Bill Hanvey, President and CEO, Auto Care Association

Behzad Rassuli: 0:00

I'm actually really excited to talk to you today. Yeah, me too, that came out completely wrong. I'm excited. Unlike other conversations, Okay, good thing we're not starting yet. Welcome to Auto Care On Air, a candid podcast for a curious industry. I'm Behzad Rasouli, Senior Vice President of Strategic Development at the Auto Care Association, and this is the Driver's Seat where we embark on insightful one-on-one conversations with leaders steering the companies that are shaping tomorrow's landscape. Today we're sitting down with Bill Hanvey, CEO of the Auto Care Association. Welcome, Bill.

Bill Hanvey: 0:56

Thanks.

Behzad Rassuli: 0:59

Behzad, thrilled to be here, as always. Well, now, this is our first episode and I can see how an interview with the CEO of the organization that's responsible for the podcast could be kind of, at minimum, interpreted as low-hanging fruit, but at worst, some kind of like self-dealing. But the reason I wanted to start off this podcast with you is because, in thinking through an initial list of guests, your name came up on the guest list and the reaction was Well, that's always a good sign.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:35

Yeah, I'm glad to hear that, yeah, the reaction was we'll definitely have Bill on because he's probably the most well-known person in the industry on because he's probably the most well-known person in the industry.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:44

But it got me thinking. You know, I spent a lot of time with you and we've been working together for almost a decade now. If you can believe it or not, I know you probably are the most well-known face and name and I think that could be true. But you know, I've picked up a lot of qualities and characteristics and wisdom over those years from you that we worked together and, quite frankly, I don't think many other people could possibly know you on that level. So, while you're known, I actually think maybe not many people really know you at all. I would I would concur with that Great. So I hope that this podcast really gets to you know, get people to know Bill Hanvey a little bit better, and the purpose of the show is really to get to know the people who lead organizations and their influences, motivations and what drives them, and so I thought there's no better person to start with than you.

Bill Hanvey: 2:40

Well, that's quite an honor and it, uh, it's been a lifelong achievement for me In that lifelong achievement.

Behzad Rassuli: 2:49

did you ever think that one of those achievements would be that somebody characterizes you as the most well-known person in this industry?

Bill Hanvey: 2:59

Never in my wildest dreams. It was, um, no, but you know. You know, but I always aspired to a role such as this and I'm an accidental tourist to the industry, graduating with a journalism degree way back when, back when we used typewriters. Actually, you know, my intent was to go into sports broadcasting and I had a young family and I think at the time, uh, a cub reporter made twelve thousand dollars and I was, um, fortunate enough to have been hired by wix, uh, january 1st 1985, for the whopping salary of $17,000 plus a company car, and the rest is history. And on January 1st 1985, did I expect that this is where I would be no, but I certainly hoped it.

Behzad Rassuli: 3:58

So getting a journalism degree, thinking about going into sports broadcasting you? There's a, there's a relationship there that somehow it also results in like a corner office position or leadership role.

Bill Hanvey: 4:15

You know what I use my degree every day and you know I, I, I I'm very much in contact with a lot of my fellow alums, many of whom are in that pure communication role, like Stacy or any of our team taught me to be a good communicator, a good storyteller, someone that can put concept into either verbalization or written or in a presentation mode. So, although I'm not what they call a pure journalist, I would argue that I use that training and education every single day.

Behzad Rassuli: 5:06

So a lot of your job is storytelling.

Bill Hanvey: 5:08

Oh, most certainly, most certainly, especially in presentations, to help people understand some of the issues or initiatives that we're trying to endeavor here at AutoCare. And I think telling the story in a colloquial way that people can understand is so much more important than the facts, the data. It's the why, and that's the foundation really of journalism is the who, what, when, where, why. But the why is really important and I think a lot of people overlook that when they put together a program or a product, what problem are you trying to solve for? And if you explain it to people in a way that they can understand and this goes on, you know, to management functions, it goes on to initiatives or whatever the case might be but if you get people to understand why you are taking this position or why you are introducing this product, or why you are taking this direction that you are, it makes everyone's life a lot easier.

Behzad Rassuli: 6:22

I'm so happy you said that, because this the intent of this podcast is really to understand the why of Bill Hanvey, so hopefully it gives people even more context in terms of when you're explaining the why of something. People understand where you're coming from, that you're genuine and thoughtful and caring, and so hopefully it applies a lot of you know positive context to to some of those presentations. That you're genuine and thoughtful and caring, and so hopefully it applies a lot of you know positive context to to some of those presentations that you're having.

Bill Hanvey: 6:49

Sure, and and you know what? Um to add to that, the why may not necessarily line up with everybody, right, but if you can explain it in such a way, this is why we're doing it. You're not going to get everybody on board, and that's the second most important thing is listening, and if you can understand people's objections and this all goes back to my sales training too, when I was in the field. Everybody characterizes salespeople as outgoing, extrovert talk, but I was kind of the opposite. I was much more introspective customers that I called on. If they see you as someone that can listen, that's also just as important as to explaining the why. So how?

Behzad Rassuli: 7:53

much of your success, or your experience to date, would you say, is based on that initial journalism. Kind of collegiate education versus on the job, real life lessons of listening and storytelling.

Bill Hanvey: 8:10

Oh, I'm still learning, and I think that that's an important point too is that you have a good foundation, but what you do with that foundation as your career progresses is really important. Is it a job or is it a career? Do you really want to solve this problem or you don't want to solve this problem, or so? It's a really good combination of having a good foundation, as I mentioned earlier, and then building upon that and getting life experience, getting sales experience. Building upon that and getting life experience, getting sales experience, marketing experience, operations and just continually challenging yourself so that you continually grow and that you continually learn, and then that makes you a better employee and a better person, in my opinion.

Behzad Rassuli: 9:02

Those, that listening ability you know, and that desire to keep, keep learning. You said the rest is history earlier on. I'd actually like to dig into that history a little bit. I want to understand that makes sense and it's intuitive when you say that and it sounds like a great quality that everybody should have to want to learn and listen, but I don't know that it is and I don't know if that is natural or if that's trained, or if you had a mentor or somebody who taught you those skills, and so I'd like to spend a little bit of time learning more about your background. Sure, and we'll go back as far as you're comfortable just to to figure it out. But do you, when you, when you say things like I'm a constant learner or I'm still learning today, or listening is um critical or it's all about the why? Do you remember somebody saying that to you when you were younger? Did you have a like a mentor or an influence? Was it a parent or a teacher or something?

Bill Hanvey: 10:08

Absolutely, and my primary influencer, mentor, was a legendary salesperson out of Napa, syracuse. His name was John Power. I had the good fortune of being his partner for almost five years and, as I mentioned, he was a legend and very sharp dresser, very command in an audience with his oratory skills and really had a very good relationship with the shops, knew when to say no, knew when there was an opening, and John just taught me a lot of lessons about life in general when you go to a bar, don't linger at the back, put your money up front and buy somebody around, and buy somebody around, and just general social skills of being able to survive this business. And he was a tremendous influence on me, and not only me but a lot of people in the industry too.

Behzad Rassuli: 11:18

So when you met John, were these lessons you were learning from him completely counter to things you learned before? I know we've spoken a lot and spent a lot of time together and I know that you know your background includes military school includes. You know sports like football. Yeah, I believe Catholic school, catholic.

Bill Hanvey: 11:40

Catholic military school. Catholic military school.

Behzad Rassuli: 11:44

That may explain a lot. Yeah, I mean so that kind of well, I don't know what it explains and I'd love for you to explain that. When I hear about John from Napa, syracuse, being incredibly influential to you, it might just be me and this might not be useful to a ton of people, but that feels like for the career portion. But there were ingredients before that, oh for sure. And so maybe just open-ended if you can spend a little bit of time talking about your earlier years.

Bill Hanvey: 12:18

Yeah, very typical suburban family. My dad actually had a foot in the industry. He worked for Norton Coated Abrasives and he goes sandpaper right. So I had an old partner that used to say hey, he's as smooth as a sandpaper salesman and very family-oriented didn't have a ton of money and very family-oriented didn't have a ton of money. Growing up, my parents made a huge sacrifice to send me and my two brothers to Catholic school and grade school I elected to go to Christian Brothers Academy in high school, which is a Catholic military school run by the Christian Brothers. You chose that. Yeah, I've always been fascinated. They had a great sports program, discipline, cool-looking uniforms, not co-ed, though.

Behzad Rassuli: 13:11

But it was. I'm going to ask again, because that doesn't sound like something that somebody naturally chooses Are you sure you weren't told to go there?

Bill Hanvey: 13:20

No, From day one. I always wanted to go there. To go there. No, I from day one. I always wanted to go there and it was a great experience for me. To you know I always I still be.

Bill Hanvey: 13:33

I may not look at or may not, you may not view this, but I've always considered myself to be an athlete. So in high school, track, baseball, football and the CBA always had the. You know, they were always county champs and you know, when I was on the track team we were in New York state champions. I was a long jumper, I was a triple jumper, 440 mile relay. Baseball, shortstop, second base, good leadoff hitter and then football. I was the starting center at a whopping five foot seven at the time. I think I've lost a few and 155 pounds at the time oh no, kidding. But quick off the line, smarter than my nose guard in front of me, and they took a big chance on me. But it really worked and we finished my senior season eight and one. But you wouldn't look at me and say, oh, there's a center, but always taught a scrapper. I'm small and I've always had to fight for what I've had to achieve.

Behzad Rassuli: 14:44

Do you have siblings? Where do the scraps go?

Bill Hanvey: 14:45

from, yeah, older brother by four years, art, and then a younger brother by eight years, matt. So middle child, as many of you could probably foresee through my personality traits and just a really good, tight-knit family, went to high school, and the thing that I still to this day that I did in high school is I set out my clothes every day. In high school we had to polish our brass haircut inspections and shine our shoes every night. So that's something that I've kept with me throughout the course of my entire life. You still do it today. Oh, absolutely. And discipline and organization are the two things that really. That taught me to be prepared. It taught me routine discipline. You know, being an extracurricular athlete, you know your time was the most valuable asset that you had, and that's even more so today. So anything that I can do to out-organize you or out-discipline you, I'm on it.

Behzad Rassuli: 16:05

I find that so interesting. It's such a juxtaposition because when you say that I absolutely see discipline organized, I can imagine you setting your clothes out the night before. You should see my packing routine and I can imagine and we've traveled together, you know you check the flight radar religiously you know, I'm not sure how many days in advance, but definitely all day that day.

Behzad Rassuli: 16:35

And so you said that you know the discipline and organization is key to your success. But at the same time, you are an incredibly flexible executive, and I know that because I'm not the most organized and my haircut is not prim and proper, I don't shine my shoes every day.

Bill Hanvey: 16:57

I am jealous, though.

Behzad Rassuli: 16:58

But so I don't know how you. How do you reconcile those two things? How do you have that in your own life and you don't force others or filter your life so you're surrounded by people who are the same way? How do you also incorporate that kind of flexibility?

Bill Hanvey: 17:13

And that's something I've learned along the way too is that you can't impose your routine or regime on somebody else. Everybody has a different way of looking at things. Everybody has a different way of approaching things, and that comes with experience too, I think. For me in particular, recognizing the strengths of my staff, knowing that you are going to be late for a meeting, that's a granted yeah, but I appreciate your flexibility with that. But you have to look at not everybody is like Bill Hanvey and not everybody is wired like Bill Hanvey, and that's what makes me respect the auto care team so much is because we all each have our own operating principles. But the core principle for us is being a success, and the way that you get there or the way that you organize yourself, that's on you. But the discipline and the organization might be done through different methods, but as long as we get to the same place and where we want to go, then have at it.

Behzad Rassuli: 18:35

Yeah, but how did you do that? How did you go from somebody who is surrounded by organization discipline probably in this Catholic military school everyone is doing. You know, the classes above you are shining their shoes and they're organized and getting their haircuts and the classes below you are, and everyone has that expectation of one another. Was there a point in your life where, or do you remember a couple of events, where you're like you know what we get to the same or better outcome and I can just ease off of expecting that kind of discipline from other people.

Bill Hanvey: 19:04

You know, I I see that every day in terms of, well, this is the way that I would do it. And, um, you know, I even do that with my wife in the kitchen. I am, uh, I love the cook, as you well know, and, uh, I have to work on not intervening and that's something that I practice here at the office, at home and to step back and be self-aware that, okay, let's not be the kitchen tyrant here. My wife has a good way to do it. The end result is that dinner will be on the table. It may not be the way that you did it, but it's on the table. And when I first started, full guns, this is the way we're going to do it, this is how it's going to work, and I think that the both of you can attest to the fact that I have changed. I hope that you can.

Behzad Rassuli: 20:03

Absolutely Right, but that's something that came as I learned and developed as a leader too, and I think that's why I'm harping on this so much is because I do recall when you started there was almost like a predetermined leadership style and drive, and we'll get to that, and I have no idea how you managed what you managed. There were several challenges that you faced in this organization that not many executives would normally face, but I do wonder even now. So when you started you probably had that kind of hard and fast here's how we're gonna do it. And now you're on the other side of the spectrum incredibly flexible, like the dinner example is great. You've kind of come to the realization, or you're at the point where you will let go of the control of how to make dinner and you will appreciate that maybe there are some flavors or some display on the presentation of the food that aren't the way you would have done it, but actually it's pretty cool, Absolutely.

Bill Hanvey: 21:10

Yep, and that's why it's so fulfilling for me to work with different people within the industry, within my own team, is to see them to develop their own style, to see them grow with the foundations of their own discipline, their own routine, and that's how I learned, too, is that, oh my gosh, there's a different way to skin this cat. So, in recognizing the fact that not everybody is driven the same way, or not everybody has the same routine, it's also helped me to identify other ways for me to improve.

Behzad Rassuli: 21:54

Well for what it's worth. I meant that as a compliment. Also, did you observe this when you bring up the kitchen and cooking? And I don't want to get too personal, but did you observe it with your parents too? Was there any? When you watched your parents, did you think? Do you think back now on lessons you learned from parents, or was it? Most of your references so far come from some things you learned at school a lot of on-the-job training. Um, I know your dad was in the war he was in korea.

Bill Hanvey: 22:30

Uh, twice decorated purple heart recipient. Uh from brooklyn. Uh, dad from brooklyn, mom from queens. Um, my mom wrote my dad a letter in when he was in the service. My aunt said oh, there's a serviceman and creates my brother. Would you like to send him a letter? So they met um, uh via correspondence. Oh really, yeah, yeah, and uh, both, you know, from new york city, and so journalism is actually Met via correspondence. Oh really, yeah, yeah, and both from New York.

Behzad Rassuli: 22:58

City, so journalism is actually definitely in your blood.

Bill Hanvey: 23:02

I mean oh, yeah Right, communicating writing. As a matter of fact, I still write my granddaughter handwritten letters every week, because who gets a letter now?

Behzad Rassuli: 23:13

Nobody, and is that something you've always done, or did you just?

Bill Hanvey: 23:16

start doing it recently I've done it for probably the past 10 years and she'll be 16 in October Does she write back Occasionally, much shorter than mine, but I enjoy it. It gives me time away from the electronics to communicate with my granddaughter and pass on know, pass on some stuff or just talk about cooking. She's a great cook too, and so we found that common interest. But you know, from my childhood, you know it was very much that prototypical suburban lifestyle and it was a really wonderful time to grow up.

Bill Hanvey: 23:55

I grew up in Albany, new York, born in Long Island, moved up to Albany when I was three, sports every day, wiffle ball with the McKennas. You know they had five boys, we had three boys and Malone's had seven boys. So it was just a. It was bedlam in the summertime, bedlam in the summertime, and you know you learn, you know you'll, you'll learn to fight one day and then you're back the next day and and playing again. So you know my dad taught me the importance of of going to work every day and being there for your kids and showing up to games and supporting you. And my mom was more on the softer side. She taught me to cook, you know, drag the chair over to the edge of the counter and help mix chocolate chip cookies. So those are some things that I picked up from them, just to you know. Like I said, my dad worked hard, my mom was primarily a home, a homemaker and, um, like I said, not a ton of money, but we were always pretty happy, do?

Behzad Rassuli: 25:06

um, uh. Another thing I know about you is that you're a history buff Did. Can you talk about that a little bit? Where did that come from? What part of history are you fascinated in? Does it have anything to do with? I try to connect dots.

Bill Hanvey: 25:22

Sometimes they're not there, but your dad being a, that's a good dot because really one of the first trips that I remember as a kid was a mini vacation to Boston, Massachusetts and my mom was a history buff too to Boston, Massachusetts, and my mom was a history buff too. So we did a little mini tour of Boston, we did the Freedom Trail, Paul Revere, and these stories that you learn about as a kid in grade school came to life. And now for me, with history, a lot of people read business books to improve, and what I do, I read biographies. So I just finished a biography on Captain James Cook, the amazing explorer who discovered Australia, New Zealand, all the way up to Alaska and was subsequently killed in Hawaii.

Bill Hanvey: 26:18

But that history connection for me really teaches me about leadership and to learn about how leaders in past eras or past ages have faced insurmountable challenges and how they overcame them. To this day I still go past the White House and I still wonder what Abe Lincoln was thinking in the throes of the war and the burdens that he carried and successfully unified a nation that he carried and successfully unified a nation. So for me, learning about history is just as important about learning as the individual and how they were able to lead a country, a revolution or whatever the case might be, and try and incorporate some of that into my leadership.

Behzad Rassuli: 27:16

I love that. Are there certain books that you recall that just had a profound effect on you today, or throughout your life.

Bill Hanvey: 27:24

Oh, I think the book on Lewis and Clark was fascinating. They had a group of men that went from St Louis all the way to Oregon. They lost one person in about a three-year period and the troubles that they encountered and the leadership that they had to exhibit. Captain Cook was another great one. He also discovered proper nutrition for sailors, so scurvy was eliminated under his watch because he tried different things. And you know, just some of the things that these leaders have implemented have been utilized to this day in terms of leadership or practices that they incorporated into their daily lives.

Behzad Rassuli: 28:18

When you talk to somebody, you're talking to me right now, mm-hmm, do you sometimes think I would love this person to read this book?

Bill Hanvey: 28:27

Oh, all the time. Boys in the Boat. Another, do you talk about teamwork? Boys in the Boat fantastic book about teamwork.

Behzad Rassuli: 28:38

I'm going to not take that, as I need to work on my teamwork.

Bill Hanvey: 28:40

Actually that was required reading at one point I thought. But those books that do come along that exemplify teamwork Boys in the Boat, the Lewis and Clark book Team of Rivals was another one by Kearns that talked about President Lincoln, how he had the courage to hire for his cabinet very disparate viewpoints and thoughts, salmon Chase and some of the others, and Se they, it was like herding cats, but each one of those cabinet members brought strength to Lincoln's administration. That was that helped him overcome the rebellion.

Behzad Rassuli: 29:30

So I totally see it now. I mean just just in these first few minutes here. I'm not sure how long we've been going, but journalism background helps you tell stories. Your focus on history and biographies helps you really study leadership and it's not from business books. And, uh, it's it. It's not from business books and I think that's.

Behzad Rassuli: 29:58

It's just just knowing that about you so far really helps me understand that some things you know we're not going to learn in a business book and your context comes from historical examples that have have a played out ending. Yeah right, it's not theory, it's not an equation, it is. This is an example of something that was done in history and this is how it turned out. We know the outcome, and so you get to. You get to kind of pick, pick from history and pick the best lessons and apply those to your own life.

Bill Hanvey: 30:36

And really that's what helped me land about four or five years, maybe four years ago, on the auto care core values of teamwork, curiosity, integrity and fun. And I ask myself when I finish these know, what are the common characteristics that these leaders had? And I really boiled it down to those four characteristics and those are traits that I think that every leader, that every organization I value those traits incredibly as a leader and we try to instill them in our staff here in our industry. But after reading hundreds of biographies, I think those four traits of leaders really helped me mold my leadership style.

Behzad Rassuli: 31:30

So how do you apply those on a daily basis at work? Let's talk a little bit about how you work here at AutoCare, so TCIF, and how do they show up for you?

Bill Hanvey: 31:40

Well, teamwork, and especially you know especially teamwork is laying out a vision for, for the, for the team, putting the right team in place, making sure that they all share your common values, to make sure that they have the end game in sight. What are we trying to solve for, and how do they work with other individuals? Can we create an open, transparent relationship? Teamwork also means emptying the dishwasher in the auto care kitchen, and that's something that you can't teach, and that's why we look for people that go the extra mile to ensure that the team comes first rather than the individual, because when the team come first, the individuals come, not vice versa.

Ted Hughes: 32:36

Hi, I'm Ted Hughes, executive Director of AWDA and Senior Director of Community Engagement for the Auto Care Association. We provide our members with numerous avenues for connection and collaboration through our diverse range of committees and communities. Whether you're interested in advancing your career through the Women in Auto Care program or our vibrant Under 40 group, or simply wish to network and glean insights from fellow distributors, shops and manufacturers, we have dedicated committees and communities eager to connect with you.

Behzad Rassuli: 33:07

Learn more at autocareorg slash communities appreciate and I think we agree on, is that when you have a smaller organization we are 40 something here um, having super defined roles is probably a negative. That you need people to have some versatility, flexibility, and they need to resemble more of a swiss army knife than a specific kind of cooking knife.

Bill Hanvey: 33:36

Yep, and that's why we really look to hire the person rather than the traits. As you well know, we go through an interview process here for a new employee and we let the team judge them on their capabilities, but the final interview is for me to see what the fit is for culture.

Behzad Rassuli: 33:57

Can you? You spent a minute on team there. Curiosity you probably don't have to go through all of them. Curiosity, I probably understood. Integrity, though what does that mean to you? How do you? Why did that show up? That's that word, to me is not super clearly defined, and I think it's more through the eye of the beholder. And I understand what it is after working with you for so long in the interpretation for the association. But I'd love to know how you think about that.

Bill Hanvey: 34:28

That's why I always ask prospective employees you define integrity for me. But I think that really came to fruition during COVID and my goal was to do what was right for the industry, regardless of how it affected the association or whatever the case might be. But that was a time that I hope no one has to experience again. But if you don't act with integrity and if you don't put your own ambition, your own agenda aside for the betterment of the team, that's really kind of my definition of integrity that you would put aside your personal ambitions or anything else to make sure that the team is successful.

Behzad Rassuli: 35:23

Now I don't want anyone listening to this to take that as the answer to the test, but that is important to understand how you think about it, and you just brought up COVID.

Behzad Rassuli: 35:32

You just brought up COVID. I do want to ask you about that because the way I think about this I personally have I view all decisions and conversations through this incredibly long time horizon. I always think we're at one point right now. There was a time before and there's a time after, and so the time before influences the time now and then what we do now will morph and change over time, and in the history books of CEOs there is a class that were in their seats through arguably the most halting and disruptive change ever to the economy individuals, individual businesses and quite not hyperbole, but to how we work as a society. Mm-hmm, can you just talk about that time period, because that's not something that you learn in a business book or in business school. I don't think they teach a class on it. It's possible that it's in history books, there might be some closer analogies, but I don't know what it would be like, what it was like, to be in that seat during that time.

Bill Hanvey: 36:58

It was daunting and right, wrong or indifferent, everybody has their own circumstance. I have to make sure my family's taken care of, I have to make sure I'm taken care of, I have to make sure we're healthy, but I genuinely felt the burden of an entire industry on my shoulders. If we did not become an essential services, those doors would be closed and millions of people would be temporarily put out of work. So that's why we fought so hard to ensure that we were declared as an essential industry. Every night, I asked myself if I was doing the right thing for the industry not for auto care, not for Bill Hanvey, not for Bill Hanvey's family, but for auto care. And it was. You just never knew what was going to come.

Bill Hanvey: 38:00

Next is the hard part, and you know there was this looming apex show that you know, as all of you know, is a significant portion of the revenue that we use to service the members. That was all at threat, but I made the decision on March 12th to close our office and our team didn't miss a beat, and that was. You know. It was the hardest period for me as a CEO, but it was also the most fulfilling period for me as a CEO to see how everybody instantly changed gears, how everybody instantly knew what was looming ahead and really pulled together as a team and kept this industry's doors open In the meantime, adding services, adding benefits. You know, trend lens was a was a direct result from APAC or from from the COVID outbreak, because we needed to have our members have more data to make business decisions.

Bill Hanvey: 39:10

So it was a very dark, very difficult time for me as a leader and I thank God that I wasn't a rookie leader, uh, that I had a little experience behind my belt. But these were all uncharted waters so you did the best that you could. You worked with, you know integrity and, um, you really you know I really focused on the team to make sure that they were happy. I understood that people had their own personal circumstances too, and I had to understand that people were worried for their own safety, so there was a lot to balance. Thank God, I've got a good coach that I can talk to and help talk me off the ledge sometimes, but it was um tough time but again, the most crowning achievement I think of this association Did you when you recounted that it sounded like there were times that you possibly doubted decisions and weren't certain what to do.

Bill Hanvey: 40:15

Yep, what does?

Behzad Rassuli: 40:15

that? What does that feel like to you? What is it? You know, if you could just spend a second describing pressure probably sounds obvious. But what does doubt feel like to you? And then, how do you navigate doubt, you know?

Bill Hanvey: 40:33

do you just plow through, or yeah, you've got to own it, and that's the hardest thing to do is to now. You've got to reconcile with yourself as a leader to say look, this is on me and you're not here by chance, but this is your role as the president and CEO. Your role is to make tough decisions, and not every decision is going to be an easy one. But you've got to weigh the different options. You've got to engage your team in this. You need to listen, but at the end, that decision's on your shoulders. That decision's on your shoulders. But you come to accept that and you come to earn that and you come to understand that you're not going to make everybody happy with these decisions.

Behzad Rassuli: 41:32

But if that decision was made with the overall good in mind. Then I can go to bed comfortable, so can I think that sounds. That sounds great, because the end result was, I think, success on both sides. The organization was successful, the industry was successful, you navigated it. Is there a time where you kind of trusted yourself and you said, listen, this decision is on me and it was. It just didn't work. It was like a disaster. Do you remember a time that that's ever happened?

Bill Hanvey: 42:03

How many do you want to?

Behzad Rassuli: 42:05

how many do you want me to go into? I just don't want it to sound. You know, I still think, even hearing you talk through that it didn't make me feel any better having to do all that myself. And I still can't, and maybe I just overemphasize this stuff. And one thing you've helped me with is the go at 80% mentality. Go at 80% mentality. Yes, I probably overthink things, but the enormity and the stress that comes with navigating and managing an organization and industry.

Behzad Rassuli: 42:44

And then you mentioned the people, even the people thinking about them on a personal level, dealing with loss or dealing with health issues. They're scared. I could possibly overthink that.

Bill Hanvey: 42:56

Yeah, but you know what you brought up. A really good point and that's something that I really do try to emphasize is the fact that let's not let perfection get in the way of progress. So there are going to be some things out there that don't work, but I'd rather go to bed at night saying look at, I gave it a try. And that's what I tell the folks from Yang is that don't be afraid to try, and I think people will get more respect from their upper management or whomever, if you raise your hand and say, hey, look, I'm going to give this a shot. Some things that didn't work I always tell the story about when I was at Fleet Pride. We launched our new locator number 1-800-94-FLEET, and that was set up by our CIO at the time and he was leaving. So we printed all the materials, call 894-FLEET to find a Fleet Pride location nearest you. And I get a call on my way to the airport to go down to HDAW where we were launching the Fleet Pride brand, and my boss said did you know that that 800 number goes to an adult chat line? So lessons learned right. So now, anytime we put a url or a phone number up, you call it. Oh, that's fantastic. But you, but you also. So that the other and a lot of people have heard this story too.

Bill Hanvey: 44:25

But um, there's different ways to handle situations. My immediate supervisor freaked out oh my god breathing. He was on the phone, he was, it was. He was having a heart attack. Just think about that. What is going to happen? What's going to happen. And I felt so awful, I was ready to quit on the spot. But then a day later, I get the call from our CEO, who was my immediate supervisor's boss, and he called me. He goes hey, hanby, how are things at Fleet Porn? So that's just another way of showing leadership style to say okay, you know what? Yes, your call is going to go to an adult chat line, temporarily at least. But he had some fun with it. And I always find, too, bezod, if you hire quality people and they make a mistake, they'll own it. And what did you learn from it? What lessons did you get from it? How could it have gone better? That's what I would rather see than somebody that doesn't take a chance.

Behzad Rassuli: 45:32

That and going back to the teamwork curiosity, integrity and fun that's how I interpret integrity is just because of maybe lack of knowing how to answer that question. My default is ownership.

Bill Hanvey: 45:47

Good point.

Behzad Rassuli: 45:48

And I personally I lean so heavily into owning it because of what you just said, that at the end of the day, no matter what happens, as long as you take responsibility for your actions and you take responsibility for the decisions that you make, with that kind of mindset and that orientation, you can go ahead and adjust because you're admitting when you make a mistake or you're admitting when somebody else helped you with something you didn't come up with yourself, and that kind of ownership gives you so much flexibility as an operator. So I appreciate that you said that. Oh yeah, the human side of you that came out during COVID, that's do you have kids.

Bill Hanvey: 46:37

Yes, I have a daughter, katie, son-in-law Rob, granddaughter Maura, who are in Boston, and then I have a son, liam, who is in Florida.

Behzad Rassuli: 46:48

You obviously have kids, because you write letters to your granddaughter, mm-hmm. But how old were you when you had your, your, your first kid, 21.

Bill Hanvey: 46:57

Young. Oh, I was a junior in college. I had our daughter, katie, so I did my senior year of college with, with, with. My wife and Katie worked at the pizza shop to make money at night, and it was a tough haul. That's why that gig for Wix filters at $17,000 plus a car was just a blessing for me. So you take responsibility. You know that you've got this infant child that's helpless. It's your role as a parent to to ensure that that young person has the tools they need to be a success.

Behzad Rassuli: 47:39

So it's, and both kids made it easy too, but did you, did you feel like at 21,? Maybe I'm projecting here, but at 21, having a kid still being in school and trying to afford all of that, no-transcript.

Bill Hanvey: 48:12

Yeah, that that's a good question. And so I started. I liked it. I liked the people, I liked the organization. I saw that I could use my skills in a different way than for what I was trained to do. So I never really looked back and said, oh, I could have, would have, should have, but I've been just so blessed with my kids and my family. So, no, I don't look back and say, oh, I wish I could have been a sports broadcaster A. I have a face for radio B. You know it all worked out.

Behzad Rassuli: 48:56

I just imagine it was hard and maybe I can just expand on why I'm on this question I mentioned. I view the world through this really, really broad timeline and I have this belief that we become the people we are through the life experiences that we have, and I can't imagine a life experience as influential or altering as having a kid when you're 21, having to get a job, picking your career path, and it's only because that's not the life that.

Behzad Rassuli: 49:32

I lived, and when I hear that, I hear I just feel financial pressure, I feel responsibility at an age where I'm probably not ready for that responsibility, and so when I think about the life experiences that you get from that, I have this belief that actually many of our life experiences are relevant for a certain time period in our life and should have an expiration date.

Behzad Rassuli: 50:05

But I think, through human history, one of the things that we observe, or one of the things that I've observed, is that sometimes events in a person's life change that person permanently, and so, without making it about you or me or any one individual, what you see in post-economic depressions is people start putting money in cans or hiding things and really, really saving scraps. What we saw post the 2008 financial crisis is an entire generation of people who, temporarily at least, lost a lot of money, never reenter the stock market. The stock market recovers because you have a whole new generation of investors coming back in who don't have the experience or trauma of seeing their portfolio, value or life's worth kind of disappear overnight. When I describe that, is there anything going through that period of your life that kind of stuck with you or changed you forever of your life, that kind of?

Bill Hanvey: 51:13

stuck with you or changed you forever. Oh well, I failed to mention that in my junior year of college I shattered my leg playing soccer. So I was on crutches for a good portion of my junior year and that was really the hardest thing that I had to do. And my parents came we're going to pick you up, we're going to take you home, like there is no way. I'm going home, I'm going to finish this out, I'm going to do it. So I traipsed around that campus uh, you know I hate to sound like one of those old guys, but uh, in a plaster cast from hip to ankle from October 30th until March 19th, and that was the hardest thing I ever had to do. And on top of that then I was having a family. So you can just imagine some of that.

Bill Hanvey: 52:11

At that point it was survival, yeah, but you know it, it worked out. And you know you just take it one day at a time, you take it one task at a time. You don't let it become um overwhelming. Find good people that you know you can use for an outlet, so that really, you know, and in college too, it you know. We've talked a lot about the actual education, about it. But in college I really found my niche as a leader too, and you know a lot of people go well, what'd you learn in college? Well, I learned to be a leader. Oh, really, no, I didn't take a class, but we're a very close-knit community in college at St Bonaventure Crazy alumni, great but it really taught me leadership in terms of the kids that I was living with in the dorms and that helped me develop. Look at I, I don't mind being a leader.

Behzad Rassuli: 53:17

Just, you mean just socially. You found yourself people coming leaning on you to make decisions and you learned to trust that kind of inner voice to, and, and people you know rewarded you for it by giving you more responsibility kind of stuff.

Bill Hanvey: 53:32

Yeah, exactly, and and came to find out I liked the role.

Behzad Rassuli: 53:38

The reason I ask all these questions about your background is because the organization, whether you recognize it or not, and I think it's super difficult for a human being to be one person in one place, say at a job, and then go back and be a completely different person. I imagine you're not 180 degrees different at home than you are from work, right? So these behaviors and these experiences and these life lessons from your entire life show up today and we all, the industry, you know, lives through and benefits from them and experiences them with you, Sure.

Behzad Rassuli: 54:19

So I think it's really important to kind of spend some time talking about those, If you can recount for me. We talked about auto care a little bit. I've had a conversation or two with you about. I was here when you started at AutoCare and I distinctly remember meeting you for the first time through that interview process. Can you tell me about the interview process at AutoCare and just take me back to that time when you were kind of applying for the job? Heard about the job, Sure.

Bill Hanvey: 54:52

Yeah, it was. You know, and this role is is something that I've always aspired to and you know I was a volunteer for auto care or, at the time, aaia, with their marketing and executives committee and marketing communications committee, and was always engaged in the industry and that is something that has stayed with me a long, long time is the people in the industry really make this great and I enjoy it. So when the opportunity became available, I'm like, hey, why not? So I put in my app. We had an Auto Care Board CEO search committee, so I submitted and I knew all of them and there were absolutely outstanding candidates that applied for the job. I knew that it would be a tough interview process and I, quite honestly, I didn't give myself much chance. I wasn't a current, I wasn't a CEO at the time. I had good experience with AASA and some of the roles that I had in the industry. But but again, like you know, like I tell my my Yang mentees, raise your hand. You're never going to get anything if you don't try it.

Bill Hanvey: 56:14

So I put in my app and I remember we had to write a um, a uh, an essay on on what we would. You know, what would my first year. Look like at the auto care association. What were some of the big goals? And I thought big and especially about this industry, focusing on right to repair technicians and who are the lifeblood of our industry, by the way and just, I approached it from a viewpoint of what I had learned along the way and seeing opportunities within our industry to help it grow. And so we had some in-person interviews, and then we had some in-person interviews, and then we had another in-person interview, and I'll never forget the last interview. They were kind enough to put me up at the Hayes Adams Hotel, which is a very exclusive Right next to the White House, right next to the White House and I took a walk that night and I took a walk to the Washington Monument.

Bill Hanvey: 57:17

I had never seen it before like that close, in person. I put my hand on it and I'm like you know what? If it works out, great. If it doesn't, but give me the strength of these past leaders to help me be the best that I possibly can be. And for some reason they bought it. And here I am today.

Bill Hanvey: 57:39

But it was so fulfilling for me as a non-CEO to say, okay, well, we have faith in you and your vision for this industry of what you can do. And when I say that the interview room was filled with industry dignitaries, it sure was intimidating, but I think that they saw the fact that I had the right intentions at heart, that I had some room to grow. I think everybody conceded that and I still have room to grow. But it was an amazing experience and I would not have had that experience or this experience if I didn't gamble, if I didn't say, hey, look, I'm going to give this a shot, I can do this, and just having confidence in yourself to put your hand up and say I'll give it a try.

Behzad Rassuli: 58:33

Did you feel like you were ready for it though?

Bill Hanvey: 58:37

Oh no, absolutely. The day I walked in, I was scared to death. When I saw Bill Hamby, president and CEO, on that door, I'm like, oh my God, what did I think of? What was I doing? But it worked out, and every day has been a learning process.

Behzad Rassuli: 58:53

Who was the first person you called? Who did you want to tell when you got the job?

Bill Hanvey: 59:00

I would have loved to have called my mom. My mom passed when she was young. She was 56 when she passed and my dad had passed too, but he was 80. So he lived a long, healthy life. But there was a lot of doubt as to my earlier career decisions and with my parents and to make them proud and to have a son. President and CEO of the Auto Care Association. I know that that would have made them both proud.

Bill Hanvey: 59:37

How old were you when your mom passed? I was 24. And so a pretty rough sequence of events between 20 and 24. But it really kind of made me who I am today in terms of you know, someone told me when I broke my leg well, god doesn't give you anything more than you can handle. And so I'm like, well, man, I think I'm kind of maxing out here Could we give it a break for a little while. But those tests are what really make you a stronger person.

Bill Hanvey: 1:00:09

And and then I have absolutely had to overcome adversity, physical adversity. You know, I had to have two hip replacements as a result of that broken leg back in 1987. Or no, excuse me, 1983. Oh, excuse me, 1983. So you know, you learn something every single day from those difficult situations that you get. And you got to make sure you don't go down a bad path. You got to make sure that you say, okay, look, this is what I did today, this is what I accomplished. Did I sell any boxes today or did I not sell any boxes? And if I didn't, how come I didn't? And if I did, what made a success? And then I always end the day did I act with integrity?

Behzad Rassuli: 1:01:00

So just you telling that story helps me so much understand where you come from and how and why you are the way you are, are the way you are and it shows up in so many little ways. But those little ways give me pause and makes me, they make me wonder where you get it from and I'll give you a couple of examples. So I think I had an injury once and you engaged with me about the industry, about the injury and the recovery, in kind of a. It set me back a little bit. I was a little bit confused, you know. I was like why is he being genuine? Does he actually care?

Behzad Rassuli: 1:01:51

And knowing that you went through such a traumatic injury and knowing and experiencing how much that impacts somebody, it helps me understand that you can actually you have kind of the empathy and care to apply that to another human being. And more recently both my parents, you know, have have gone right through cancer and I can't thank you enough. But more so, I genuinely couldn't understand how you had so much genuine care and authenticity around your questions and your concern for me and at the on the surface it made me feel like a bad person because I don't know if I could manufacture that or manifest that for another person, but the end result is I learned so much from you in that moment how to be. You know you can be an executive, but you can also be a human being and a caring, thoughtful person. But now I have a better sense of where that came from for you.

Bill Hanvey: 1:02:56

Sure, and you know you have to be vulnerable and you can take it both ways. You know when something difficult arises in your life and you can either treat it as a learning moment that you can help people, other people learn from it, or you can go down a bad path and never recover from it mentally. And that's the hard thing is keeping yourself mentally focused on what are we trying to accomplish and balancing that between the human side of the equation. So if you find a staff member or a colleague that's having a difficult time, you have to understand that that difficult time is occupying a significant amount of their headspace and that headspace is occupied. So you have to recognize that when you're managing people to say, hey, look at this person's bandwidth right now is pretty small, or let's keep pushing, let's keep going, let's keep going. But that's something that, as a leader, you're setting somebody up for failure if you don't incorporate the human side of their equation into the whole process.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:04:23

Well, I thank you from the team side, at the very minimum, yeah, and I know we all benefit from that. You also have an incredible ability to adapt, to change, and I mean this more tactically. You, we change our database and you're the first user of it. We change our communications from primarily email to teams. You know I can text you whenever I want and we can interact that way and you're not rigid in that regard. And you, you, you change pretty, pretty rapidly. You have to.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:05:02

But how do you do that? I mean, you know one of the I think that's one of the qualities that sets leaders apart, especially leaders who've progressed through their positions kind of over a long period of time or have been in a role for a long time with an increasing level of success is, I think, the one main quality is that ability to process change. So maybe you can just spend a second on that. You know, is it a conscious thing for you? Do you face kind of a new technology? What's your reaction to it? Are you kind of like the rest of us, like oh God, here we go, or are you like nope, let's do it?

Bill Hanvey: 1:05:39

No, I'm, I'm uh, it's fascinating for me, and you know, and you guys all know this expression that I use a lot People are always supportive of change until it affects them.

Bill Hanvey: 1:05:55

Supportive of change until it affects them and that's something that you have to be cognizant of, too is that change is difficult for people, but it's necessary for people, and you can either look at it one or two ways.

Bill Hanvey: 1:06:05

Nope, I'm never going to do this. I'm just going to continually become more and more obsolete, or I am going to embrace it or use it differently, or whatever the case might be, but at least understand it so that you can talk to it and identify it. But change for the sake of change is not always necessarily good, but change for the good reasons is something all of us should embrace, and that's been the most fulfilling part of me here, too, is that, you know, we've really changed the way that our industry is portrayed in many ways in terms of our financial contribution to the economy, in terms of the number of people that we employ, and I say my prayers every night and I always pray for the 4.9 million people in this industry that we have the wherewithal to change, that we can keep up with the times and that we're doing our job as an association to ensure that we can change with the times too.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:07:19

Well, I mean, I can confirm that your version of change in whatever you wrote in that application kind of your essay has been successful because when you were, the organization by probably any metric is at an all-time high and that is almost singularly in large part due to your leadership, almost singularly in large part due to your leadership. The association is. It's a nonprofit and I often sometimes get confused. Some people say I would love to you know. When we're in job applications or looking to hire somebody, they say, oh, I want to work at a nonprofit so I can give back. When you were applying for this job or thinking about running a trade association, was it a give back opportunity for you or was it a vehicle to get stuff done and have an impact?

Bill Hanvey: 1:08:16

Oh, I would love to say that it was the altruistic answer. To say that it was the altruistic answer, but it was. This is a great business. We're going to run the Auto Care Association like a business because we have products and services, just like any of you that are listening. So are our products and services up to date? Are they relevant, Do they provide benefits to our members? And that's what's fascinating to me, because I was able to work in this industry for such a long time that I was able to identify some of those tools that this industry needed, like demand index and trend lens and our product data standards. And now we're seeing some of those products and services and benefits grow worldwide. And I think that that's the next thing for us is you know, how can we take what we've done here in the United States and allow other countries and other aftermarket industries to benefit from what we have done for the betterment of those 1.1 billion now that are employed around the world?

Behzad Rassuli: 1:09:33

Let's say that I want to make sure I address this, because I work with you. I know what I'm walking into when I walk into a meeting with you, but if you're if somebody else was interviewing you right now.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:09:46

You know, let's say I'd never met you before and it's my my first day on the job. And I tell a colleague oh, I have a, I have a meeting with Bill. Any advice or anything I should look out for? What do you think people would say about you, like what's the thing that you're known to do? Or ask you know, what's the, what are you consistently known to do? That somebody would tell another employee, oh, bill's going to probably say this, or ask you about this.

Bill Hanvey: 1:10:11

Bill's a good storyteller, you know he can. He can relate what, what's happening. He's compassionate, understands the employees, understands the. But I think most importantly is that what's really the most interesting part of our jobs is the way that this industry works. And it amazes me to this day, bezod, that we have millions and millions of different part variations, thousands of different vehicle make, model and years, but yet when John or Jane Doe goes to their local independent shop, they can typically get their part, get it installed and be out the door in a half a day. And not many people really realize the complexity of our industry. And that's what you know. I think people that would met me, that would have met me for the first time, would say he's passionate and passionate about the industry. So a couple kind of just wrap up questions what's your favorite part of the job? Oh, being in the field, meeting the members, interacting with my team. I think those are the two most favorite parts of the job Daily routine.

Bill Hanvey: 1:11:50

You mentioned getting your clothes ready for the next day. But what's your daily routine? Clothes are ready. I'm up at 5.30, 6 o'clock. I'm in the office by 7.30, drive in, drive in, try to listen to some podcasts on the way in and on the way home meetings. I'm spending more time now which I enjoy reaching out to members, people I haven't heard from in a while, touching base. So I'm doing that a lot more, which is what I enjoy. I'm doing that a lot more, which is what I enjoy. Filming interviews and talking to Congress people. Being on the Hill is really enjoyable too, because that's nothing more than another sales job. I'm not up at 530.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:12:36

All right. I'm well aware of that. Is there anything else you want to cover that maybe I haven't? I haven't brought up. You know, when you I probably gave you 48 hours notice that I'd love to sit down and talk with you and um, yeah, you know, I I think a uh, every single day.

Bill Hanvey: 1:13:00

I am thankful, uh, for the job that I'm in. B I never take it for granted and I always am so appreciative of the support that the industry has given to me. And C, it's fun. You know, I love my team. They make me laugh, they make me enjoy life. I love my home life. Right now I'm in a very good place, both professionally and personally, and I think that that makes me a better leader too. When you're happy at home, it really makes a world of difference, and this job has also given me wonderful opportunities to see the world, too, and to see how different aftermarket industries work and how they are managed. That's been a fascinating part of the job too. So I don't take it for granted, I love it. It's a great industry and the people are what really make it great.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:14:03

I have a final question here, and you're going to be my guinea pig, but we all have influences in our career. You mentioned a few. You mentioned some books. You mentioned, you know, john from Napa, syracuse. I know I can picture previous managers or leaders or colleagues and I can think of specific lessons or values that they taught me. I mean, I actually visualize them in a situation and it's either positive or negative. It's like, oh, this didn't work out and that person really made me. They really let me hear it or have it, or I really learned a lesson from somebody and I want to emulate that. If I talk to somebody in five years, 10 years, 15 years from now, and they worked with Bill Hanvey, what do you want them to say about you in terms of the impression or impact you left on them?

Bill Hanvey: 1:15:06

Without question, integrity. That's it, that he lived and acted with integrity, that, you know, had the benefit of the industry at heart and always tried to do the right thing and to some it may not be the right thing, I don't know but if there was one thing that I would like for people to say is that he acted with integrity.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:15:38

Bill, thanks so much for taking the time with me today.

Bill Hanvey: 1:15:40

My pleasure.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:15:41

I hope everyone enjoys this and learns a lot about you and gets gets to experience you in a way that the rest of us at AutoCare get to experience you on a daily basis.

Bill Hanvey: 1:15:52

Well, it's um, it's a joy, it's a blessing. I love this place, I love this industry. So thanks so much. All right, thanks.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:16:05

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of auto care on air. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so they never miss an episode, and don't forget to leave us a rating and a review that helps others discover our show. Auto care on air is a production of the auto care association, dedicated to advancing the auto care industry and supporting professionals like you. To learn more about the association and its initiatives, visit autocareorg.