends telling your neighbors we have a great podcast if you'd like to hear another industry expert by all means dial our hotline number 706-4095603 and let us know who you'd like to hear this is a fantastic one and Kyle for me I I I always want to ask you if we have a man who or a lady who owns a dry cleaning company or somebody owns an insurance agency or the plumber or the air conditioning guy who has two or three trucks out there and has potential of growing some more leaders within his company that's the only way a company grows they've got their leaders within and so can I pass it over to you and Wes if you don't mind could could I ask Kyle what does Kyle think about bringing other industries to this meeting in Florida in the end of January?
SPEAKER_03:That's a great question Yeah so my background is in policing but this isn't a policing class right we have some instructors that have background in exec or executive leadership but this isn't about being the CEO of a company before the break I spoke a lot about developing the team and how we lead our organizations but we're the real focus in is in the title Trailblazer Retreat right this is about personal growth hopefully throughout the training there'll be new concepts learned hopefully we reinforce concepts that participants already know um but this is also about networking and building relationships like I spoke about but in the end um it's about personal growth what's important to you as the attendee and the individual we're gonna hone in on how we do personal strategic visioning right develop personal goals how do you move from you know just your day-to-day operations of life into identifying what is your purposeful calling or what's your passionate pursuit where is your true passion and how can you make that a priority um in your life and for that business owner that has those two or three employees I think that's what you're looking for you're looking for someone that can develop the those um strategic goals and a vision for the future for your organization uh and for themselves uh to the benefit of of everyone around them right yeah Kyle I agree with you I think there are people out there listening to this podcast that are sitting there saying I want to promote John Williams and I know he has the potential but how do I give him the leadership tools to help him develop well you come to the class you learn and it's like train the trainer we're training you so you can go back to your business and give an infusion shot to your business to help it grow for years to come yeah for some um hopefully it's remotivating right some have that purposeful calling and they just need that uh new reinforcement that they were on the right path right um I'm a big believer in a positive mindset right the positive approach to all things we do um and hopefully that reinvigorates the attendees um to take that approach to their work.
SPEAKER_05:Yep. There's a lot of people that come to a leadership class and this trailblazer class is right up their alley and they sit there saying you know Wes I used to do that but I guess I need to start again. I used to do this. I used to be the first one there in the morning and the last one going home at night and I was the guy who remembered Thanksgiving and I was the guy who made sure that during the holidays everybody got a Thanksgiving dinner or a Christmas dinner. Those are the type of things that says okay I'm gonna build a leader and I'm gonna help this guy or this lady. I I think Kyle's right on the button and Wes, you're doing a great favor to the industry by bringing this forward and I'll shut up and turn it over to you.
SPEAKER_04:No you make some good points DJ and I appreciate that we we feel very blessed that the new organization at the Cardinal Town Legacy Group is in tune with this type of continuing education which we've uh dabbled with a little bit of this that we mixed in with our training classes and I mean just a touch of it. And this type of information this personal development I I believe we years is uh something the industry should focus on more and more and I'm very happy to be involved with this team again that thinks it's so important and grabbing this ball by the horns and making it happen. Uh it's just humbling to be a part of it. I'm excited to be the master of ceremonies at this event I'm I'm excited about my personal growth that I'm looking forward to as well. Um so one of the things we talk about is this is personal development that's also helping a personal development for yourself and for your team. Part of the reason we picked January to do this is we figured this would be a good way to start the year. Life is a series of habits some habits good, some habits bad you touch on a really important beat there when you talk about motivation. Many times we know the right thing to do whether we're talking about a practical telling and recovery technique like what we teach in a class or in a business management situation like what we're talking about here. Many times we know the right thing to do we just need the motivation to do it every time I'm glad that the uh we're we're gonna touch on that what else can you tell us about the program Kyle?
SPEAKER_03:Well I think we just come back to the core tenet of leadership and we use that term a lot and it can mean a lot of things um and that's because it's very conceptual in nature right there's no one right way to approach leadership of an organization or personal personal leadership. This is all about sharing ideas and networking and working through concepts that have worked for uh others that maybe you can apply um for yourself um but nevertheless I think there's something for everyone at this event um and I'm so excited to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah I can't gr agree strongly now it's gonna be led by Jeff Bauer president of the organization Jeff has taken a huge interest in this program. We did a podcast with him a couple weeks ago so if you didn't hear that go back and listen to that as well.
SPEAKER_03:Amen we're gonna be in Cape Coral, Florida the last weekend of January yes January 29th and 30th um it's gonna be a beautiful event a beautiful resort at the Weston Resort um hopefully uh everyone out there listening can show an interest in attending we'd love to see you there and we got a website to get more information website is yeah amtosignup.org um you can email info at amtoesignup.org um and any questions can be answered there that's awesome lieutenant I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your busy schedule to come talk to us today look forward to working with you in January do you have any parting thoughts you'd like to leave our list with you know we just appreciate that you're highlighting this event we're very excited about it we really do think it has something for everyone and really this is all about just making um each other's jobs a little bit easier and we'd love for you to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_04:That's awesome. If you need more information you want to talk to me directly about this don't hesitate to call us new hotline phone number 636800 ATRL 636800 ATRI. Until next time listeners I want to thank uh Kyle for being here and talking to us DJ as always appreciate the good job you're doing I want to say happy new happy new year to all our listeners thank my wife April who normally would be here but she's handling some other stuff for us today. So with that being said have a happy new year we'll look forward to seeing you soon and be safe out there and thanks for listening to the