“There are no bad units, only bad leaders”, said Leif Babin, former Navy SEAL Officer as he presented to dealership executives on the main stage at the DrivingSales Executive Summit. Leif shared his experiences as a Navy SEAL and recounts the grueling training that took place at BUD/S, Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training and how the lessons learned are directly applicable to dealers today. 

Watch the video to hear more from Leif:

There isn’t much of a difference between a SEAL team leader blaming the poor performance of his boat crew on his team and a manager blaming low sales numbers or poor customer service on his employees. A good leader guides his team to success and takes responsibility for their performance.
“The way you lead your team as a boat crew leader is not to look at the distant horizon where the finish line is, but to look at short steps.”

As leaders, it’s important that we guide our teams along the way to success and not just expect them to arrive at the finish line and be frustrated when they don’t make it. We should be demonstrating to our team what success looks like and how they will get there. As dealers, we should be investing in the development of our employees by prioritizing processes that are key to their success, such as holding consistent training and conducting regular performance reviews, etc. These processes are the best tool that dealership managers have at their disposal to avoid the pitfall of blaming failure on others and lead our teams to success.