Aftermarket executives may not be surprised by what young leaders are thinking — but they may not know how to respond.
Speaking on the Auto Service World Conversations podcast, Elise Richardson, district sales manager at Driv and chair of Modern Industry eXpertise (MiX), walked through survey findings of young leaders in the automotive aftermarket. The project asked high‑potential members of MiX how leadership behaviour affects their day‑to‑day work and their decision to stay in the industry.
Respondents are high-performing leaders in the auto care industry’s manufacturing space, yet many said they are unsure about speaking up. More than half (54 per cent) said they sometimes or rarely feel comfortable raising concerns directly with leadership, even though four in five (81 per cent) said they feel their input is actually considered when they do speak up.”
Richardson believes those are largely different groups.
“It’s this trepidation of, ‘I’ve never been in a leadership role, I just kind of want to stay in my own lane and I don’t want to rock the boat,’” she said, pointing to the long tenure of boomers and older Gen X leaders as part of the dynamic.
The biggest red flag was career progression. Only 4 per cent of respondents said they are very clear on what it takes to move into a broader role. Richardson said earlier generations often treated promotions like a process behind a “velvet curtain,” where contributors kept their heads down and waited to be noticed. Younger workers, she said, “don’t understand why it needs to be this invisible.”
She recommended executives to over‑communicate, spell out what growth looks like and then get out of the way.
“Trust your team to fail,” she said. “If you leave the decision on the decisionmaker at the front line there, then give them some room to fail. I think that will help with retention. I think it will help with communication. It’ll help with advancement.”
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