Olympic Hockey Dream Team, Jim Craig | EP121

Our goal was to win an Olympic gold medal, not to compete in the Olympic Olympic games.

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. Welcome everybody to the Driving Vision podcast where we explore the impact of leadership vision on the world today. Well, today in studio, we have a very special guest, Jim Craig, a true legend in the world of hockey. Jim not only played a pivotal role in the iconic Miracle on Ice as the goaltender for the 1980 US hockey team, but he's also become a highly successful and sought after business trainer and an all important team member here at the Zigler Auto Group.

We go now to Jim Craig and Aaron Zigler. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the special edition of the Future of Zag Today podcast. With us today, 1980 gold medalist hockey winner, Jim Craig. Jim, welcome.

It's always great to be here.

And, of course, Aaron Ziegler, president

and CEO of Ziegler Auto Group. Hey, Sam.

Great to be here too. So, hey, the auto group, Ziegler Auto Group has a special relationship with Jim Craig and has for a period of time now, Aaron. Tell us a little bit about that relationship.

Yeah. So, when we decided to start our speaker series 10 years ago,

we said, you know, we gotta start

off with somebody that's done something incredibly epic in the world that may never be duplicated again. Now we've gotta have somebody that's a wonderful speaker and then somebody that's got incredible lessons that we can learn, and, you know, Jimmy rose to the top of that list. He checked all those boxes, And, to this day's, you know, our all time favorite speaker that we've had.

In fact, it's interesting, Aaron, because this October marks a special, anniversary of that relationship.

Yeah. October 3rd will be our 10 year anniversary, Jim, since we've been married.

Yeah. That's right.

That's that's awesome. So, Jim, take us back to the 1980 Winter Olympics and share what it felt like to be part of, as Aaron talked about, that Miracle on Ice hockey team. Take us back.

Well, I think what happens is, you know, there's different chapters of your life that are really kind of important. And there are mentors and people who make so many sacrifices for you to get to some of these dreams that you have. But the biggest thing about that team was that nobody thought we could win, but we had a coach. And, you know, I like to call hope coach Herb Brooks. It was an architect of the vision of the future.

And since I've been here at Ziegler and working with Aaron, that's what you've created every year, a vision of what the future is gonna be. And it's really funny, you call it the future of ZAG. Right? It was kind of interesting. So when I think back, to our team in the Olympics, it was the fact that we all had to learn how to think, train, and play differently and learn how to win.

And, so it's it's always, lessons that I like to bring forward and try to help other companies.

Jim, I know you, the movie's called Miracle. Right? Nobody said it was the miracle on ice. But, you said to the players in the locker room, it wasn't a miracle because you guys had prepared to win, and you expected to win the gold.

Well, you know, it's really interesting is you you and you know, because I say this to you all of that. Are you preparing to win or compete? Right? Because everybody has a different definition of winning. To some people, they're you know?

And I we use that example all the time, Aaron. This is, have you ever competed in a marathon? And somebody said, yeah. Well, how'd you do? And they say, well, I finished.

Well, that was what their goal was. But when you have our coach and our team, our goal was to win an Olympic gold medal, not to compete in the Olympic games. And that took a whole bunch of refiguring. And the first thing you have to do is you have to get organized, and then you have to recruit the right people to do that. And then they have to be tough enough to learn from failure.

And that's not always easy, especially with today's environment.

So, Aaron, in the nineties, you won the APBA national championship in jet skiing 1992 and 93. You continue to be active in sports. You actively actively recruit athletes into the Ziegler Auto Group, including Jim Kregg a decade ago. What is the connection between sports and business?

Well, you know, sports is fun, and I think business is fun too, but also it's that competitiveness inside you. It's that fighter that burns in you that you wanna accomplish something. You can do that in sports, but you can also do it in business. I think the other thing with sports is, you know, you get to lead a group of of people, and the team becomes bigger than yourself. And I think it's the the exact same thing with, with business, and there's so many similarities between sports and, and the business world.

So, Jimmy, you mentioned in Miracle that a team isn't just a group of individuals, but it's a family. What did you mean by that, and how does that apply in business?

Well, I think in in first of all, you have to care about people. Yeah. And if you don't care about people, then what you're doing is you're using people. And so, you know, you've heard the term, you know, we developed a great friendship. Well, Aaron and I, over 10 years, we've not always, always agreed.

You know, we pushed each other pretty hard. And and, you know, what happens? That's the development because you care about it. And so I like to use the word family because, you don't have to think what's the right thing to do when it comes to family. But sometimes when it's personal and it affects you, well, well, how is this gonna affect me versus always doing the right thing?

So when you can become a family, that means you cared about someone and that you're creating that legacy piece for them to, you know, defend and honor. And and then that that's that's a really important part.

Jim, I remember you telling me a story. You said when you talk about family, you had a you had a big family. You had a lot of brothers. And said if you're walking down the street and your brother's in a fight, you don't even know what it's about, but you're gonna jump in and help him. Right?

Exactly. That's what a that's what a family's families do.

Yeah. And I think the big thing about family is if you have to think, is this the right thing to do? Then you're just not close enough to the person. You just do the right thing.

So at the Zigler Auto Group, our mission statement is our family providing your family the ultimate automotive experience. So you think about that comparison to sports and family, team and family. Aaron, what is the ultimate automotive experience? What does that mean

to you? Well, ultimately means you're the best. That's utopia. Right? That's that's what you're striving for every day.

And when we talk about the ultimate automotive experience, the one thing that we can control in our world is the customer experience, and we wanna exceed their expectations every single time. And if we do that and we give them that the the best experience they could possibly have, that's the ultimate, experience. And that's that's what we wake up every morning. That's what we're driven to do. And if we can do that, we can do that better than anybody else.

We're gonna dominate.

Thoughts on that, Jimmy?

Yeah. I can't wait because that's one of our topics that we're gonna be challenging about. And, you know, I always try to make people think a little differently. And so the ultimate cost customer experience is an evolving thing that happens every day. It's generational and there's no one answer for it and there's no one industry.

And so to me, you always look at how how did you like to be treated? You know? What are the some of the things that you like to have? And that's what I love about Aaron in his group. He allows me to come in and really challenge that.

Right? And so I'm a guy who's gonna challenge, like, your mission statement. Is it old? You know, does it really have any value anymore? Has it changed?

You know? And and and that's what's great about the Synchrony Group. We're we're always pushing the envelope to try to be the best and be the leader. And if we fail, we feel fast, and we get up quicker. You know?

But we're always playing to win. And I use the word we because that's how I feel. I really feel as I'm part of this family.

So you think about it over the past decade. That relationship has developed. It has matured. In what ways have you changed as a result of your interactions with the Ziegler Auto Group? And then the same question for Aaron.

Well, I think the thing that I really like about Aaron is he has a really curious mind, and his, you know, inner circle is not in the car industry. And and so when we get to talk, it's whether it's about raising kids or whether it's about it's almost anything in life. And so what I love most about my relationship is how much I have learned about life and about being better at what I do and improving myself personally as I've worked hard to help the group.

Yeah. So, you know, Jim's had a profound positive impact on our organization over the last 10 years. As a matter of fact, he's the only person outside our organization that's ever got a legacy tribute, which is the top honor that you can get into our organization. And he's he's pushed me a lot out of our comfort zone and got me to think differently than I what I did, before. And he's always constantly challenging, not only me, but the organization to go to that next level and to to to continue to think bigger and bigger, going forward.

You know what, Sam? There's a saying a friend of mine did that I did some business with. He goes, is it you're as good as you were last year, you're going backwards. Oh, yeah. Right?

And, you know, when you have that mindset, you you can look around all the time and say, well, we did really well this year because it was COVID or there was this. You know, Aaron's never had that attitude. So preparing to win is winning, and it doesn't matter what the environment is or the situation politically. It really doesn't matter. It's a mindset.

And so one of the biggest things that Aaron does as the leader is he creates this mindset of winning.

So you went from being an athlete where you had a clear cut scorecard to working with a company with a clear cut scorecard. I don't know if

you had a clear cut scorecard. We're working on that.

What what drew you into the business side? Because business is like sports as Aaron has talked about, but there's some key differences and elements. Right?

Well, I mean, I mean, if you're not creating the future, you're living in the past. Yeah. You know, as I said, Aaron and I share what I call a really curious mind. So it's I wanna learn every day. I wanna know why they do these things and, you know, what it's done.

And and to be able to have the vision and see ahead is something our coach Herb Brooks was able to do. Yeah. And he didn't look at it like it was like, oh my god. This he didn't look at it right as a challenge. He looked at it like it was an opportunity.

And if you have that mindset, you know, every just talking to Aaron, he's got another opportunity. He's all excited. And that's what he lives for is these opportunities. He and and and it's not that he doesn't play safe. He plays to win.

And even if you don't, you learn so much more from having that mindset that that's what intrigues me about the relationship because I think we we feed off each other that way. You know? I mean, it's we have similar mindsets. So when

you think the next 5 years and the next 10 years, let's ask this question. What do you think it takes from your perspective to win in business period? The advent of technology and the tape changing economic world, which you alluded to, what does it take to truly win, and in in in business over the next decade?

You want me first? Yeah. Okay. You have to have a curious mind, and you can't look at your inner circle. You have to look at things differently.

I was challenged in the group today and say, listen. Why don't you have one spot that you have all your cars, and why don't you bring a Starbucks into your dealership? And why don't you drive traffic? It's that type of curious mind. It's not traditional or traditionally.

It's who did you run into that had this idea, and do you have the courage to drive that type of change? And and I think as long as you keep having the courage and you see things, they become trends. And, Aaron, and you and I have talked about how trends can either become habits, and they're either good or they're bad. But you have to you have to be the trendsetter, and and I and I I think that's what the future does. Agree, Aaron?

Yeah. Yeah. I agree completely. And I think you gotta continuously reinvent yourself to stay relevant in the world because the world's changing. They're changing fast.

And you gotta be able to embrace technology and be able to use that to to your advantage. And and, you know, think about the the swings that the world's had before. You know, we we never dreamed 4, 5 years ago that we'd have a worldwide pandemic and that businesses would be shut down, and you have to be able to, adapt to what's what's going on. We never dreamed that we have this chip shortage, and we couldn't couldn't get enough cars. We've always had enough cars to sell.

So we've been able to, adapt to that. We've we've increased used car inventories. We've gotten really good at ordering cars where before a customer just come in and buy a car off the lot. So you gotta you gotta look at what the the world's giving you, what the market's giving you, and you gotta be able to change. And like I said, reinvent yourself and continuously reinvent yourself because what works today won't work 5 years from now.

What worked 5 years ago doesn't work today.

So it's interesting. There's 2 approaches in the world right now. You can you can go all in. You can be bold. You always say one of the biggest mistakes most people make is they don't think big enough, or you can shrink and have fear.

And we saw evidence today driving around of both. Right? Why do some people go towards a place of fear and shrink and but what what is that?

It's a lack of confidence. Yeah. You know, lack of self confidence in themselves, I believe, and that's why they're scared. And you can't run a business thinking about what could go wrong. You gotta think about what can go right, and you've gotta be able to grow.

And, you know, you're gonna make some decisions that are on decisions, but if you make 10 decisions and one's wrong, no big deal. Like Jim said, you fail fast and you move on. But those 9 other decisions that you make will take you to that next level. The biggest mistake is not doing anything, not making any decision.

Yeah. And I think the other thing is, as you get higher up in leadership, you want to have somebody agree with you. So if something goes wrong, it's not your mistake. And I think a lot of times you lose your instincts. And one of the things I love about Aaron is he really trusts his instincts.

Right? And some people can't do that. They wait, and time is such a valuable thing, and you lose opportunities because you can't respond quickly enough. And so, you know, one of the things we always talk about is how important time management is and understanding how much time do you have to make this decision. And and then you have to be able to have the courage to do that stuff.

So I really think instincts, courage, and the ability to have the confidence is a really big part of leaders.

You know, I don't I think if you don't fail, you don't make a mistake, you're never growing, and you're never learning. You know, Sam, you and I sat down at the end of last year, and I asked you a question. Would you screw up this year? Yeah. And then I said, well, I can tell you 15 things I screwed up really fast.

Right? Yeah. But then I learned from every every single one of those Yeah. And I'm not gonna make those mistakes Yeah. Again.

Right?

Yeah.

So you've

gotta be able to to have the self awareness. The person that thinks they do everything perfect is the furthest thing from from being perfect. You gotta have that self awareness and be able to self reflect.

And yet to Jimmy's point, the the the ideal of the perfect leader in pop culture is one that doesn't make mistakes. It's an organization that doesn't make mistakes. So large large corporations will will, absolutely attack weakness and exploit it. And so people in many large corporations seek to cover and hide that up. Have you seen that, Jim?

Well, it's kinda interesting. Zach's gonna do a think tank tomorrow, and and he shows all these different organizations that do great customer service. And my first question to him as we were preparing today is, who did they replace?

Give us an example of 1 so we can Well, all of

a sudden, he said FedEx. Right? Yeah. Well, FedEx many years ago was the best, but I think Amazon is Yeah. Really taken over.

Right? And then you could look at Starbucks today and say, when they came in the industry, their customer service is unbelievable. But I don't know if that fits everybody now. Their service is good, but it's really slow. You know?

Do people want that? You know? So there's a lot of things that you have to really pay attention to. What is the standard, not what was the standard? Are you going to be the standard?

Right? Or are you gonna follow someone to do it? Right? So it's it's it's it's interesting, and you can't be the leader without making mistakes. You can be the follower and but you'll never be as good.

You have to be open to that possibility of a mistake, and then you have to learn from it. We need the best version of ourself on on the other side of that adversity. So, Jim Craig, you had an extraordinary career from athlete, gold medalist, business consultant. What's left for you to accomplish? What What do you fight

for every morning? It's just starting. It's to stay relevant. Yeah. Right?

It's to

How do you do that?

Keep your curious mind. Keep learning all the time to be be with companies that want to win so that you can be challenged. It's really funny. Aaron, I don't know if you agree with this or not, but I think and I use this term all the time, winners win. Right?

And then what I mean by that is if somebody knows how to win, they continually wanna learn how to win. And that's why I love being with companies. And if I if you ever hear me say, winners win to you, it's because that's that's who I won't hang around.

Yeah. And and I agree completely, Jim. Winners do win, and and those that don't win make excuses. Right?

Exactly right.

Yeah. Okay. Ben Nimpton, final question. We had a speaker that came in about a month ago. And, actually, Aaron, a little background on Ben Nimpton.

He created a show based on a bucket list. Right?

He wanted to do a 100 just crazy things in the world, playing basketball with the president of the United States, you know, going to outer space, sneaking into the Playboy Mansion to a party.

Yeah.

And they just started knocking off this bucket list, and he had, things that he wanna do to make his life really interesting. And most people don't ever go after their bucket list.

And one of the things he challenged us to do is to connect emotionally by identifying a bucket list item, seeking to go after it, and then giving back along the way. So we've been asking people what is on your bucket list. So we'll turn to you, Jim Craig. What's on your bucket list as you think about this phase of life?

I I just wanna still have a great relationship with my wife and family. I wanna see my kids' kids. And what I wanna do is I wanna leave a legacy behind that will be something to be really proud of. If I can do that and add value and stay relative and, enjoy the rest of the time I'm here, then I'm it's a pretty good bucket list. Of course, I'd like to get to Augusta with you, Aaron, you know, if you wanna throw that either way.

That's not a bad bucket list. Right?

That's number 1 on a lot of guys' lists, especially golfers.

Aaron, you shared your ones. Kara shared again?

Yeah. So you you, you hit me, kind of point blank, last time we did this, Sam. And, I said, you know, number one one goal that I got is getting the professional sports ownership.

Yeah.

And I've shared that that with Jim, and he's he's kinda helping me behind the scenes, on that. So that's still number 1 on the list.

That's awesome. Well, Jim, Craig, we appreciate the relationship you've had with the Zigler Auto Group all this past decade, and we appreciate you being here in studio tomorrow. We've got a great session with Zach Terrell, our GM, and, that will largely be in a a leadership session, private to the public. So we're glad that you're in studio here with us at Ziegler Studios today to share this message and and kinda let people know what we're doing behind the scenes here.

Yeah. What I what I always love is every time I see Aaron, he's he's into something new. And and you know what? It keeps him young. It keeps him fresh.

It keeps him relevant. And if, you know, I can be part of that, that's always fun.

Aaron, any closing comments? Yeah. Just, Jim, thanks for, all you do for us and your words of wisdom. It, certainly doesn't go on deaf ears, and you've, you've helped us a lot to achieve our goals. And we're early on in the journey, so we still got a lot of runway ahead of us.

It's gonna be a fun ride.

A big thanks to Aaron Ziegler and Jim Craig for contributing to this week's episode until next week. How are you driving vision today?