Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
“To succeed, try this suggestion for success: save 10%, give 10%, work 10% harder!”
S. Truett Cathy(founder and CEO of Chick-fil-A, Inc.)
I’ve spent decades in this business studying what separates the dealerships that break through from the ones that stay stuck — and it almost never comes down to market conditions, inventory, or interest rates. It comes down to principles. Simple, timeless principles that the most successful leaders in every industry keep rediscovering.
That’s what struck me the first time I read this quote from S. Truett Cathy. Two things stand out immediately.
First: the simplicity. The principles of success aren’t complicated. They never were.
Second: you’ve heard it before. Because real principles don’t expire. They’ve been woven into human experience across every generation, every industry, every culture. They’re available to anyone willing to seek them out.
The Word That Separates High Performers From Everyone Else
That word — seek — matters more than people realize. It’s an action word. You don’t stumble into excellence. You don’t wait for it. You go looking for it with intention and discipline. That’s the difference between the dealer who adds $500K to their bottom line this year and the one who finishes the year wondering what happened.
As someone who leads from his faith, I’ve always believed we’re built with a drive toward something greater than where we are right now. Cathy believed the same thing — and he expressed it plainly in the introduction to his book. Here’s what he wrote:
“God has built within us all a strong desire to be successful. Many times, in speaking to young people, I ask the question, ‘How many of you would like to be successful?’ I have yet to hear the answer that they want to be flops.
But the conduct of many young people and adults make it seem though they purposely do things that hinder them from being successful. Some people ‘detest’ work but all enjoy ‘accomplishments.’
Are you willing to make temporary sacrifices to receive greater dividends in the future?
I have learned through more than forty years of business experience these three keys to success that work for all people under every circumstance.
1. You have to want to succeed. You have to be willing to make a generous commitment of both time and energy.
2. You have to develop know-how. Merely putting time and energy into a project isn’t enough. You have to develop skills. Prepare yourself physically, mentally and intellectually through education.
3. Finally, you have to do it. Some people prepare themselves…but blow it because they don’t put into action what they have learned.”
Three Keys That Work for Every Person, Every Circumstance
Read those three keys again — but this time, think about your team.
Want it. Develop the know-how. Do it.
That’s not motivational fluff. That’s the entire challenge of dealership management compressed into three lines. Most training fails not because the content is wrong, but because one of these three elements is missing. Either the team doesn’t fully buy in, or they lack a system for developing real skills, or — and this is the most common one — they never actually execute consistently on what they’ve learned.
The Gap Between Knowing and Doing
That last point is the one that keeps me up at night. I’ve visited hundreds of dealerships across North America. I’ve watched great managers attend great training and go back to the store and do absolutely nothing differently. Not because they didn’t want to. Because wanting it and doing it are two completely different commitments, and the distance between them is a system.
That’s precisely why I built the Dealership Playbook the way I did — not as another training event, but as an operating system for daily execution. The 10 Habits aren’t information to consume. They’re behaviors to build. And behaviors only become culture when they’re practiced daily, reinforced consistently, and led from the top.
Why Comfortable Dealerships Stop Seeking
As I always say: prosperity is the enemy of excellence. The moment a dealership gets comfortable with results, the seeking stops. And when the seeking stops, so does the growth.
Because the best leaders I know, in automotive and everywhere else, never stopped seeking. Not because they were desperate, but because they understood that excellence isn’t a destination. It’s a standard you hold yourself to every single day.
Here’s the thing: My personal deficiencies have driven my search from the beginning. Every piece of training I’ve ever created started with a gap I saw in myself or in the teams I was coaching. That search never ends — and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
If you’re still reading this, I suspect the same is true for you.
So here’s the question Cathy was really asking: Are you willing to make the temporary sacrifice now to get the greater result later? Because that’s what separates the dealerships setting the new standard in their markets from the ones defending the old one.
Want it. Build the know-how. Do it — every single day.
That’s the standard. Let’s go build it.
If this article has been of interest to you, I’d love to talk.
