Auto Care ON AIR

Women in Auto Care Special: Open Mic Sessions (Part 1)

• Auto Care Association • Season 1 • Episode 40

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Carpool Conversations host, Jacki Lutz, holds 15-20 minute discussions with Women in Auto Care Leadership Conference attendees about important professional development skills.

1:01 - Imposter Syndrome: Sheila Sarkozi, Yelp & Danni Withers, DENSO

17:36 - Over Communication: Cass Tomac, Highline Warren & Michelle Tansey, Euro Clinic

37:32 - Collaborating with Competitors: Cindy Sisson, Women in Motorsports North America & Missy Stevens, Auto Care Association



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To learn more about the Auto Care Association visit autocare.org.

To learn more about our show and suggest future topics and guests, visit autocare.org/podcast


Jacki Lutz:

Welcome to Auto Care On Air, a candid podcast for a curious industry. I'm Jackie Lutz, content Director at the Auto Care Association, and this is Carpool Conversations, where we collaborate on today's most relevant power skills. We're all headed in the same direction, so let's get there together. Hello and welcome to this special edition of Carpool Conversations from our Women in Auto Care Leadership Conference. We put out an invitation for any of our attendees to participate in these 15 to 20 minute sessions and invited them to talk about any professional development skill that they wanted and to make it more like a Carpool Conversation episode, we also have them bring another guest along, so we will have two guests with me, the host, and this is part one of two where we tackle imposter syndrome, overcommunication and collaborating with competition. Enjoy, welcome, everybody. Welcome everybody. I have with me today Sheila Sarkozy, senior Manager of Industry Growth with Yelp, formerly known as RepairPal. Welcome to the show, sheila, thanks Jackie. And Dani Withers, national Account Manager at Denso. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Danni Withers:

Thank you so much for having me.

Jacki Lutz:

Danny, you reached out to me a little timid, saying like hey, it'd be on the open mic and we were trying to think about topics. And I mentioned you know we could do social media. You do the social media for women in auto care and you're doing a great job with it, with your team, but you mentioned this topic. So tell me a little bit about why you want to talk about this.

Danni Withers:

Yeah. So I mean, just signing up for this is like so out of my comfort zone and I started having imposter syndrome about even doing this and I'm like, do I deserve to do this? Like, am I that type of person? Like I'm nervous about being on camera, I'm nervous about speaking, all of those things. So that's where I was like you know what? Let's talk about imposter syndrome, because I feel like so many of us deal with that in our everyday lives in various different aspects, and it's like we don't just talk about it. We don't talk about the fact that there's many situations we're in where we're not comfortable and we're really masking and pushing ourselves to get through it. And so we see these other people and we're like I want to be like them. They're so confident and like I admire them, but we don't step back and realize like they're going through that too.

Jacki Lutz:

We all do, 100%. Yes, and I love that. You felt imposter syndrome while signing up for this open mic where we're going to talk about imposter syndrome, but you know, when we were talking about who would be the perfect second guest for this, you made a great point with Sheila because you've spoken about this on stage before. Yes, so you have a lot of experience with this too because you've spoken about this on stage before.

Sheila Sarkozi:

Yes, so you have a lot of experience with this too. Oh, yeah, yeah, my whole life I feel like I've had imposter syndrome and speaking about it actually helped me quite a bit. And I applied for the Yang 5 for 5 last year at Auto Care Connect and I only had about a couple of minutes to speak on it, and then it opened up the conversation at ACC last year as well. So, uh, yeah. So here we are and I'm I'm having imposter syndrome again with Danny. We're doing it together.

Jacki Lutz:

Exactly Like imposter syndrome is like a familiar thing, almost too. It's like, do you find any comfort in feeling it Because you're like, yep, there it is. Yeah, absolutely, I'm at home, yeah, totally. So just for people who might not be familiar with what imposter syndrome is, do you guys want to talk a little bit about what it is, what you feel, what it means?

Danni Withers:

Yeah. So I mean, it's just that feeling of like being in a situation and you don't feel like you're the smartest person for that, for whatever that task or job is in that moment, or you feel like you're underqualified, that there's someone out there that's better for it and you don't deserve it. And so you start like questioning yourself. It's a lot of self-doubt of not being like I can do this, I can get through it, I can be this person. It's really hard to get through those things.

Sheila Sarkozi:

And so to me, that's what imposter syndrome is. Yeah, and I read too that imposter syndrome is not necessarily like a diagnosis, but it's more or less. It's negative self-talk, really.

Sheila Sarkozi:

I think that boils down to, and then, on top of that, just being in a room with other people. I remember walking in and there were probably 99.9% men in a room when I was walking in to do some sort of training and feeling immediately like I don't belong here. What am I doing here? Are these people going to take me seriously? All those feelings and thoughts that are running through your head, and to me that's what imposter syndrome is. I can see that Absolutely.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, and I think you guys mentioned, you know, some of the people that seem the most confident are probably going through it too, and it might just be in a different way. So I don't know if this might sound familiar to anybody listening. But, like in my case, I don't necessarily feel like I shouldn't be in the room, but a lot of times I feel like in my profession I probably should have all the answers and people are going to find out that I don't you know what I mean.

Jacki Lutz:

So it's kind of a little bit of authenticity that you have to learn a little bit of humbleness along the way, and I think if you're a perfectionist and you're somebody who really wants to be seen as like an expert in a field, I think they have this same feeling maybe just in a little bit of a different way, and I guess like a better way to put it too is it's like you almost feel like an actor and like you're undercover and it's like when are they?

Sheila Sarkozi:

going to find me out, Like yeah, yeah, I like that, that word both of you use finding me out it's. It's like you're you know, it's like you don't trust your own role in a way of in the situation, and being found out is just from what I've read about imposter syndrome is definitely a symptom of it really is being found out and being you know and letting yourself be vulnerable and just soak in the moment. It's almost impossible for a lot of people, including myself. I mean, I should just speak on myself, but for me.

Sheila Sarkozi:

I let things go by really fast and I think oh, you know what, I can't just live in the moment in some circumstances, only because I feel like I don't belong there and at some point someone's going to say wait, do you belong here? Right, exactly.

Danni Withers:

And it's so funny too because, like, if I look back at every time that I've had imposter syndrome, I'm like the situation worked out perfectly fine, I had all the information I needed, I got the task done, and so like it's again that mental thing that you just have to like work past and but it's really hard. It can be a mental block for a lot of people to really branch out.

Jacki Lutz:

How do you do that? What is your guys's processes? Because I see both of you guys doing hard thing. This, for example, like you still showed up. So still, you know, you know you got to, you got to show up to play, you know, and you guys still do it.

Danni Withers:

So how do you guys work through those feelings? I'll say, for me, the one of my biggest things is like my community of people. So Autumn Lamb is my co-chair for social. I got to shout her out. She really encouraged me to do this and really pushed me so like she knows like my goals and what I want to do with my career. So she really helps to like push me out of my comfort level and be like you should really do this. So having people like that around you helps so much. Having Sheila here with me today is helping me, because Sheila and I also work together on the social media committee, so we have a personal relationship. So just having support helps tremendously.

Sheila Sarkozi:

Yeah, and I think, even when you, when, like for myself, even when I don't have that support or I'm going at something that's really uncomfortable, I keep reminding myself that unless I put myself in these uncomfortable situations, I'm never going to grow. Yes, exactly so. I have to get uncomfortable to grow. There are so many. I mean, I can just think of all the times I've walked into a room and just want just, you know, my throat goes to my stomach and I think, oh my gosh, just like you know the anxiety of seeing you know, maybe I don't, I'm trying to explain it the anxiety of, like what people? What are people thinking about me?

Sheila Sarkozi:

And and um, and maybe I don't look like everyone here, or maybe and I think that's a big thing too when I referred to, you know, walking in the room full of men and and and that's, and nobody care, you know, at the point at that time, nobody really cared, you know, about my knowledge or whatnot. But I wanted to have all of the answers, I wanted to be 100% right and I wanted to make sure that if I didn't say I don't know and I have to be the expert, I have to you know, and, and it's okay to to not be all those things you can't be all those things for every situation that you're in.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, it almost seems like a big common denominator. Is the person with imposter syndrome really has this unrealistic expectation of themselves?

Jacki Lutz:

that you actually don't hold other people to right, exactly expectation to be perfect, to have all the right answers, to not say um too much while you talk and to make sure that you don't have you know your hair's all in place and nobody's, you know, nothing's distracting from your message and that everybody has a perfect view of you. We're like when other people make mistakes, it's like you breathe a sigh of relief right, right, no-transcript. I probably will never stop is like how important it is, especially for leaders to like, when you make a mistake, let people know, like what you learned from it.

Jacki Lutz:

I always admire people that can learn from mistakes, you know and if we don't talk about them, people people think everyone around them perfect. They're going to come up with things like imposter syndrome and it's going to keep your team from really performing and doing their best when they constantly feel like they're going to be judged for something.

Danni Withers:

Yes, 100%.

Sheila Sarkozi:

I was going to say too, one of the best, um, some of the best advice I got from kathleen long, who I work with at repair pal yelp um is she had mentioned one time just tell people you're nervous. Yeah, so every time I go on stage I tell people I'm nervous and and it helps me immediately people are like, oh, this person's authentic I immediately would be like, oh my, my gosh, I hope she does well.

Sheila Sarkozi:

Right, exactly Like how it doesn't hurt to be authentic and transparent about you know your emotions going into even in a professional setting. And, yeah, I think that that was, I think, the best piece of advice that I've heard of.

Danni Withers:

It's a great piece and then something you said a minute ago just sort of triggered a thought for me.

Danni Withers:

You mentioned like we're hardest on ourselves, right, and I'm thinking back to when we've been at these leadership conferences and there's people we know that are getting up and doing their first presentations ever in front of these crowds right and they come off stage and they immediately tell us what they know they messed up on, and almost always, whoever they're talking to and telling this to, we're like we didn't even notice, like you did, great, and so that's such a good point that you made that we are hardest on ourselves and we need to realize that, like a lot of times, whatever mistake it is that we're making, that we notice, no one else is going to notice, because no one else knows what our presentation was, what our speech was, what we were planning to say, so they don't know. They don't even know the mistake happened.

Sheila Sarkozi:

Yeah, and how annoying is it when you tell someone great job, you did great. Not annoying, maybe, but just like kind of like, when they're they just immediately tell you 10 things they hated about what they just said. Like you know, I think, and I do this, so and then I, when people do it to me, I'm like is this what I sound like? So I've been trying to just stop doing that and just say thank you, Even if it's hard for me to even say those words, any sort of compliment or you know. Oh, thank you for your help today. And I try to downplay it so much.

Jacki Lutz:

Oh, it's nothing, I was here anyway, exactly.

Sheila Sarkozi:

I think that's definitely part of the imposter syndrome is like we think you know it's hard to choke down that self-doubt.

Jacki Lutz:

It's almost like even the great things you do, yeah, you're not even considering great, yeah, yeah.

Danni Withers:

I can totally relate to that.

Jacki Lutz:

And you know, I almost feel like there's almost a responsibility for everybody to. You know, it's OK to go up on stage and say I'm nervous, you know, because I just think about all of the people sitting that are looking at what you're doing and wishing that they were brave enough to do that themselves. I see that so much because, you know, I do all those talks on personal branding and people want to put themselves out there and they're just they're afraid about what people will think.

Jacki Lutz:

Some of the most talented people in this industry have so much to share are just afraid of what people think at the end of the day, and we owe it to the industry and other people that feel like us to show that and be vulnerable with that. But then they can also watch you do hard things too and like, if she can do it, if she's nervous and she's up there and she did just fine, maybe I can do it too, and that's how we bring people along with us as we climb.

Danni Withers:

Yeah, I would agree, and I'm so thankful for the people in my life that have done that for me throughout the years.

Jacki Lutz:

Yes.

Danni Withers:

I wouldn't be here without them. It's like.

Sheila Sarkozi:

We need our own individual pushers and fan clubs to get us out of that funk and you know, because imposter syndrome I think can be a detrimental to your career if you let it, you know, or anything, personal life, anything you know, and it just makes you kind of shrink a little where you know you got to, I don't know you got to. I already said this, but confidence definitely for me comes from uncomfortability and I feel like the opposite of imposter syndrome is uncomfortability.

Danni Withers:

Yeah, so back to what you were saying of like we all own like a responsibility to help everyone else out, like with their own imposter syndrome, and like I've tried to help be that person. For, like our champions on the social committee, we've had a couple of new ones come in that are from different segments of the industry that we have, like, not a lot of involvement in with women in auto care, and so we've had people come in that are like do I belong here? Like I'm not a corporate professional like most of these women, and so I can only imagine, like what the technicians feel when they come in to these conferences for the first time and feeling like they don't belong but they do belong, like everybody is welcome here, everybody belongs. You're all in the automotive industry. I don't care if you're making the part, designing the part, selling it or shipping it. You deserve to be here.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, we had somebody. When I did the call out for these open mics, I had somebody reach out to me on LinkedIn and say I just want you to know I love the podcast and the open mics seem really fun. I don't want to take somebody else's slot because I don't have a customer-facing role. I'm like I don't want to take somebody else's slot because I don't have a customer facing role. Yeah, I'm like, you don't have to have a customer facing role to do this. You belong on this podcast too. There's a lot of other people on the in the industry who also don't have customer facing roles Like it's okay for you to do this. So I literally like, made her.

Jacki Lutz:

I'm like, okay, you're on, yeah, and it's like if we're not hearing that voice for you know listeners like if there's a voice that's not out there, maybe it's supposed to be you, maybe that's life tapping you on the shoulder and be like, get out there and help the others like you, because you're never. You're never the only one feeling, never, you know, like you're the imposter in the room, you're never the only one, but it's hard to find each other when you stay quiet.

Sheila Sarkozi:

Yeah.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, yeah, thank you guys. I hope this was fun for you. It wasn't so bad right? No, we survived. Thank you guys, both so much for being here Real quick before we leave. If there was one thing that you hope, you know we just we just talked for about 15 minutes, so there's just the one takeaway. What do each of you hope that that is for people?

Sheila Sarkozi:

If there was just the one takeaway, what do?

Danni Withers:

each of you hope that that is for people. Do you want to go ahead? Sure, I can go. So for me, I mean it's what I just said of like taking that ownership of helping the others, that you know we're struggling with imposter syndrome. Even if we're still struggling with it ourselves, we can still help promote the others around us and support them. Love that, yeah, pull as you climb.

Sheila Sarkozi:

I hope that my vulnerability, to admit that I get nervous about different things or I feel a certain way when I shouldn't be, will help someone. I don't know if it will or not, but if I, my hope is, you know, the takeaway is I hope it, you know, it just helps one person. Yeah, yeah.

Jacki Lutz:

And I, you know, it really aligns with mine where I just, I just want people to be themselves you know, and whatever that is, and it's so sad how, how hard it is because, so many of us have worn masks for so long and acted for so long, so trying to take off those layers is very difficult, you know, when you've done it one way for so long. But that's one thing I hope people take away is maybe just try taking off one of those layers.

Sheila Sarkozi:

Yeah, a little vulnerability layer. A little bit at a time.

Jacki Lutz:

Thank you guys, so much Enjoy the rest of the conference.

Danni Withers:

Thank you, Jackie Bye.

Jacki Lutz:

Bye. Welcome everybody. We are at the Women in Auto Care Leadership Conference in another open mic session and I have two more industry professionals here with me. I have Cass Tomac, Senior Strategic Sourcing Manager at Highline Warren, Welcome.

Cass Tomac:

Thank you.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, good to have you here and Michelle Tanzi. She is a shop owner of Euro Clinic. Welcome.

Michelle Tansey:

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, and we, you guys, don't actually know each other, which is actually. You guys are the only open mic session that I'm doing where you guys didn't necessarily choose each other or know each other, which is actually. You guys are the only open mic session that I'm doing where you guys didn't necessarily choose each other or know each other. You just are both going to talk about the same subject. So this should be fun, but we're going to talk about over communication, which immediately to me kind of sounded like a negative thing, but after talking to you guys, makes a lot of sense. It's an interesting topic. So tell me more. Why is this important and how do you guys use it in your day to day?

Cass Tomac:

You want me to kick it off? Go for it, cass. Well, yeah, so in my role, I am basically a project manager and we are project managers in sourcing. I'm the indirect sourcing manager. So, over all things, indirect spend for our company. So, over all things, indirect spend for our company.

Cass Tomac:

So anything, that's not something we sell to one of our customers what it takes to get the business done, and I treat each vendor that I'm trying to set up as a project, and it takes a village. I am a one-woman show in this department, but I need resources from all of our teams, cross-functionally to get to execute what I'm trying to do. So, as far as over-communication, there is no such thing and it's just constant and honestly, I think it's frequency. Um, you know, you don't want to bombard people, but they'll. With our day and age, we're getting so many um pings that if somebody doesn't respond to you, it's probably because it was 27 likes ago that they you know, or notifications ago that they saw it. So just sending in more frequency to remind them hey, hey, this is what we talked about. So I think that's what's key.

Michelle Tansey:

But, yeah, yeah, in my role I don't run day-to-day operations anymore at the shop. We hired a general manager.

Jacki Lutz:

Congratulations. That's probably very exciting.

Michelle Tansey:

It's exciting, but then it's like you're finding your. Why, then? And I realized that for me, you're finding your. Why, then? And I realized that for me, like people, is what I do, right? So clients, employees, and then vendors and communication is actually one of the biggest things we're working on right now with our leadership team and practicing active listening, which is fantastic. Right, you think it's the easiest thing to do, but it's probably one of the hardest things. Or, as a leader, being in a room and not speaking, trying to hold your tongue and no nods and don't smile.

Michelle Tansey:

You want to be the last one, because you want to make sure that everybody feels heard and then you get to hear everybody else's opinion before you render yours. But and we just did a kickoff this February and we're talking to our even our team too there's no such thing as over communicating with a client right From summaries for your team. I think one of the biggest strategies of those is make sure that it's intentional communication, right, things that will serve a purpose for the, for the client, for your team. But hey, everywhere you want to send me a note, you want to email me, like, do it. But there's no such thing as bad communication if it's intentional was just if this is a common thing or not.

Jacki Lutz:

But um, he kind of put a line between the ass, the you and then me at the end and he said when you assume you make an ass out of you and me and so I just learned that phrase from my mother-in-law last month, and she's probably going to be listening to this because she's a fan and yeah so, peggy Tenzi, see, you were right.

Cass Tomac:

I was the only one in the world that didn't know what that meant. I've heard it before I thought it was a common phrase. I was shocked. You guys just learned it.

Jacki Lutz:

Well, I mean, I didn't just take driver's training.

Cass Tomac:

I know.

Jacki Lutz:

I know I look 16, but yeah.

Cass Tomac:

Oh, that driver's training. I thought you meant like some kind of like industry, oh, like just for fun yeah.

Jacki Lutz:

Oh, yeah, oh my God, I wish like a truck driver, just take some training yeah, why not? But no. Like when I was 15 years old I learned this, but anyway, I think that it's. There's so many times in my life that I go back to that phrase and it's very applicable everywhere. They're basically saying like don't.

Jacki Lutz:

So many times in my professional career that I think like, oh, should I send an email just letting people know something? And I'm like no, and I assume that they know it Right. And then almost every time, like clockwork, I end up regretting that decision. I should never have assumed that they knew, and I think that it makes a lot of sense you know in this over communication topic to talk about, like you know, all of the communication that you should be. You know making sure people are up to speed with what you're saying. So, if nothing else, even if they don't, they're getting bombarded with messages and they don't read yours. At least you're not. Your neck isn't on the line right. Like you did the communication. You made that step. You can really only look after yourself, so maybe that can kind of help propel a little bit of that over communication.

Cass Tomac:

Yeah, I, uh, I assume that people don't know like yeah, it's the opposite actually and uh, this is kind of getting into a trick, but I I like to have like different forms of communication and when you're with a team, defining what that method of communication is going to be for you guys, so like for us in like corporate world, we have email teams, messaging, texting, calling, and I think those are like the primary ones and it's like, for what situation and for whom should you be doing what?

Cass Tomac:

An email isn't always although it's what everybody wants to go to the right method of communicating. If you're just trying to like check in, maybe a Teams message, and if somebody's not good about Teams, you know, recognize that, know that about that person, text them. For, like, I'm a millennial and I I'm a little bit like a gen z. I don't love to call, I don't like talking to people on the phone. I will do it. Um, I know I know the people in my business and that I work with that need me to call them on the phone and so I do it for them. Um, but I also know the people in the business that are like me and do not want to talk on the phone or are good enough with like a Teams message and I just Teams them all day long.

Cass Tomac:

So I think that's key is like recognizing those different forms of communication and making sure that you're tailoring your communication to who you're talking to and what you need to get across.

Michelle Tansey:

I can piggyback on that. I know you're corporate, but we run on a corporate structure. I'm in Silicon Valley, so we do Google chats, we have email and then we have text and then phone call and clear expectations throughout the team. Right, Like the technicians, they have their own chats where stuff gets approved or there's a pending quote, or if they just have a question on a car that they didn't have a summary.

Michelle Tansey:

So it's like they have clear expectations on where we can reach people. And it's one of those things where, again, making clear expectations for the team, how should we contact you? To me, email is key, especially because I'm not in. So if I'm going to address the team, nothing hot or urgent is going to be an email, right, or a recap of a conversation. But going back to what you said, right, assuming so I'm not in day-to-day operations anymore, and our general manager just last week sends types up like checklists for closing and opening procedures to the supporting staff and he just hands them out.

Michelle Tansey:

And I came in and like I'm listening, right, there's like they're assuming we have to do this. And I'm looking and then one of the supporting I was meeting with, the GM supporting staff walks in and he asks them hey, can you print that out for me again? And he goes yes, of course, here you go, you know he hands it close the door. I look at my general manager and I go did you meet with them and explain to them this? Because I'm looking at it from an employee perspective. They got 30 minutes to do all of this and they probably think they have to like, do all of this. But it was more of a checklist of the whole front of the house, has it? Not just you supporting staff? And we have to make sure that everybody as a team touches these items, but it's not something you have to do, he tells me. They know Right.

Michelle Tansey:

And again going back to it. It's like leadership, it's great. I love this topic because it's something that we're currently doing with my team at the shop, with everybody, and I said don't just assume they know I'm like you know what, but don't just assume they know I'm like you know what. Before they go to lunch, grab them.

Michelle Tansey:

Let me show you how it's done you know, so I pull them and they're all like scared because, like, why does Michelle want to talk to us? And I just said, hey, I know, ron hand these out. I want to make sure that you guys don't think like there's no reason why we should be having to do this whole list every day. It's more for awareness. Let's be self-aware of the space for the clients, for your teammates, for yourselves, right? And it's not just you guys, it's everybody in front of the house. And my general manager just started laughing because both of them looked at each other and then goes, oh, okay, we were saying, oh, my God, they want us to do all of this and we only have 30 minutes to do it. And I said, no, it's all with perspective right, yeah, and you know again assumption yeah yeah, I love that.

Michelle Tansey:

I'm gonna start. Can I steal that for?

Cindy Sisson:

my team. When I go back I'm gonna say Cass said yeah just always assume, people don't know and if you lead that way you're.

Michelle Tansey:

You're bracing yourself and you're going to communicate even more clearly, right?

Jacki Lutz:

yeah, absolutely, and I, you know, I try to think of okay, what are the barriers to people not over communicating? And when I think of myself, it's usually because I feel like I'm just too busy, like I just don't have time to write that extra email or something like that, or I don't have the brainpower that day to like do that extra thing, or it's laziness, and it always comes back to bite me and it always ends up taking up more time in the end by not communicating.

Cass Tomac:

Yeah, I think to that end. It's like I think it's. We're so busy these days. There's a million meetings. I think our whole lives have become meetings.

Cass Tomac:

And for me, like when I'm trying to do a project, I'm doing it across the whole company, at all of our sites. We have nine manufacturing sites across the US and we have another nine distribution centers. So to meet with each of them on every single thing that I'm trying to put forward, probably not realistic. So you know, part of how I combat that is, you know, send an email to everyone you know with all the information, so that that's easy. That's only have to do that once. And then I try to find somebody that I can delegate that specific task to of educating.

Cass Tomac:

Say, it's so recently we got a waste management contract with one vendor, so I'm delegating it to my vendor. I'm like putting it on them. I'm like, okay, you're responsible for meeting with each of my sites and explaining. You know what the purpose is of having you as a vendor and what you're going to do for them, and we're going to check in us. And if you need something because a vendor or a site is pushing back or there's complications, that's when you pull me in so I can be there for when I need to be there. Delegation, I think, is key in communication. It doesn't have to be on you to set up every single meeting and send every single email and touch base with all these people. Um, so that's yeah I love that.

Michelle Tansey:

That's how I come about it. We kind of do the same thing. It's like there's only enough hours in the day to do so and dude you, you're crazy, I. I have to deal with like four people right, like director of people, the other owner and the general manager, and it's four of us. And that stresses me out already because, like I have somebody email me, somebody texting me and I'm like, can we pick one form of communication? Because I have to look at three different platforms and you text me and I'm assuming this is hot, but like I think we can table that right. And one of the biggest things also, I think, would be the active listening and then being intentional with very detailed email. Yeah, there is no room for assumption. Let's be clear in this email so that whatever happens, then it's more collaborative answers versus having to. Well, did you read my email?

Cindy Sisson:

because I feel like you you didn't you emailed me.

Cass Tomac:

You didn't. You didn't read my email right. So and that, like you didn't, you emailed me, you didn't read my email right.

Michelle Tansey:

And that's one of the biggest things.

Cass Tomac:

Yeah.

Michelle Tansey:

And then I get lazy and I'm like oh they get it.

Michelle Tansey:

No, I think we should recap Even the meeting that you have. I normally now send out communication. This has been happening since November, so I have the director of people there with me taking either AI notes or she's taking notes. And then I said can you recap everything we just said, very intentional, in an email? Just so there's no assumptions that we misunderstood. Right, because perception is like a big deal too. When you meet with people, you think that you're being clear, but then they're understanding something different.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, and that email becomes a resource right. And it's something that they can continually refer back to, because nobody ever obtains everything that they heard in a call.

Michelle Tansey:

And then to me too, it's more like then it's on them now to also read the recap, right, but they know, right, yeah, so that way you can hold them accountable.

Cass Tomac:

I call it having receipts. That's smart, I tell so. I used to be a manager of project managers at our company and our engineering team and I used to tell them all the time because with project management it's take your notes, communicate your notes and just over-communicate them and over and over again, and I just was like this is how you have receipts. You have your receipts, you can go back to the day, the time and this is actually a tool that I use. It's kind of what I'm known for is OneNote.

Cass Tomac:

I use OneNote it's a Microsoft Teams application for everything because you can create a notebook for whatever it is. So I always create a notebook for each project or category or whatever it is, and then within that you can have sections and then you do like team meetings as a section and then you can do a page for each team meeting. That way our team used to do all their meeting notes on like Word documents and then you got to open up 1000 Word documents just to find the past note that you took. Well, this way I can like toggle back to a specific date and search through the notes and find it and you can actually import a meeting from Outlook into your section or your page and it will pull in the meeting details and it will pull in who's on the meeting and you can check them that they were present. And I have my own template for how I keep meeting notes and it's color coded Red means it's an action item and you're responsible for that action item.

Jacki Lutz:

You sound like an engineer. I am an engineer.

Cass Tomac:

And very type A. Can you tell it's probably helpful in this situation and very type A, can you tell. It's probably helpful in this situation. And the great thing about all of that is that there's an email button afterwards in OneNote. You click that and it creates the email with the recipients that were in the meeting in there and I send it out. And now I do this with all my vendors and my vendors are like oh yeah, cass, you're taking notes right, and I'm like you know I will be sending this.

Jacki Lutz:

You should be doing this in a little speed session next year women autiker does these little tiny educational. How long are they? Like 15 minutes, 15 minute work.

Michelle Tansey:

We call them workshops yeah, and you can like do it on any kind of technology you should you should do that because I bet a lot of people would find that really helpful.

Jacki Lutz:

You heard it here first. Guys, when you see her, yeah, on stage.

Cass Tomac:

I'm a little neurotic about it, but I love it.

Michelle Tansey:

But listen it keeps your team organized. Yes, and then they know where you stand at all times with the expectations, and you can hold them accountable, because you have your receipts Exactly and you are overly communicating. So there should be no room for interpretation.

Cass Tomac:

I can't say I didn't tell you or I didn't in some form or fashion. See team.

Michelle Tansey:

If you guys are hearing, I'm not the only one. Cass does this too.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, this is funny because it's kind of like what I was saying. It's like at least do your part. You can't make them listen, you cannot lead the horse to water, but just make sure that you did your part, so you know. That's who you can be the most responsible for. Believe it or not, we've hit our time as quick as that felt so if I just like to wrap up with like one takeaway, you know, if you're hoping the listeners can like leave with one takeaway, what do you hope it is?

Michelle Tansey:

We should be intentional with our communication and be efficient. I think, as shop owners, if you're going to step away from day to day operations, you're doing all kinds of stuff, like I'm on the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, I'm in the Women of Business of Commerce, I'm in the Women of Business Silicon Valley, I'm in Women in Auto Care Now Committee, so it's like I have other things other than running my company and then I'm a wife and I'm a mom and I'm a dog mom I was going to say think of your family over-communicating with your husband about where your kids need to be, I can see this in any area of your life.

Cass Tomac:

I take it and I use it in my personal life too. I've got a notebook for women in auto care. I got a notebook for I run the Women's Highway at Highline Warren, which is our women's network. You know, when I planned my wedding, you bet I had a notebook and a thousand spreadsheets. So yeah, I think you can use these tools in your real life as well.

Michelle Tansey:

Yeah, like over communicating and figuring what works for you and your team is what's going to create efficiency throughout your professional and personal life too. Like, for example, my sisters think I'm it's four of us and they think I'm bougie because, like, I share my calendar and then they're like your shit.

Michelle Tansey:

Looks like chicken pox through waffle and I was like you want to go have drinks, you gotta let me know and then, but but it's, you have to do that. Bernard just started sharing a calendar with me and he's my husband and just so we know, so he we don't over commit ourselves in different places and now with Alexis too, she shares her calendar and it's like who's gonna take the pups for a walk?

Cass Tomac:

yeah, I just created a google calendar for my family. Me and my husband have shared our calendar for years and it's like it has to be on the calendar or it's not happening. But yeah, we just shared it with the family because my parents were like, when are we going to have a weekend to get together? And I was like, okay, this is impossible to coordinate. Everybody put the weekends that they're free on this calendar.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, um, so we can collaborate yeah, I think my takeaway, the biggest thing that that you can do, is, like anytime you're questioning whether or not you need to send that message, just think about not assuming. Yeah, don't do it. Don't make an ass out of yourself and others hear that.

Cass Tomac:

Yeah, I'd say my takeaway is you know, communication is documentation, like document document, and those are your receipts and send them out when you're done and just always retain those.

Jacki Lutz:

Being consistent with it. Be consistent, make it a habit.

Cass Tomac:

Yep, make it what you're known for. Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you guys. This was fun Thank you're known for. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jacki Lutz:

Well, thank you guys. This was fun. Thank you for having us. Yeah, yeah, this was exciting. Yeah, enjoy the rest of the conference. Yeah, thank you you too. Welcome to Carpool Conversations. We have another open mic session. This one was a little Care Leadership Conference and I have with me Missy Stevens, who works with me at the Auto Care Association. She's the Community Engagement Manager and specifically the liaison for Women in Auto Care, so she has a lot of responsibility for the amazing event that we are at. Welcome to the show, missy, thank you.

Jacki Lutz:

It's kind of fun having a colleague on. I know right, it's been a while since I've had a colleague on and then Cindy Sisson, executive Director of Women in Motorsports North America. Welcome, thank you. What an honor yeah this was like such a beautiful test of fate to all be here together right now. So I want to talk real quick about how we met. So we all randomly met at Women's Fest. Was it in Detroit?

Jacki Lutz:

It was, yeah, because I drove to it yes, um, it was at the automotive hall of fame and we were trying to peg down the year, but we we want to land on 2023 I'm almost positive it was yeah, yeah, and um, me and missy and stephanie martin, uh, were walking around the show just to check out what this women's Fest was all about and kind of get some ideas and whatnot, and we ran into your guys's booth that's right, yeah, and we got acquainted with you and I love that. You guys's relationship that sparked from that moment turned into this beautiful partnership that you guys have now. Yeah, absolutely.

Missy Stevens:

It took us a little minute to get off the ground. We both tried to go to our conferences in 24 and just had conflicting things. So this year we are 23, rather, and this year yours, in 24 and then in 25 for us we said we're making it happen this year.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, and how cool is it. So we were going to talk today about the topic of and again it feels weird to use the word competitor but really collaborating with your competitors or learning from your competitors, or turning your competitors into partners in some ways or another, and I love that you guys really use each other to lift each other up and ultimately serve your communities better and then ultimately, you know, bring women up in this industry all together by doing that. Bring women up in this industry all together by doing that. So I just want to talk a little bit about what you guys, what methods you guys, are using. What are you guys learning from each other? How are you using this relationship?

Missy Stevens:

Well, I think we started off, we had I don't know, we probably had two or three phone calls where we've just bounced off each other. We have tried to cross promote and say, hey, you know, like women in auto care helps promote Cindy's conference and just bouncing ideas off of each other. You know like Women in Auto Care helps promote Cindy's conference and just bouncing ideas off of each other. You know, hey, we're experiencing this. You know, have you guys ever went through that growing pain or what have you? We've talked about a lot of those today and kind of the growth that we've both seen just in the past two years, which I think speaks just large yes absolutely Absolutely.

Cindy Sisson:

Yeah, I want to add to that Just large. Yes, we sold out, and I love the word sold out.

Danni Withers:

That's like my favorite thing in the whole world, you have it all over here.

Cindy Sisson:

But we sold out because we ran out of room. And the next year we did it at Charlotte Motor Speedway we had 350, sold out, ran out of room. Then Phoenix Raceway 450, we sold out. And this year, right before PRI, which we have landed to be our future spot, oh cool.

Cindy Sisson:

Yeah it'll be December 9th and 10th Great partnership with PRI. We had 620 people there and we're more focused on men and women. I don't know who's going to be listening to this, but I'm kind of digging the all-women thing because it feels like there's a little bit more emotional to it, a little heart strings.

Missy Stevens:

You can be a little bit more vulnerable, right? I mean just knowing that we are often the minority good, bad, wrong or different. But when you get in a space and I attended this conference before I worked for the association, jackie you did too right, and it was always my favorite thing to do every year was to come to this conference and really catch up with you know, we talked about competition. That's what I love about this conference is that you'll have somebody from AutoZone and Napa sitting at the same table and you know they're not in competition.

Cindy Sisson:

When they're here, they're here to support each other when they're here, which is just awesome. Yeah, we say that all the time. There's no money that can buy exclusivity, and you know, competition is what motorsports is all about, and that's something sometimes we have to navigate through, but for the most part, everybody plays in the same sandbox, so it's really winning, but the growth of women from the summit and your event.

Cindy Sisson:

It's crazy awesome. And even when I go to the racetrack I'll be at the Ambetter 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend and I've been in NASCAR a long time there's maybe a handful of us and it's going to be. You know, we're going to do a WMNA photo shoot Saturday at noon in Victory Lane and we'll probably have 50 to 100 people there.

Missy Stevens:

That would have never happened in the past. Yeah, no, you know, speaking to sold out. You kind of talked about your growth.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, no, you know, speaking to sold out, you kind of talked about your growth. This is our first time we ever even considered being in a sellout position. I think I asked you kind of more in the beginning. I was like when?

Missy Stevens:

like how many people are you expecting? Like we're really want to come, and they'd be like, okay, missy, three more. And then I'd be like next week.

Cindy Sisson:

But so there's two other, you know, I mean.

Missy Stevens:

I just could not tell anybody. No, we just didn't. I mean, we knew we were going to see growth this year but I don't think we expected this kind of growth, but it's helping us. I'm already thinking towards next year. I was saying these are growing.

Jacki Lutz:

Both of you, both organizations, very similar missions, right to bring more women into these industries and help support them in different ways. And it's just on fire. Why is that Well?

Cindy Sisson:

times have changed. I mean, I even think like look at women in sports in general with Caitlin. Clark I mean, everybody calls it the Caitlin Clark. I don't mind it being the Caitlin Clark effect at all, don't either. But for us there's just, I think, more opportunities.

Missy Stevens:

But it's why what Cindy does and what we do at Women in Auto Care is so important to be able to bring folks in. And we have female technicians. We have a female technician connection circle aimed to mentor female technicians. Right, like from a corporate position, I think we're at like 26% in the automotive aftermarket is women, but technicians is 3%, and I know that what they face in a shop is probably very different than what we face on a corporate level, right? So we're constantly looking for how do we support? So Bogie Lautner is one of our moderators for that circle and she does an amazing job of mentoring females, coming into that technician space and letting them know how to handle certain situations and what red flags they should look for, what questions they should be asking, and it's just always amazing open conversations. I try to drop in on that one whenever I can.

Cindy Sisson:

That's at Apex right.

Missy Stevens:

Well, no, it's a monthly virtual thing, so female technicians all over the world can drop in. It's once a month, it's on the same day, same time every month and, yeah, it's in the evening, so when they get off work.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, Very cool. So what are you guys learning from each other?

Missy Stevens:

Lots.

Cindy Sisson:

What I love is the spirit. I mean, we have spirits of the same, if you will, but I like your bingo game, I liked your networking last night, you know I never thought about that, but when you asked people to raise their hand you had 300 women go out to dinner with 10 women who had never met before. I was one of them. We probably picked the most expensive restaurant, I would have to say.

Missy Stevens:

Sometimes it's nice to splurge.

Cindy Sisson:

You know, $20 for a little cup of mashed potatoes. No, I'm just kidding. I just think there's so much we could be doing more together. That's what I want to focus in the future.

Missy Stevens:

How do we partner? Yes, yeah.

Cindy Sisson:

A hundred percent. We see each other's best practices, but where are the competition part, the only part of the competition? I'm sitting here. What's competition is the share a wallet Like would a woman decide to come to?

Missy Stevens:

ours in December. If they had to choose Right, would their employers support them going to both?

Jacki Lutz:

That was going to kind of be one of my questions is because you know, I'm naturally the most competitive person I know. I don't always tell everybody, but I'm competing with, like everyone you know what I mean. So I'm just like, how do you guys not let that get in the way of anything you know? Like, are you keep, like you know, seeing each other grow so much? And it just Missy like seeing the growth that Cindy's seen. You just seem so happy about it. It inspired me, I mean.

Missy Stevens:

I love it. I was ecstatic for her when she told me she got the partnership with PRI and over 600. I mean I was like, oh my God. I mean that inspired me and thought, you know, we're going to, we're going to do the same thing we can do the same. Absolutely you know, and we do have some crossover in both customers and sponsors, but there's room for both of us and ultimately we both have the same mindset and the same goal that we want to uplift women.

Missy Stevens:

We want to make sure that we are securing women's place in both of our industries.

Cindy Sisson:

Yeah, and God bless the companies that are supporting and paying for the women to be here. You know we were so blessed. We have Speedway Motorsports Inc you know that's not an auto for me to be at an event for two days with like-minded people. The growth, the inspiration and that's the way you know in our communication to the sponsors and the employers is you're doing a huge service to your customer. You're going to get a lot more productivity out of that person.

Missy Stevens:

Yeah, a lot more productivity out of that person. Yeah, and you know we have over the years really tried to harness in, like we want to make sure that an employer understands the value of sending somebody to our conference, right, so we have to be in and I totally got it at yours. I mean, your education piece was wonderful. But I think we have to be extra careful to make sure that our content is so solid and so good and that you know, if an employer is supporting somebody to come to our conference, that they are going back with those development skills and those takeaways that can help them grow in their career.

Cindy Sisson:

You know we're going on our fifth year in the last, you know, four years it's been Lynn St James and myself as co-founders of the Women with Drive Summit. Tina Budd is our production person, the three of us coming up with the topics and the titles, and we're worn out. It's exhausting. Yeah Well, it's just the creativity and being mindful of your audience. So this is the first year we're actually to do a call for proposals.

Missy Stevens:

We've been doing them and it works.

Cindy Sisson:

Oh great.

Missy Stevens:

You and I can talk about that later.

Cindy Sisson:

Yeah, because there's gems out there on the planet and yes, I am the super connector, but I don't know everybody. So, I'm really looking forward to some new ideas, some thought provoking, with a new you know database, if you will, of speakers at our conference, Yep.

Jacki Lutz:

Yeah, that's incredible.

Jacki Lutz:

I love this topic and I'm trying to, I'm trying to think of I'm hoping the audience is thinking of how they can apply this in their day to day.

Jacki Lutz:

Who in your world, in your industry, in your life, is somebody who I mean I don't really again, I don't love the word competition competition because when I say that I'm competitive, it's not necessarily means it means I want to win but I necessarily win over somebody else. But when I see somebody that feels like they're kind of my equal, I let them level me up and it's kind of like what you guys are talking about, where it's like, okay, I love how that person does that. They do that better than me, I'm going to work on that skill right. It doesn't necessarily mean I want that person to lose, I just want to be at their level or above right, and that constantly levels you up. So I'm just hoping the audience really looks at what you guys are doing here and how you guys are leveling each other up and how you guys are both growing from it. By working together and having these conversations and having this network, you also get to share networks, Like how amazing is that?

Missy Stevens:

Yeah, I mean, I love what you just said about I'm pretty competitive too, like I don't care if I'm playing Uyghur a game of pool, I don't care what it is. I need to win.

Jacki Lutz:

I'm like a five-year-old when I'm playing a game. It's awful Uno. I can't play Uno with my son, I'm winning.

Cindy Sisson:

No mercy.

Missy Stevens:

But I love what you said about. You know that just because I want to win and I want women in auto care to be successful doesn't mean I don't want Cindy to win. I want her to be just as successful, and I think that that's kind of the beauty of these kind of partnerships, yeah.

Cindy Sisson:

You know, just a thought and just this kills me is I was on a call the other day with women in NASCAR and they did a little survey and you know, a lot of the people had never heard of WMDA and NASCAR is one of our biggest partners. So what's missing is the communication.

Cindy Sisson:

So, I'd like to invite you we call them WMDA Wednesdays which is the third Wednesday of every month and we were doing them at 7, and we saw a huge drop off. We're going to start doing them. Start them at 4.30. I'd like you to come on as our guest to talk about women in auto care and then, if you have something similar, because that's the only way we're going to get the ladies downstairs to know who the H-E double toothpicks we are because what's amazing is women have been coming up with my logo. I felt like I'm a little underdressed, but the only way people are going to know what I do is buy my logo. I'm a huge advocate of that. Oh, I love motorsports. Oh, I love Formula One.

Cindy Sisson:

If I hear that one more time, I'm going to die because that's our competition, because they're the ones stealing all the money from all the motorsports in America. If you think about it.

Jacki Lutz:

NASCAR.

Cindy Sisson:

IndyCar, imsa, you know the list goes on. You see this huge dollars overseas and we got to figure out a way to make our racing our motorsports. I don't want to say better, because it's awesome, but we got to get more money so we can get more women on the racetrack right now. That's my biggest challenge right now.

Missy Stevens:

Yeah, it's awareness and you kind of alluded to that. You know, what do you think has spurted this growth? And I have to give props where props are due on our council. Our social media team is phenomenal, I mean, and these are volunteers.

Missy Stevens:

They have full-time jobs but they work really, really hard and there's a group of about there's two of them on my council. Then they have folks that are helping them, that are our champions. But they have really leveled us up in terms of exposure and I think that it is largely in part to how we've seen this growth, but it was intentional. I mean, you know, we put the right people in the right places in terms of social media to drive that growth. But I would love to be a part of that.

Cindy Sisson:

I would love to be a part of that.

Jacki Lutz:

I would love you to be a part of that. I feel like a catalyst of this. It's very exciting to watch. So if you're hoping that the audience you know we just talked for, believe it or not, almost 20 minutes.

Cindy Sisson:

Wow, that went by really fast.

Jacki Lutz:

But if you're really hoping that the audience walks away with one thing, which is usually what we have the capacity to do, what do you guys hope that? That is each of you.

Missy Stevens:

I would say that there's room for all of us. Right, cindy can't do it all, I can't do it all. And there are lots of great organizations. You know, there's the SEMA Business Network, there is WIN, which is really collision-driven, there's Women in Auto Care, there's WMNA. I mean, there is room for all of us and we're all working towards the same thing and that's to uplift women. So I think these partnerships are just amazing.

Cindy Sisson:

Yeah, you know, and I feel like what we can bring to the table is this growing network of the next generation. Yeah, we're highly focused on colleges. We have a partnership with Bosch, who's one of your partners here, called Electrify, your Career Motorsports, and we're creating this database. So some of the ladies downstairs, I'm like you need employees. I got the people. I got the people. So I know you do scholarships and everything, but that's another way we can help lift each other up. We have to focus on the future.

Missy Stevens:

And we give a ton of scholarships to specifically females that are going to be a technician in the racing industry. We have a lot of them that are going to the NASCAR Institute. That, really, that that's their thing. So I mean, we want to support them as well. Right, that's amazing. Another great synergy right there, yeah.

Jacki Lutz:

I think my takeaway is kind of to get to know your competition Right. I mean, I'm sure not everybody is going to want what's best for you. You definitely want to make sure you're being you're thinking critically about who you bring into your circle as far as your competitors, but get to know them, because there could be a Cindy or a Missy you know that could really help level you up and you just have to get to know your competitors and give them a chance.

Missy Stevens:

There is a room full of 400 people that are, in a lot of cases, direct competitors downstairs, but it does not feel that way. I mean you do not walk. I mean and again, you see it all the time you know two people that are in sales in totally different markets, that are sharing experiences that they have in the field. That's not sharing company secrets, but it's, you know, hey, have you ever run into this situation and just feeding off of each other?

Cindy Sisson:

You don't have to.

Missy Stevens:

You know, share your company secrets to you know, connect with somebody or to collaborate with somebody.

Jacki Lutz:

Well, this was really nice. This was so good. Thank you, jess. And so last minute and still so smooth. Yay, yeah, I appreciate you guys being on, thank you. Thank you, dear. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Auto Care On Air. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so that you never miss an episode, and don't forget to leave us a rating and review. It helps others discover our show. Auto Care On Air is proud to be a production of the Auto Care Association, dedicated to advancing the auto care industry and supporting professionals like you. To learn more about the association and its initiatives, visit AutoCareorg.

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Behzad Rassuli

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Jacki Lutz

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Michael Chung

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