Backstage Jim Craig Leadership with Ben Coopes|EP127

Writing them down, talking about them, and actually bringing those things outside of your own mind is a big

step. Welcome everyone to the Driving Vision Podcast brought to you by the Zigler Auto Group. And here with me, Auto Group director of talent development, Mike Van Ryn. Welcome, Mike. Hey.

Thanks, Sam. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. Like it if you do, and leave a comment. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the special edition of the driving vision future of Zag Today podcast.

So here today, we're in studio with a bunch of people. So with me, Ben Coops, sales manager here at the Kalamazoo Campus. Ben, welcome. Thank

you. Thanks for having me.

And we're gonna actually introduce our other 2 guests. But first, we're gonna go to Mike Van Ryn, VP of Talent Development. Mike, welcome. Thank you, Sam. So, Mike, we're here to talk about last week, we talked about how Ziegler has won 6 years in a a row, the national best and brightest companies to work for recognition.

It's a huge recognition and culture plays, into that recognition. We're super pumped to have achieved that. 1 of the things we talked about last week is Jim Craig leadership training sessions. Mike, tell us who the heck is Jim Craig, and what the heck are these leadership training sessions, and why do they play such an important part into our culture?

Well, Jim Craig is somebody that, team Ziegler, we've we've been working with for probably over 10 years now, Sam. And, Jim is the 1980 Miracle on Ice goalie, that received a gold medal, US Olympics. So honored to work with him. And at Ziegler, we're all about continuous improvement through Ziegler University, training development, and this is a leadership workshop that we do with individuals from across the ZAG.

Alright. And how long have we been doing these training sessions with the Olympic hockey gold medalist, Jim Craig, winner of the Miracle on Ice. He helped make the Disney show. How long have we been doing these for?

We've been doing these, for over 10 years with Jim Craig.

Which is incredible. It's been an important part of our culture. Right? So every session where he's live with us, he obviously provides some feedback, but there's a sponsored facilitator that stands up in the room. It's a big room.

How many people are there typically every session?

Usually, I have about 25 people in those sessions. And just in the last few years, Sam, we've taken a individual that, we've wanted to really help grow and develop in their leadership, and that individual has worked to prepare the workshop behind the scenes and then facilitate it with Jim in person.

So it's a big room full of people. Jim Craig is there, and there's a facilitator that's in the room. Mike, how does team Ziegler choose the facilitator for each session?

Well, we look across the group and we select individuals that wanna continually grow and learn and, in their leadership and get out of their comfort zone. So that's something that, definitely happens. There's a ton of preparation going into these workshops, Sam. They're basically creating the whole 3 hour workshop and facilitating it with Jim Craig.

So how does that get you out of your comfort zone? As a salesperson or a sales manager or general manager or someone else, manager, how does leading a leadership session with an Olympic Olympic hockey gold medalist get you out of your comfort zone?

Well, let me tell you.

Actually, let's go to Ben. So, Ben, this week, you were, selected to be the facilitator last week.

Yes, sir.

Were you uncomfortable doing it?

Yes. Yeah.

What made you uncomfortable?

I think talking to a lot of people, you know, no 1 no 1 is all, I shouldn't say no 1, but not many people are very comfortable, you know, doing any sort of public speaking or, you know, at least for me. I'm not I've never been comfortable doing public speaking. I'd rather sing

to a

to a group.

By the way, people singers. Well, thanks.

I'd rather sing to a group of people than, get up there and and have to talk for some reason. So that was the first kind of step into the uncomfort zone. But then you're also dealing with, you know, you know, all the higher up.

Right? You're

dealing with, you know, Mike who's done every single 1 of these workshops. Yeah. So I'm worried that I'm not He

knows what he's doing. Right? So he's

he's he's higher up than that.

You're you're,

obviously working right alongside Jim Craig who does this for a living. So he's judging me as well. So, yeah, I think of it as kind of like a tryout.

Yeah. And and 1 of Jim Craig's trademarks is he doesn't mix messages. If you do a great job, he'll tell you. If you don't, he'll be very honest. Like, 1 of the things we value at team Ziegler is honest candid feedback, and he'll provide that.

What kind of feedback did you get as you were going through the session?

1 thing that Jim did, and I was fortunate enough to have a phone call with him right before the day of the class, which I was excited. I was hoping that it was gonna boost my confidence, but he actually started throwing a couple different curve balls my direction.

Oh, no.

A couple different slides

that he changed it up.

He wanted switched up, and I was just like, oh, okay. So that's what I think he's really good at is even if he is going to push your boundaries a little bit and make you think different, you walk away from a a conversation with Jim Craig feeling feeling better.

Yeah. Well, and and isn't it interesting in life and in business, we have to pivot. Right? So right now, we're coming to you live on day, what, 5 of our CDK shutdown. So Right.

We as a team for the past 5 days have had to pivot. Like, we thought the message was gonna be 1 thing. We thought we'd show up today and write ROs and bills of sale in a system. That was taken away from us, but we still deliver to our customers. Right?

That's kinda

what happened to you. You were throwing

a curveball and you adapted. Right?

Yeah. And that's the cool thing too with the workshops is that you can prepare all you want, and that was I'm very mister prepare when it comes to things Yeah. Whether or not it's work or or personal.

But you still

have to pivot. But you still have to be able to ready you have to be ready to pivot Yeah. When life throws you those curve balls. Balls.

Alright. So also with us today is Cara Lee, service manager at Subaru Lafayette. Welcome, Cara Lee. Excited to have you here.

Hello.

And then Cassandra Cassandra, I don't even know what your title is. Like, Zigglers Motorsports, track house restaurant would not exist were it not for you, Cassandra.

My title is track house general manager.

Perfect. TrackHouse GM. We're super pumped to have you here. So both of you were at the leadership session last week. How did Ben do at, putting on this session with

And you gotta be honest.

And you gotta be honest. But Jim Craig would be honest too. Right?

I I would say Ben did a a phenomenal job. This was actually my 2nd Jim Craig workshop. I think I would assume they're all pretty darn good, but I I was definitely really impressed with, how Ben approached the the subject, that we discussed and and that the class was focused on. But I I also feel like not only did you go into into it with a lot of confidence, I think that you did a really great job of getting people engaged. Everything felt very relevant.

It was it was a great workshop, really.

Been in a good job. Alright. Cassandra, before I ask you what your favorite takeaway from this session was, Mike, will you just give us an overview of what the topic was?

Yeah. Absolutely.

Or should I ask Ben? Ben, what was our topic?

Yeah. So the topic was developing and aligning your personal and your professional dreams.

Oh. So I Developing and aligning your personal Yep. And professional dreams. Yep. Interesting.

So, I mean, 1 of the things obviously, everyone should be good at talking about themselves. Right? You should be an expert at talking about yourself. Yeah. But it's funny, though.

Myself included, I try not to be very selfish. So it it takes some some deep thought when you start thinking about your, you know, developing and aligning your personal and professional dreams. So

Like, when you talk to other people or for yourself?

Yeah. So I I think not many I don't think many people actually take the time, and that's something that we actually talked about in this workshop is I don't think many people take the time to actually think about what their dreams are and then how to make their dream become a reality.

Wow.

So, yeah, we it was a pretty deep workshop. I I'd say we got we got pretty deep when we got out of the

You did some research, Ben. You gotta tell the audience what the research was that you did on that.

Yeah. Yep. So I I did some, some research myself. I, I asked 10, close friends and family members of mine if they could give me just 1 just 1 of their personal or professional dreams. Okay?

And I and I started the class by asking them, a lot of them, you know, who can guess how many people out of the 10 were able to give me an answer? And I got some good guesses. The, the answer is is I only got 3 that could actually give me an answer. And even the 3 that gave me an answer, they hemmed and hawed, and they tried to joke around and deflect and just didn't feel all that comfortable answering. So it is something that, that not a lot of people like to talk about.

Interesting. Cassandra, biggest takeaway from the session or when we talk about these dreams professionally and personally?

As far as the workshop goes, this is probably the perfect 1 for me because I have very big dreams. I learned there are steps to get there, and he was very helpful on giving me a direction, a starting point, if you will. And that that for me was a huge a huge thing for me to learn.

Wait. You have big will you share 1 with us? I love that when somebody lights up. You lit up when you said I have big dreams. That's awesome.

Or personal? I mean, it just kinda depends.

You take your pick. If you're comfortable sharing, I yeah. Obviously, you gotta be comfortable.

Yeah. Absolutely. And what I learned from this workshop was to be comfortable in sharing it with the right people. Yes. Professional, my my goal is a food truck for the

crack house.

Oh,

wow. So for all of the big events Zingler does, I would like to be the people you guys go to to get food, to get our name out there. And it has me thinking of what my next step is to start to get this happening.

That's a cool idea, by the way. You think about the Ziggler Kalamazoo Marathon. How cool would it be to have a food truck at the marathon that says Ziggler, you know, track house on there? Spread the Ziegler name. How did you tell them the right people to how did you get inspired to have that be your dream and vision?

Nobody told you this would be great. Chris didn't come to you and say, hey. I wanna see us at more events. What what inspired you to that vision? A bigger vision than anyone in the organization might currently have.

I've been in the restaurant industry a long time. And when I started here, I just I started thinking about ways to get our name out there because on Sprinkle Road, we're we're not in the the hub of all the the parties and everything like that. We are a bar and grill. So I was just thinking of ways to get our name out there, get some catering going on, a good way to say, hey. We're over here, and get our food out there and for people to taste it and go, I I think I need to eat there.

And a food truck is a huge newer thing. People are using them for weddings, for events, and I wanna be the people the 1 people call.

That's awesome. What's something our listening audience out there, podcast world, could help you with to achieve and accomplish that? Do you need the truck? What do you need? What's your next step?

So I talked to the my next step was talking to the health inspector, and I did that the day after this workshop.

Nice. Oh, good. Look at you. That's awesome.

Alright. Taking action.

But, yes, I need I would need to find a truck to pull a food trailer or find the food truck. That would be my next step in figuring out the type of menu and everything we'd like to hold in there and how this how we set it up.

Well, Cassandra, I I hate to tell you this, but we are a car dealership group. So when it comes time to finding the truck to tow the trailer, the truck should not be the problem. The trailer is probably the, the more, challenging part. That's awesome. Cassandra, we're gonna come back to you after Carolee and ask you what the personal goal was.

But, Carolee, what's your biggest takeaway from the session last week?

I think for me, really just, I I think it was mostly enlightening, I guess. I I think a lot of people can think in their own minds of all the the dreams and the goals that they have, but when you're asked to, like, really think about it out loud, right, and and share those ideas with other people, you kind of find yourself, like, stopping for a second and, like, okay. Maybe I wanna grow professionally, but what exactly does that look like? Right? What does growing Yeah.

Actually mean for me, and how does that play part in in personal dreams and goals? So I I think it's definitely walking away from the workshop kind of left me realizing I probably need to think a little bit more, about exactly what my goals are. Not only big picture thinking, but what are the little steps along the way, to to help me get there. Like I said, it's easy to look big picture perspective at at at what you want to accomplish, but what does that mean in in your day to day, which, like I said, it was enlightening for me for sure.

So was there anything from a goal perspective or a vision perspective for you, whether personal or professional, that inspired you as you sat in the session or you thought, hey, this is exciting to me.

Yeah. Absolutely. I think, you know, like I said, I think the workshop as a whole was really great. You know, again, we can go back to looking at my goals professionally. You know, it's like, okay.

Maybe I want to eventually oversee more than 1 service department, or maybe I wanna learn the size of the store. Right? Sales, finance, parts. But how do I get there? Right?

I I think the key in all this and me just 5 hour, 4 and a half hour drive home, I'm thinking like, okay. You know, for me to get anywhere else, I I think I think about my people a lot. Right? But, like, truly, how am I gonna help grow and develop the people around me so that I can make these next steps?

Here's something I always find interesting about every session. I wasn't able to be at this last Jim Craig session that killed me because I love these. There's a moment in the session usually, and this is for Mike and Ben, where people think about the problem or the topic in a different way, and everybody kinda has a collective So to Mike and Ben, what was there that moment in this past session? What was it? And what did everybody kind of see differently as a result of the question and the approach to the topic?

You know, the first thing that comes to mind, the biggest standout and the biggest thing that I wanted the to be for the class was you are going to become what you think about most of the time. Okay.

What you think about, you bring about. I had to use that because it's a silly tired slogan probably, but you hear it all the time.

Yeah. Exactly. It's true. So we talked a lot about vision boards and writing things down.

With Cheryl and her team, Orland Park, they've got incredible vision boards. Yeah.

Yeah. And how you can set, like, the background of your phone or the background of your computer, or you can print it out and put it up and post it somewhere so that you're always seeing what this goal and what this this vision is that you have.

Yeah. So that was that was kind

of, like, the biggest thing that I wanted to pass pass along.

So why do you think if it's as easy as thinking about it, there's another word for what you're talking about. It's intentional. What is it about human nature that if we have these inspiring big goals, what is it about these inspiring goals that's so difficult sometimes to be so intentional

with? That's a great question.

And that's open to Cassandra, Carol Lee, Mike, anybody. You have these in you before you walked into the session. Cassandra, what was it about that block of time that inspired you to go out and talk to the food permit guy?

I had asked a question, and it the question was, what do you do if you don't have support for your dreams? And every single person and I think it was like a 10 minute long question of getting answers from every person in there, and it showed me that there is support everywhere. You just have to look at the right places. So for me, I was, like, just in this room of 20, 25 people, they're rooting me on whether they know what my dream is or not. So for me, it was that.

It was I do have a good back a backing, and they're gonna help push me.

Yeah. The biggest obstacle to that backing, in fact, Cassandra, it reminds me of Jimmy Urie in the singing we learned from our last speaker series. The biggest obstacle to that backing is our communicating the goal, right, and connecting with others on what we're trying to achieve and accomplish. Carol Lee, was there something business or per professional that you were inspired to go achieve? Actually, I already asked you that, but, was there something that you became more intentional about as a result of the session?

You know, III think you know, again, just going back to all the ideas you have in your head, they seem organized. Right? And they seem like in your mind, you think I show up to work every day, and I work hard. And, unfortunately, I I don't I don't I think it has to be a lot more intentional than that. Right?

And I think Aaron even made a good point, during the workshop around how, you know, his at 1 point, he had a goal to do x in sales or gross profit or or whatever it was. And he got there, and then it was like, well, where where do we go next? Right?

Yeah.

And at some point in between, you accidentally met a goal that you weren't It's a it's a goal when it happens because, like, oh, this is great. We grew, but was it actually a goal? And I I think when you're being intentional intentional about, you know, going after the the things you wanna accomplish, how much more can you do that way opposed to just by waking up day to day, working hard, committing to whatever it is you're doing, and then just sort of waiting to see what accomplishments, you know, you you can you can bring out of it. The the intentional side of it makes a big difference, and I I think that, again, thoughts in in your mind, your goals in your mind seem so organized, and I know I wanna do this eventually. But like Ben said, writing them down, talking about them, and actually bringing those things outside of your own mind, I think, is a big step.

Yeah. You surround yourself with these things. Right? You make it intentional

by making it by making it, physical almost. We what we think about, we bring about. So, Cassandra, personal goal. We know the business goal. It's the food truck, anything on the personal side that you dare share.

I I have a couple, but, the 1 that I'm trying to right now is I'm looking for a house with some acreage, and I wanna get a nice house and an acreage for my family. I'm built I'm growing my family. I'm getting married in September. So we're Congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you.

I didn't know that.

So we're we're try we're trying to that's our big dream right now personally, and it it's our dream. It's my family's dream. So that's what we're working towards really hard right now.

The magic with what we do at work is that they're so tightly related. You know? As you expand into the food truck and expand the empire that is the restaurant at motorsports, that actually helps enable you in your personal goal. It's cool. What does it mean to you to be able to see that connection between the personal and the business goal and how achieving 1 helps with the other?

Well, what comes to mind to me, Sam, is something that I wanted to to bring up in the in the workshop as well, which is, you know, thinking about it in a Venn diagram kind

of way. So we talked about What's a Venn diagram?

I don't know what that is. The 2 circles that overlap 1 another. Okay. Okay.

Okay.

So you can have your personal on 1 side. Yep. Yep. Circle. You can have your professional on 1 side Yeah.

In 1 circle. But when they overlap, the things in the middle, those are the things that actually happen. Those are the things when they can overlap, when they can align like that

Yeah.

And have your personal and your professional align, it's gonna happen. Yeah. It's what you think about.

And it ties in with, a quote from 1 of our favorites. Right? Tom Izzo. Do you like what you do, live what love what you do, or live what you do. Right?

And that that living part of it just ties in so nicely.

That's awesome. So 1 of the things, Ben, you had some things you wanted to bring out as points because you studied this material and you just you knew it forward and backward. 1 of the other interesting up moments in a lot of these sessions is what, as a facilitator, you discovered during the session that you didn't know before. Was there something that came out that was kind of and I'm asking this because I wasn't there. So a lot of times I can call it if we're there, but was there something that a realization you had as a result or the class had that you didn't think would be had?

Well, there are there are some critiques that, that Jim is gonna have during these workshops that you just have to be ready for. You know, you you try to prepare and you try to be ready

for him, but at the

same time, you don't know what he's gonna say. So you just have to be able to pivot. So the I was maybe 3 minutes in, and all of a sudden, he just stops everything and is saying, Ben, you're gonna have to speak up a little bit louder. And so, like, oh, okay. You know?

So it's like, alright. We're already starting with with that. But, again, like I say, these are all things that Jim is gonna be the type of guy that is, very honest with you.

Mhmm.

He he was very complimentary about how the, the workshop went. But it's those little things that are gonna make you better, those little critiques that you might feel uncomfortable at the time, but Yeah. You're glad that he says something. So

That's awesome.

But, I mean, I can't Mike, is there anything that you can think about, as far as, like, moments with the with the workshop?

That was a great 1 that you just mentioned. The other 1 was in preparation for the thing. Like, your biggest worry was I'm not gonna have enough content, enough material. But in essence, it it was a flip side of the coin. Right?

We had so much content and material, and the workshop flowed so nicely. I was really proud of you, Ben. You did a great job.

Thank you. Mike, any personal or business goals you thought of that you became intentional with, that you thought about in a different way last week in the session? Yeah.

You know, I wrote down a quote that Jimmy said. He said, how you perceive your goal or dream as a tool, and it kinda ties in with what Cassandra said. So it kinda how you perceive that goal or dream yourself, but also others. If you have some naysayers that you you can use that as a tool for fuel to fuel you forward. Right?

So, 1 of my big, goals personally is to publish a children's book and share that with schools across the United States. So I'm excited about that. We're, we're close on it, close on it. That's cool.

You know, 1 of the neat things about this is we've had a short conversation. And then in that short period of time, we have a sense of each other's goals. We have a sense of what everyone's working towards, whether it's a food truck or helping to lead multiple service departments or acreage or leading a Jim Craig session or writing a book. Real quick, this is part of our life.

Yeah. That's it.

Oh, I don't know about mine. I I didn't come into this prepared

to talk about that. Love it. A few.

Love it. I think, darn it,

As a group, don't you guys? We should hear something from Sam. You should. We gotta hear him. We gotta hear.

Let's let him choose, either personal or professional.

Personal or professional. Well, actually, I'll give you a a good personal 1. So my second oldest son right now is getting married in August Oh, no. Which is crazy.

That's awesome.

And I'm trying to, a, be there because as busy as work is, you all know that I it's half joke, but half not. My goal is to be there to be incredibly present, as present as I can be in that incredible moment and help support him in every way he needs as he begins this new life with, you know, creating AAA family of his own. I'm way too young to have kids who are often getting married, but with 3 kids in college, like, I think it happens quick. So we've been, over the past several weeks, spending time helping them find a place and figure out wedding plans. And, like, it's a whole area I've never even, thought of, considered, or known anything about.

So it's kind of a very short term, and it popped up out of nowhere, but that's an intense personal pursuit for the moment, I suppose.

That's awesome.

Does that pass? That passes.

Thank you.

Thank goodness.

Thanks for sharing.

But it is neat how and thank you for calling me out because it would be ridiculous if you didn't. It's neat how these things we're working on in business and personally, they they bring us together and they connect us somehow, don't they? Why why is that, Cassandra? Why do these goals connect us? And then Mike.

I think it makes us human, and every it shows that everybody has something they are working towards. And whether I mean, Aaron got up in the workshop and told us some of his goals. And for I I think for me and a lot of people, that was really cool to connect with him in that in that moment when he was telling us, I got goals. I've got big goals, and they are huge, and I

love it.

And so for me, it was it makes us all human, and we're all the same. We're a team.

Yeah. Mike, what is it about goals that connect us?

Well, I think it's, you find commonalities with people, and they may have accomplished a goal that you're trying to accomplish. So that then people wanna help people. So back to that comment Cassandra made. Right? The human nature of it.

People wanna help people. And that's that's what makes us who we are. Right? So and the other part is vulnerability. Like, Sam, you you hesitate a little bit

I did.

On sharing a couple of those.

I have nothing on my mind. I shoulda shame on you. I shoulda known the topic and been ready.

You you also you also were a little bit vulnerable when you shared that, right, about your son getting married. Yeah. And that vulnerability, though, connects us, right, as humans.

Carol Lee, Cassandra, Ben, Mike, what an incredible conversation. What a great session. Mike or Ben, props to you for leading as well as you did. You join a tradition of of many people across the Zigler Auto Group over the past decade that have done these sessions. And from everything I've heard, you did an incredible job.

Mike Thank you. Let's turn it to you for the last word as we wrap up today.

Well, team Ziegler, thanks for listening in. And if you wanna be part of the future leadership workshop or lead a phone call or workshop, just reach out to us. Have a

great day. A special thanks to all who contributed to this episode. Until next week, how are you driving vision

today?