Ep 144: How to Lead the Younger Generation with Eddie Campbell

0:00My main goal is to make customers feel comfortable going to the dealership. I wanna be helping them. I don't wanna be telling them what to do. And so if I'm gonna ask them to do something, then they need to know that I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and do it as well. Every person is gonna go home that night and tell a story about what kind of service they had.

0:18It's gonna be a good story or it's gonna be a bad story. So which do you want to tell them? Love that. You're listening to the Limitless Leadership Podcast, the podcast designed to help automotive repair shops learn how to lead, coach, train, and manage their team better by sharing proven techniques and thought-provoking interviews from industry leaders. Are you ready to transform your leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results?

0:43Let's get ready for liftoff. It's time to go from great to greater. Here's today's episode. All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Limitless Leadership Podcast. We are live here at the 2025 Apex Show in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. I can say beautiful because as of the timing of this recording, it's November. It feels nice outside. It's not too hot.

1:13It's really nice. Got some wind out here and I got a, a new friend of mine. So this guest is new to me, which maybe means he's new to you, but he won't be. He will be our friend because our guest today is going to introduce himself to everyone. His name is Mr. Eddie Campbell. Eddie, thanks for being here. Thank you. And I represent Eddie in Service.

1:34That's why the little logo right here. My main goal is to make customers feel comfortable going to the dealership, so I kind of pull back the curtain a little bit on the car business. Yeah. And let them see why things happen. Love that. So they can't figure out why it takes 15 minutes to get a car written up for an oil change.

1:52We need to tell them it's part of the inspection and that kind of thing. So lots of things that we can let customers know. Like, uh, I had a lady come in the other day and she, uh, said that her car overheats after about 20 minutes of driving. Okay. But she brought it in on empty. Oh, you know, okay, kind of hard to diagnose it.

2:10Yeah, does that. So I think tips like that that help customers make their visit to the dealership, just, just a lot better for everybody. Eddie, thank you for sharing that. So let me ask you this, because a lot of our audience is actually in the independent automotive repair space. I love having, uh, uh, people outside of our industry come in and speak.

2:27Now, I wouldn't necessarily consider you to be outside of our industry, but to some degree there's certainly some separation there. So, um, the, the, the information that you provide from an, from an Eddie in service info kind of guy, um, could it also apply to the automotive repair space as well? Promotive is tackling one of the toughest challenges in the automotive industry: finding and hiring great technicians.

2:51Their team is built from people who know the aftermarket, understand technician roles, and recognize what actually makes someone a strong long-term fit. Promotive builds recruiting pipelines for the shops they support. They uncover talent you won't find on job boards, run intentional and structured screenings, and guide candidates through interview prep and communication so shops can make confident decisions. Shops choose Promotive because their process creates consistency, momentum instead of waiting, clarity instead of guesswork, and a partnership instead of a transaction.

3:21If your shop is hiring or preparing for growth, head to gopromotive.com. You can schedule a discovery call, submit your openings, and see how Promotive supports shops nationwide. All right, folks, as you know, great leadership isn't about doing everything the best. It's actually about having the right partners in your corner to build your shop success. It's about putting the right team in place.

3:42It's about choosing the right vendors to make you a pro, making pro moves. And when I think about the pros, I think about Shop Marketing Pros. The know, like, and trust factor, that's a real thing. And Shop Marketing Pros understands that. That's why I wanna recommend Shop Marketing Pros to become your marketing partner in your shop. They get to know, like, and trust you and your business to then help your audience get to know, like, and trust you too, and bring your shop to the next level.

4:10So when I talk about making pro moves, this is the kind of move I'm talking about. This is the kind of standard-setting partnership that's gonna elevate your shop. So if you're ready to become a pro in your shop, visit shopmarketingpros.com and partner with the best. 100%. So, okay. My dad had an independent store for 37 years. Gotcha. I grew up on that aftermarket side.

4:32Yeah. And then later switched over to the— not the dark side, the dealership side. Well said, my friend. Well said. Got lots of friends that own shops, and, um, I— you know, the dealership's not for everybody. Yeah. Now, if, if your car's 11 years old, the dealership probably don't even want to work on it. Can't get the parts, they got to go buy them aftermarket.

4:48So yeah, I think there's enough room for everybody. Wherever you get your car serviced, just servicing it is the main thing. Gotcha. Okay, well, let me ask you, I mean, I— you may have just given, given this away, but how did you get into the industry, and specifically How did you find your way into the dealership world? Super proud of my, my heritage.

5:06Uh, you know, I'm like a third-generation drag racer. My dad was a mechanic, his dad was a mechanic. Um, since I was 8 years old, I've been rolling tires around and, uh, getting dirty. And so, uh, started out changing oil, started busting tires— they call it slinging tires nowadays. There you go. Uh, then I went to be a mechanic then a service advisor, then service manager, then platform fixed operations director over several stores, and then general manager.

5:35So I've seen every side, both sides, all the way from there to there. Excellent. And, uh, I love my whole— my whole life's been car business. I love it. Okay, awesome. So Eddie in Service, so talk about— you, you started— you started to open up about this earlier, but talk about what do you do from an Eddie in Service influencer approach and, and what does this look like for, for the customers that you are creating this content for?

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7:09Golden Hour provides a virtual estimate building, extended warranty, fleet claim processing, loaner advisors, and hands-on partner support so your team can focus on the guest experience and profit growth. Book a discovery call today. Limitless Leadership listeners receive 10% off their first 3 months. So I've got lots of young people that work for me. Okay. I've got 3 daughters, 2 millennials and a Gen Z.

7:33Okay. The Gen Z's just a little different, you know? Yeah. And me being an old school guy, I was always, hey, rub some dirt in it, you know, tighten up your belt. She wasn't receiving it. Yeah. And so she was having to live with that, me breathing down her neck for about 3 or 4 years. And one of my young loop technicians came to me one day and I said, hey, what'd you do this weekend?

7:52He said, well, me and my mom went out this weekend and we tried to find me an apartment to live in. And he said, but we couldn't do it. It's— I got to make $58,000. I got to qualify for this. I got to have good credit. And it hit me pretty hard that these young people don't have the chance that we did.

8:06Yeah. And I think social media, which is a great thing, it can be a bad thing. I think that kind of messed them up. COVID hit at the same time. I think this Gen Z generation has had it worse than any generation since the '40s. Wow. And yeah, I mean, they can't buy anything. They're living at home. It's just, you know, and I'm an old man.

8:24I got tons of old man stories, but I used to be able to walk into a store, go, I need 37 cents on number 2 pump. Yeah. And cruise all night. You know, that was the biggest worry I had. You just can't do those things anymore. And my car cost $350. You know, now the car's $10,000. So yeah, I started thinking about how can I communicate with Gen Z?

8:42They're not really coming into the business as much as I wanted. Um, I only see one Gen Z-er every 60 to 90 days bring their own car in for maintenance. Their moms are still bringing their 27-year-old son's truck in for an oil change because he— the, the place is intimidating. He doesn't want to do it. His mom's used to it, so she drives his big truck to work that day and on her lunch.

9:03She brings in while he's at home looking for a job or playing video games or whatever it is he's doing. So how can I reach Gen Z? So I started hard and hot and heavy on social media, and I found out that maintenance is not sexy. So it's hard to get people to talk about that. So, um, I tried to talk to Gen Z through social media, didn't know anything about it.

9:26All I had was LinkedIn. I've never had a Facebook, nothing. So, uh, 2 and a half years ago, I just started trying to figure it out so I could talk to this next generation. Yeah. And it's working. I've got start— they're, they're some of my biggest followers. You know, it's interesting, you know, we, we talked off air right before we went live about different social media platforms.

9:42And I mean, you, you gotta get on TikTok, you know, it's like you're, you're trying to reach a younger generation. Yeah. But you gotta be on TikTok. And, and I'm, I'm new to TikTok. I mean, like Limitless Leadership Podcast is now on TikTok. Find us at Leadership Podcast, by the way. Just gotta show— and Eddie in Service. And Eddie in Service. Thank you.

10:02Um, but I, I, I view this as a form of situational leadership, which in, you know, the leadership world, situational leadership is when you're adapting to the needs of a situation and the needs and the abilities of those that you're leading. So when you think about it, you just talked about how you have 3 daughters, different generations, They, they receive information differently.

10:25Completely. And we have to remember as leaders, we're leading different people with different personalities, different generations, and they're championing different processes or procedures, which means we're gonna be leading individual people differently based on the situations that they're leading. Additionally, we're leading multiple people. So this is why I say leadership is a full-time job. I'll ask you, Eddie, one of the questions I ask every guest on, on this podcast is, what does leadership mean to you?

10:56How would you answer that question? And, and I love your, your logo because it says leadership, and then in red it says lead. Yeah, that's what leadership is. You're leading. And I think you got to do it by example. I mean, I'm the general manager of a dealership, and I— it's nothing for me to get the leaf blower out on the front porch or go park some cars, or I, I want to be helping them.

11:14I don't want to be telling them what to do. And so if I'm gonna ask them to do something, then they need to know that I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and do it as well. No job is too small. I try to greet every customer, even when I was in fixed operations for most of my career. Yeah. And I greeted as many customers as I could and took them in the shop.

11:31And, and, uh, because I want my service advisors to know, hey, if he's doing it, we need to do it. As a general manager of a dealership, Eddie, How many, how many people are you directly leading right now? Uh, right now, 75. 75. How do you do it, my friend? You have to have good managers under you, and you have to have good people.

11:50I mean, I love every single one of my employees. Yeah, like family. So I love that. You got to talk to them, text them, check on them on the weekend, wish them happy birthday. I mean, there's just— you gotta— I have— I'm friends with them. I've had so many people above me say, oh, you can't be friends with your employees. I say bull.

12:06Yeah, you know. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there, there's a fine line, but I, I, I like that. I like what you're sharing. Ultimately, we know that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Yeah. And in, in, in a day and age when 77% of employees are disengaged at work because they don't feel seen, they don't feel heard, they don't feel valued, the, the number one peop— the number one reason that people leave bad leaders, not bad jobs, is because they don't feel valued.

12:31Compensation is actually barely cracking the top 3. So when you can show interest, genuine, authentic interest in the people that you're serving through your leadership, the people that they, they know how much you care, you're creating engagement. I've got to assume, Eddie, just, I mean, given the, I don't know, 10 minutes that you and I have been talking, you strike me as someone who, if I'm working for you, if you're formally leading me, I know how much Eddie cares about me.

12:58Yeah. And you said working for— I never say that. If I'm at Six Flags, one of my employees walks up and I introduce them. Yeah, I don't say this guy works for me. Yeah, I say we work together. Yeah, I think all our jobs are important. They just have different positions. And, you know, uh, my job is to lead people and, and take care of the customers.

13:15Their job is to, uh, if they're a manager, lead their, their team. And, and if you're an express guy changing oil, I think your job's just as important. I'm not going to do it, so yeah. I think it was about 3 months ago, 4 months ago, I actually had the uniform company make me a mechanic uniform without anybody knowing. Okay. And I came to work and changed oil all day and rotated tires.

13:37That's amazing. I didn't let them know how sore I was at the end of the day because I had to prove the old man still has it, you know, but oh, it nearly killed me. But I found so many problems that, you know, hey, hey, this thing doesn't work. Yeah, that hadn't worked in 6 months. I'm like, Did you tell anybody? You know, let's figure this out.

13:53So, uh, it, it was a great exercise. I bet it was. And I bet, I bet it went a long way for your team to, to see you, like, I mean, for all, for, for, for lack of better terms, like put, put on the, the, the, the Tech shirt, get in the trenches, in the trenches, and do the work with those guys.

14:09That probably meant a lot to them. It did. They were putting it on their Facebook saying stuff like, does your boss do this? You know, it made me feel great. But you know, I wear a suit every day. So when I came with that uniform, they didn't even know who I was. They're like, who is this bald-headed fat guy that just walked in over here?

14:22Come on. Yeah. So Eddie, let me ask you this. If I were to walk into your dealership right now and if I were to go to any of your team members and say, hey, describe Eddie Campbell in one word, what are some words I'd hear? Kind, fair. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I hope so. I mean, I've, in my long 45 years in the car business, I've probably fired 50 technicians.

14:49Okay. And every one of them I'm still friends with, except maybe 2 of them. They're still a little butt hurt. But even when I fire them, it's from the heart. They know. People will go, yeah, Eddie fired me. Oh, what'd you do? Because they know you must have done something to get fired. So it's never because I don't like them or anything like that.

15:07It's just they've done something bad enough over the years that I had to part ways. That's amazing. That says a lot about you as a leader. Um, you know, one of the things that I think we can all agree on is that when someone is let go or fired, if it's a surprise to them, it's on you as a leader. Can you speak to the importance of providing clarity and direction from a leader for a team member so that they understand why they're doing things, where they're at, where we're going, all of the, all, all the above?

15:36Yeah. I take it personal on my end when I have to fire somebody. I feel like I let them down. What did I not do enough of? But there's those employees that I'll— and I'm— the few job interviews I've gone on over the years, they always say, what's the best thing about you? And then they say, what's the worst thing? And I say, I wait too long to fire people.

15:55And it's because I got this nurturing thing that I want them to be better. So I fight and fight and fight until it's just too late and they've exhausted everything I can for 2 years. And I finally got to seperate. Well, let me ask you this. Do you believe in the concept of hire slow, fire fast? Um, I don't. I used to work for the biggest car company in the world, and that was theirs every day, you know, you know.

16:19And we were always shorthanded, or— and then you, you would hang on to him because you knew how hard it was going to be to hire somebody else. So that's right. There's lots of things in this industry that we could do to be so much better, from, from CEOs to to the customer and everybody in between. So that's one of the things that Eddy and Service tries to do is tackle every position throughout the, from the manufacturer CEO to the customer.

16:44Everybody's guilty, everybody could do better, and we could make it better for all of us. I love the fact that you're educating anyone and everyone with an opportunity for them to understand what can change. Man, I'm struggling, Eddie. I just— I had a question. It just escaped me. Well, I'm going to tell something while you're thinking about it. Yeah, come on. So about a week ago, I had a live technician town hall and I had just done a previous little video on the CEO of Ford talking about how there's a technician shortage, right?

17:22Yeah, it went crazy. Which, by the— do you know that's Chris Farley's brother? It is not. It, it is. I don't believe you. I, I think— I'm pretty sure it is. No, I'll bet you 10 bucks. Okay, deal. Just because I'm a huge Chris Farley fan and I know his brother. Yeah, so I'd be shocked. I'm pretty sure it actually is. I was surprised.

17:38Dinner in Texas. Okay, um, so if it is, make sure you text me, let me know. Okay, I'll do it. So, uh, I put this video out and I got 800, uh, comments from technicians and 798 of them were extremely negative and only a few positive. Really? They're just really angry about this whole flat rate pay and him saying there's a shortage and it's not because of parts.

18:00And it started a hornet's nest. So I took 3 comments and read them to these technicians online. And the first question was, if leadership actually listened, what would you tell them to change technicians to? I love that question. Do you know Chris Craig? I think he's— yeah, yeah, he's the one that told me to call you. His answer blew my mind. He goes, if leadership actually listened, I would say listen.

18:25And I mean, man, it just hit me right in the heart. And they were like, yeah, what if they just listened? You know? Yeah. So as leaders, you got to listen and you got to act on it. Yeah. So I've been guilty a few times where, you know, all the technicians talk and they go, yeah, we got a broken air rail. I write that down and we got this and this guy talks too much and Next thing you know, there's, you know, a list of 100.

18:45Yeah. And by the time I get to 30 things, I'm— it's sure 2 months down the road. So when the problem is like you're getting all that knowledge, you're trying to listen, you're getting all that knowledge, but knowledge without action is just information. And the problem is you get all that knowledge and the technicians or any, any team member for that matter, thinks that Eddie is hearing them.

19:05Yes. Eddie is listening. Eddie's asking questions for a reason. So I give him an answer expecting to see some kind of change, some kind of action, and hopefully some kind of different result. But then Eddie gets tied up with other things and he doesn't take action. And now I'm thinking, man, I mean, like, how, how, how important is my voice? Do my opinions actually matter?

19:25Is— are, are my ideas considered? Yeah. And, and I hate that they feel that way. When I was a young leader, I didn't even want to go use the restroom because I knew by the time I went there and back, or get a Coke out of the machine, I'm gonna have 9 things because you're walking through and the advisor goes, hey, I need some Post-it notes.

19:39And you go, okay, hey, the phone over there, that doesn't work. And I'm like, okay. So by the time I get back, you know, so about 10 years ago, I told everyone on first day, don't tell me anything because I'm old and I'll forget it. If you want me to get it, you have to text it, email it, or give me a note in my hand and I'll fix it.

19:56So I'm pretty good at that. Well, let me ask you this, Eddie, because what you're describing also is an opportunity for for us as leaders to empower our team to make decisions, and that requires a level of safety and trust from leadership so that clarity and direction can be provided. Can you speak to what it looks like to empower team members? Sure.

20:18All my employees, if even it's their first day, can spend $100 on whatever they want whenever they want, and I'll back it up. Okay. So if a customer comes in and said, yeah, my sales guy promised me a paint pen 2 years ago and he never got it for me, Hey, come on, let's go get you a paint pen. You know, we had a special needs young man.

20:35He was probably 35. His mom was there with him. She's in her 60s. And he, he took a hat off of our display, put it on, and she's like, take that off, take that off. And my guy, I'm sitting right next to him, goes, no, he can have that. She goes, no, he can't. And I came over, yes, he can. This is our gift to him.

20:52And, you know, he just had it on. Yeah. She came back like 5 days later to tell us that He takes a bath in it, he sleeps in it. You know, it's one of the best things. So we teared up a little bit. It was extremely emotional. So that's amazing. When your employees have that kind of power, they don't have to go, hey, there's a guy over there.

21:07They just man up and do it and take care of that customer. I mean, that, that is— I love that you shared that, Eddie. You're talking about a young man who, to, to him, it's such a big deal to have that hat. And to you guys, it's like, oh, it's just a hat. Yeah. It's just a hat. Mm-hmm. Um, but that young man and his mother are going to come back to you guys, not because you fixed their brakes.

21:30Yes. Not because you repaired something in their cooling system. Yeah. Because of how you made him feel. Yeah. That is powerful. Yeah. We try to do it a lot. I tell my employees, every person is gonna go home that night and tell a story about what kind of service they had. It's gonna be a good story or it's gonna be a bad story.

21:46So yeah. Which do you want to tell 'em? Love that. I've got a million stories. I want to write a book about how many times we've done over-the-top things to make customers happy. Wait, you got a book worth of stories. I'm sure you got a book worth of solid advice too. I'll ask you the second question I ask every guest on this podcast.

22:02What is the best advice that you've ever received from a coach or a mentor? I'm going to get beat up for this one because I'm a big Star Trek fan, but Captain Kirk has been my hero since I was a little kid. He never gives up. He ends up with a girl and he saves the planet, you know, on every episode. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

22:20So when I was right and he leads great, you know, Spock, all of them, they'll give their life for this guy. And I just remember being a little kid thinking, man, when I grow up, I want to be just like Captain Kirk. Are you Captain Kirk? I am. What's the best advice Captain Kirk would give to this audience? Beam me up. Beam me up.

22:36That's leadership. We can do it. We can do it. Yeah, I love that. Awesome. Well, Eddie InService, how can our audience get in touch with you? How— where can they— where can they find you? Pretty much on all social media, uh, Eddie InService. TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Spotify, almost anywhere you can get on the internet somewhere. Excellent. I feel bad introducing you as Eddie Campbell.

22:58I mean, we're changing your last name. We didn't change your last name. Clark Kent. Okay. Oh, that's fair. This is my Superman, and then Eddie Campbell's mine. I like that. Good stuff. Awesome. And you're out of the Dallas area? Yeah, yeah, I'm a general manager of a CDJR dealership. Okay. In the middle, right in the middle of Dallas, Texas. Very good, very good.

23:13Well, if you're listening and if you're in Dallas, Texas, you want to go hang out, see Eddie, Eddie, he will give you a tour. All right, thanks for having me on, man. I really appreciate it. Thank you, appreciate you for being here. Yeah, it was great. And, uh, hopefully this isn't your, your only time on the Limitless Leadership Podcast. We'd love to have you back.

23:28Okay, thanks. Excellent. Appreciate it. And thank you again for tuning in to a another episode of the Limitless Leadership Podcast. As you know, every episode we look to transform our leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results. So thanks again for tuning in. Don't forget to smile today. Tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. I'm Josh Parnell reminding you to keep leading well.