Behzad Rassuli: 0:00

So feel free to curse. There's no, we'll cut it out. We can just bleep it out.

Greg Noethlich: 0:04

Okay, yeah, I mean, sometimes it just naturally happens. So that's why it's part of my vernacular Even in all employee meetings. At the end of them, jeanette, who runs HR, she'll always be like you said three times and almost said once I'm like man, wow.

Behzad Rassuli: 0:22

That's. I think that's safe, I think that's a you, that's like within the bounds, you know, as long as you don't say words like you know, no, like the connotation that um you know, like don't you know don't that's sure?

Greg Noethlich: 0:40

Well, this person was being a there's probably a little much.

Behzad Rassuli: 0:44

Yeah, no, I reserve that for my siblings. I get that. Welcome to Auto Care On Air, a candid podcast for a curious industry. I'm Behzad Rassuli, 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.

Greg Noethlich: 1:25

Did you Peloton this morning?

Behzad Rassuli: 1:26

I did not Peloton, but I worked out with the trainer.

Greg Noethlich: 1:28

Soul cycle. I did not soul cycle. I worked out with the trainer what time 6 am. Why do you do that? It's just I need it, and more and more that I. When I told you I started late in life last night yeah, working out, working out and really kind of focusing on that. And when I got into SoulCycle in late 18 and all through 2019, that is like when I started my real kind of change in my health journey or my activity exercise journey.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:55

When the first time you tried SoulCycle. Was it like an afternoon class or were you like? I'm going to try this, and it's going to be at six in the morning.

Greg Noethlich: 2:04

I give my wife a lot of credit for getting me there. Probably was a Saturday or Sunday, uh, and she's like I'm going cause she'd already started going during the week with her girlfriends and the uh, another buddy of mine was going. So the four of us went and it just turned into this great way to get a good cardio and you're in like a nightclub environment, which I love the lights and the music and all that.

Behzad Rassuli: 2:27

So I totally get that and I I've done that before and it's infectious and it really makes you push yourself and you know it's like you feel like you're. You feel like you're at a party. But I don't want to be at that kind of party at six in the morning. No, I'm probably at that time. I'm probably having a nightmare about somebody taking me to SoulCycle at six in the morning.

Greg Noethlich: 2:47

Well, and then during the COVID I got this chair squeaking. During COVID I started working out with this trainer who came to the house and subsequent to that he only takes appointments after seven. So if I have to work out with him at six, we do a phone call.

Behzad Rassuli: 3:03

Oh, so he. So he came to your house.

Greg Noethlich: 3:07

No he comes to the house if I haven't. If I can do it after seven, okay, which is not normal. Oh, so right now he's a 6am phone call. Got it Like? He talks to you over the phone yeah, just put my earbuds in and walks me through. You got this Greg yeah, do 10. If you can imagine me grunting in his ear with the earbuds, that's what's happening.

Behzad Rassuli: 3:29

What do you think?

Greg Noethlich: 3:30

he's doing.

Behzad Rassuli: 3:31

He's showering. He should shower and shaving. Yeah, I'm sure.

Greg Noethlich: 3:35

And having coffee and probably drive and drives and not probably. And then he's driving to his appointment at seven. So that's the most fascinating. It's such a win-win. And my buddy tried to help join the session with us and like on a conference call yeah, it was like a three-way call and it didn't work because if I commit to 6am tomorrow morning so last night we were at dinner, I knew I had the 6 am call. If I would have been like, oh, I got in late, I don't want to do this, he would have held me accountable and charged me, oh, yeah, of course, because it's a 24 hour rule.

Behzad Rassuli: 4:13

You know how do you. You'd interrupt each other, though, if it was like six, and if you're on a conference call, you know you're not like video. At least no one's sitting there like watching each other sweat, Right. It's just like grunting over each other. Is anyone muting the phone?

Greg Noethlich: 4:27

No, no. And then my buddy never really got into the sink of you know, if you commit to the morning 6am, you can. You can't be up doing cause he's an attorney.

Greg Noethlich: 4:36

You can't be up all night reading materials and then cancel at five in the morning or four in the morning he's going to charge you, and so, once you know you pay the fee a couple of times for a commitment and you're like, damn, why am I? You know, why am I even doing this? So he backed out because he just didn't understand the program, and my wife gives me shit all the time before too. Why are you paying somebody for a phone call? He's a trainer, he should be watching your form and, essentially, though, he's a very I stick to the basics and I'm not doing any. You know, one leg off the bench, a pushup with one arm, crazy things to get hurt. I'm focusing on my core. I'm focusing on building muscles with dumbbells and, you know, burpees and stuff like that. Did you play sports growing up? I did, went through high school and then I did NIC and reels in college. What were the sports I played?

Behzad Rassuli: 5:24

soccer and ran track and cross country, those, uh yeah, those are not. I mean, I don't know how you, you didn't just like keep running on a track when you were adult, right? No, I did not. And then soccer at some point it just gets competitive and the intramural stuff is just the way.

Greg Noethlich: 5:37

You kind of gravitate towards that and I didn't do, I just did intramural flag football and soccer in college, yeah, and then that was it in my adult life?

Behzad Rassuli: 5:45

I have not, so you didn't do any like weight training.

Greg Noethlich: 5:47

When you were younger, though, no, I mean you couldn't find me, you couldn't pay me to be in a gym back then. I mean I tried every now and then it'd be like I'll get on a little kick and do it for a bit, but nothing near what I did. I actually have you heard of P90X? Yeah, so, tony Horton? Yeah, so I did the P90X in 2012, 2011, 2012, for like the 90 day period, and had a really good success with it, loved it. But then I fell off and I let work get in the way of it and didn't put it as a priority. It's like, oh, my work and my kids and my family have got me really grinding and so I didn't. I didn't focus on my health.

Behzad Rassuli: 6:28

But when we were touring our office I saw you doing like you just picked up the medicine ball and just started slamming it. Is that a core workout or is that just that's not? So you don't. You don't gravitate towards something heavy, and just kind of like I have slam balls.

Greg Noethlich: 6:37

I mean my. My biggest weight I have in my basement is 60 pounds. So my, my dumbbells go up to 60. Now that's good. Yeah, I mean, it's a great home gym. Let's work out sometime we should. Yeah, you'll be posting bigger weights than me, I'm sure.

Behzad Rassuli: 6:51

I'll bring a sandbag and we'll have you climb a rope or just hang from a rope for a while. Change your grip. Greg, thanks for sitting down with me today. I've known you for several years and every time I talk to you I enjoy the conversation and I learn more about you, and you seem to always have a new and entertaining story. So I'm sure today's not going to be any different. But you've had a pretty dynamic career. Currently you're CEO of Old World Industries, which is one of the largest privately held companies in the automotive industry, manufacturing antifreeze, death, wiper blades, lights, amongst other things. But before you're at Old World, you were CEO of Champ Labs and Fram. Before that you were at Prestone. So I mean just doing the math there you've been president or CEO of three companies. In what? 10 years, 12 years? And those are just the president and CEO roles. So before that you were, you know, vice president of Pactiv and COO of. How do you pronounce this? Alleria? Alleria, a foundry, like a, like a? They. They melt metal and pour cast iron.

Greg Noethlich: 8:01

Yeah, we were making extremely large castings at that time. I mean big as this room that we're sitting in today, kind of cast iron. Yeah, we were making extremely large castings at that time. I mean big as this room that we're sitting in today, kind of castings All right.

Behzad Rassuli: 8:07

So I think it's fair to say that you've had a fairly dynamic career, but that you've fairly quickly. In your career, you were trusted with and tasked with leading organizations, and not just once, so I think that's objectively impressive and you might be doing something right, and I'd love to learn from you personally, and I'm certain that anyone who listens to this will learn something as well. Do you remember when your first job was?

Greg Noethlich: 8:34

I do, yeah, for sure you know. Going back into college I was an engineer and I thought I was going to be a graduate studies in engineering and go from there into some test lab or product engineering roles. And my last semester at University of Dayton I had a co-op ship with General Motors and I had ended up with a production supervisor role on the shop floor making anti-lock brake systems in Dayton Right out of engineering school, systems in Dayton, right out of engineering school. Well, while I was finishing my degree that was my last term with General Motors was in the production supervisor environment.

Greg Noethlich: 9:16

I don't know what kind of engineering is needed to test anti-lock brakes. But did you feel qualified for that? Well, we were mechanical engineers, and certainly during a co-op program, there was always people that were watching over us and ensuring our math was right and analytics were being performed well. And then again I got to go out on the shop floor and work with the UAW in making the breaks for that semester. And so, as I was planning for my career, leaving college, I really enjoyed kind of making products and so I targeted going out in the world to make something when I, when I graduated and I ended up getting a job making radiators believe it or not, a value.

Greg Noethlich: 9:50

So I was, and I ended up on a night shift. So I was a second shift working 2 PM to 10 PM, with an engineering degree which both my parents are like. You just went to college for four years and you're now working a second shift job in the middle of nowhere. I moved to, you know, make make radiators for the Chrysler predominantly Chrysler and Ford, why were your parents kind of surprised at that?

Behzad Rassuli: 10:16

I mean, what did they do?

Greg Noethlich: 10:17

My dad was an attorney and my mom was a school teacher and so I think they felt, you know, when I was in engineering, originally my dad was thinking was I going to really make it through engineering school? Just because it was a challenging first semester, so to speak, kind of transition for me. But once I found my groove, it was amazing. I loved my. I was kind of a nerd in college, to be honest with you. I was teacher's aide pre-transfer. I was you, I was at night grading papers for other students, I was doing study halls for people, and so really, really buckled into the engineering degree and loved what I did.

Behzad Rassuli: 10:54

That's all four years you were an overachiever, you think. Would you call yourself a nerd, or was there kind of like first two years you were figuring it out and then you really kind of kicked into gear?

Greg Noethlich: 11:02

It took me one semester, once I got into college to get my groove and figure it out, and I was so focused on it I loved it. I think I missed one class in over a four-year period.

Behzad Rassuli: 11:13

What did you, when you were, kind of sophomore year, junior year, cranking away being a giant nerd, I guess, as you put it what did you think you were going to do with that?

Greg Noethlich: 11:22

I didn't know. I again I would say I wanted to get into propulsion. I was thinking about aeronautical engineering. I was big just big into analytics and understanding how things worked, and so I was focused on that area. Do you?

Behzad Rassuli: 11:35

still think. Do you still think about that? You know, when you see a plane fly, are you thinking about kind of drag and the kind of aeronautical coefficients that go into flying? Probably not because I'm asleep on the airplanes watching a show. You're a sleeper on planes.

Greg Noethlich: 11:52

But you know, I graduated college and I went to that night shift job making radiators and I was a supervisor, so I was responsible for a shift of people to make a certain amount of products throughout that shift. People, um, to make certain amount of products throughout that shift. And you know, it was my first kind of onset into having a response management type of responsibilities and you didn't have your boss on that shift. So we were the. You know we had to make decisions based on that.

Behzad Rassuli: 12:18

So early on I was able to get into that kind of mode when, when, did your parents kind of come around to like being proud of you, I want to say, but like, when did they understand that, hey, this is, you know, not what we assumed right out of the gate, but also, this is pretty great.

Greg Noethlich: 12:33

I think they were very supportive. Once they saw me thriving in college and I had my job with General Motors and got to be rotating around different areas and finding my way. I think they were very supportive of it. It was just a big. I think. I remember talking to them you're going to be a night shift supervisor. What does that really mean with an engineering degree? And just walking them through that dynamic was pretty interesting. Did you have any? Do you have any siblings? I do. I have two younger sisters. What did they do? They my um? In school at least, they studied education and hospitality. So you're were.

Behzad Rassuli: 13:07

That was that kind of more. You were your parents like oh this, I understand this, you know, I understand.

Greg Noethlich: 13:12

Maybe, maybe, yeah, more tangible um being. Uh, we didn't have an engineer in the family, so to speak, Um, but then I I have not had an engineering title behind my. Any of the jobs that I've had in my entire career Is that hard for you, you know, like to to say you know.

Behzad Rassuli: 13:28

One of the things I think about is I also know that you, you got a, you got an MBA, you have, you have. Do you have two MBAs?

Greg Noethlich: 13:35

I have an executive MBA and I got an MBA um in business.

Behzad Rassuli: 13:39

So I was listening to, uh, jamie Dimon, ceo of JP Morgan, talking about talent and there's a trend in the economy today where companies are removing the college degree requirement from job applications.

Behzad Rassuli: 14:03

I think maybe a survey said 45% of companies are removing that requirement.

Behzad Rassuli: 14:09

And the way Jamie Dimon phrased it and I'm just going to paraphrase, I don't I'm not going to pretend like I remember the quote, but it was that you know people go to, we get these students that come out of college and the first year, year or two we have to teach them how to work. So you know, sometimes we just it makes more sense to get a highly skilled student not necessarily something, somebody with like a resume, because you can't really tell their skill set on a resume but take a lower risk on kids out of high school and teach them to work the same way you would a kid out of college. And that made me think about you know, when you look back on your engineering degree that you don't have a title. You don't have the engineering title kind of behind anything you're doing there's still value. Do you find there was still value in what you got out of that? Or were you like, oh, that was kind of just a. You know, knowing that I University, I did it at night, while I was working.

Greg Noethlich: 15:27

Do I get that same case study kind of MBAs that a lot of other larger Ivy League colleges have? No, I didn't get that. It was important to me to do it. Do I feel like it's a game changer in business now? No, I don't, but I knew I was really focused on the science of heat transfer, fluids and fluid dynamics and all those other classes. I took chemistries and the MBA rounded me out. I can understand a little bit more about accounting, finance, marketing, hr, organizational things, but did I apply that immediately after I got my MBA? No, and is it long-term something I could say I completed? Yeah, and that's probably more of what I did and why I did it than anything else.

Behzad Rassuli: 16:12

So that student that you were, you know the kind of hardworking student trying to being the teacher's aide. That's just a part of you. Like you do work, but then you also still want to kind of academically achieve.

Greg Noethlich: 16:26

Yeah, I've been a constant learner on that. Early on, specifically, I felt like it was an important step in the process as much as anything else. But there are so many people that I've run across in my career that navigate and chart their paths so differently, so I don't think there's one rule that fits them all, so to speak. And just having my kids getting accepted into colleges and going out and trying to fulfill what they want to do in life we were, you know, obviously it was expected for them to go to college, because I feel like it's a you go, you study, you complete another task. It just helps you prepare for life in general. But I mean the community, colleges and the trades are deadlines and all that, and I think that that's that's incredibly valuable.

Behzad Rassuli: 17:12

I think that's well put. So you went from an engineering degree to man, right into manufacturing. And so when did you move into automotive? What was after your first? The value job.

Greg Noethlich: 17:43

So I made radiators for several years down in southern Indiana and then I moved to Detroit and was responsible for developing programs. So like a program manager, so to speak, running tasks interesting role just in terms of leadership development, where you have functions that you need to help support your program launch but they don't report to you directly. So it's really interesting to try to incentivize the engineers or the designers or the purchasing people to do what you need to get done but they didn't report to you so they had a lot of different tasks and assignments they had to get done. So it was a fun job. I got my first exposure to customers and last for probably 20 years being. I was launching a program for Chrysler at the time, a radiator cooling module system, and I ended up taking a job in Grand Rapids, michigan and made fuel injectors job in Grand Rapids Michigan and made fuel injectors, so moved from. By then I was in my early twenties and already moved three times to different states.

Behzad Rassuli: 18:43

How many times did you move across all your different jobs? I've lived in nine states over my career. That's amazing. Do you think that that was kind of why you've reached the level of success you have at the age you have? And let me put it in context when we were introduced, we were introduced by mutual acquaintance, michael Klein, and it was on the Hill at a legislative summit. He paired me with you and he said I want you to be with Greg, I want you to shadow Greg. Greg is a really smart, really hard charging, high energy guy and I think that you two would hit it off. And when I I hadn't seen you at that point I just assumed you know, white hair, older or no hair, you know, gentlemen. But when I saw you you were were fairly close in age at the time. Uh, you were younger. But when we met I you know you'd had all this experience, all this leadership experience at a very young age. The relative right it was. What were you in? Like mid forties, late forties?

Greg Noethlich: 19:52

mid forties, when I took over Preston on 2012.

Behzad Rassuli: 19:55

Yeah, I mean, I think that's, I think that's amazing. What was the ingredient to get you into such a leadership role for a, you know, prominent corporate brand with the? And they were private equity owned at the time right they were I.

Greg Noethlich: 20:07

I I always think back and people ask me this question a lot about it and there's a lot of different things, I believe, that play into somebody's career Mine personally. I was always able to get into a role at can manufacturing plant making 3 million cans a day, and so we had like 95 people in the plant in totality. I showed up green plant manager and you know corner office, traditional location, so to speak and move my office to the middle of the shop floor and I think everybody in the plant was like what is really happening here? The plant manager is going to be out here when machines go down or helping support us in different ways, and that was part of my development as a leader.

Greg Noethlich: 21:07

A young leader really is getting into it and working alongside people. So I've been able to alongside people, so I've been able to get that experience at an early age. Number two I think I had the opportunity to have somebody take a chance on me, and I'm a firm believer in people's career that somebody's not going to hire you to be the CEO of a company if they don't A know you or that you've already been a CEO before, and those two things people really need to navigate and think through what do you mean?

Behzad Rassuli: 21:40

somebody took it. What does that look like? Someone took a chance on you.

Greg Noethlich: 21:42

I had a big mentor in college during the General Motors time and then we reconnected about five years after college and that mentor was a really smart guy as well and did a lot of manufacturing operational jobs and he and I worked together for many years. Are you comfortable?

Behzad Rassuli: 21:57

sharing his name Bruce Smith, bruce Smith, so Bruce was with you throughout your, throughout your career, or we?

Greg Noethlich: 22:05

we probably touched each other in some way or shape or form worked with or I worked in the same organization that he was in, 15, 20 years, so to speak, and in that kind of part of my career I was working for either somebody that Bruce knew, or in a network of folks that we all knew, or Bruce himself.

Behzad Rassuli: 22:25

Did Bruce? Did you shadow him at any point, you know, just for a specific job, or was it that he had a role in a company and he would recommend you to come into that company, exactly?

Greg Noethlich: 22:37

He would have a role in the company and say I want to hire Greg I know he's, I know he's a known entity, understand his strengths and weaknesses, what he's good at, and I want to bring him in to do X, y, Z, how hard is it to move as many times as you have?

Greg Noethlich: 22:56

I actually got used to it and liked it early on. I mean, I got to live in Seattle Washington. I'm born in Ohio, midwestern guy Got to, of course did the Ohio, indiana, michigan. Then all of a sudden I'm in Seattle Washington, then Oklahoma City, then Michigan again, then El Paso, texas, where I met my wife, and so on. So you can just, I got to see the top and the bottom of the U? S and the East coast and West coast. You hit all four corners.

Behzad Rassuli: 23:20

Were you single for most of the moving or were you married?

Greg Noethlich: 23:24

My wife and family moved five times with me, so we moved from El Paso to Minnesota and then Minnesota, north Carolina, north Carolina, cleveland, cleveland, chicago.

Behzad Rassuli: 23:34

When you met, you know, in your courtship, were you like, hey, listen, being with me is going to involve a lot of moving. Or was it just kind of El Paso's great? And then suddenly, six months later, we're, we're ready to move?

Greg Noethlich: 23:48

Yeah, I think there was a she. Ronnie probably knew my wife probably knew that that could happen. Ronnie probably knew, my wife probably knew that that could happen. But the reality of it maybe happening came a little bit faster than she and her family thought. And I can remember I took the job in Minnesota. I took her there in January to introduce her to the opportunity or the idea of it and she got off and saw these mines of snow and is like no way we're not doing this, there's no freaking way. By April it was a different story and I thought for sure we were ready to roll. And I came back in May to El Paso and the yard the for sale sign was like down in the yard we're not really moving, or we are, but we moved and she stuck by me and all these moves for sure.

Behzad Rassuli: 24:32

That's fantastic and I imagine that must've come with some tough conversations. But maybe helping with those conversations was you mentioned earlier that there were people at the plant that you needed to, or the organization or you needed to do something and they didn't report to you. What's the most effective way that you found to kind of get people to kind of march to the same beat or support one another without having a direct reporting relationship?

Greg Noethlich: 25:01

Hey, I think it starts with likability for sure, and somebody that's willing to have have an understanding of what's happening with each one of those functions that you need to get something done in and make sure they understand the bigger picture of the whole process.

Behzad Rassuli: 25:20

So would you translate that, as you know, using like human psychological speak, Like is that empathy? Is that just, is that you understanding another human being and you're putting yourself in their shoes and saying another human being and you're putting yourself in their shoes and saying, you know, okay, so if I'm going to approach this person, this is, uh, what they're involved in, this is, you know, their perspective, and me approaching them would look like this to them. And is that? Would that characterize it? Or?

Greg Noethlich: 25:49

Yeah, I mean, as I would be back then assigning tasks to people hey, I need you to redesign this radiator tank and I know it's probably going to take you eight hours or more that you did, but we've got interference now with the cooling module, so we got to change the tank and really just think through that, with them the task, instead of just saying, okay, come back and report to me when you can get it done.

Behzad Rassuli: 26:13

So can I. When you're making these automotive products, this is kind of a tangent. But when the design for the engine is put forward and you're building the individual products, or you're building the radiator or the coolant module, how much is repairability a part of that thought process, like future repair?

Greg Noethlich: 26:36

I actually don't know. Back when we were doing the design work it was, you know we knew for sure that the cooling was going to have to go in and we knew accessibility to pull the radiator out and we knew hose connections needed to be accessible. So the engineers did a lot of that work. Of course I never had an engineering title, so I didn't do it. The engineers did a lot of that work. Of course I'd never had an engineering title, so I didn't do it but certainly the automotive designers. By the time I was in, we were just transitioning away from paper designs into AutoCAD and 3D modeling, and so it was pretty unique to be able to see all of that come to life there. And people were thinking through that for sure.

Behzad Rassuli: 27:13

Do you use those kind of skills today in your job, like the AutoCAD and the? No, personally, I don't Thinking about moving when you were moving let's say, take that first job to Minnesota was it a part of your calculus to say I have to have everything set up there and family first? To say I have to have everything set up there and you know, family first and make sure that everyone's comfortable so that this move is as low stress as possible. Or is it get in the job, get moved, get in the office day one and then we'll figure it out from there?

Greg Noethlich: 27:49

Probably as much as I'd like to tell you that it was all about making sure all the ducks in a row. I like to tell you that it was all about making sure all the ducks in a row, the I's are dotted and T's are crossed, so to speak, for the family. I relied a lot on my wife to help me get there and I was probably over-indexing on the work and have continued that kind of philosophy up until this day, to be honest with you. But no, it's a challenge. It's a challenge to move. It's a challenge to move the family. To think through when the timing you're separated until my daughter would finish school and then we'd move over the summer or move over a Christmas break or some timing of all of that. Even here in Chicago, where we're headquartered in the suburbs of Chicago, finding the talent that has experience, they're not always in town and people need to move and relocate and they don't like that anymore.

Behzad Rassuli: 28:51

I'm really concerned over time that people limit themselves as they're reluctant to take a chance and go somewhere. How do you let's say you're explaining this to your kids, like trying to instill this value in them. What do they say back? What's their protest and how do you deliver the message?

Greg Noethlich: 29:06

Well, my son's going to be a super senior this year at Michigan State and he's going to be preparing himself for the world and he would like to come back to Chicago. But I've told him you've got to keep your options open and go where the right opportunity is for you. Don't let your early years define you. That has to be somewhere, cause you could sit for quite some time before you actually find something in that region. So there's always ways to gain experience and then, over time time, migrate back to where you would like to live overall.

Behzad Rassuli: 29:37

Do you feel like the digital age, the kind of post-COVID world of video meetings and remote work, helps you find talent abroad at all, or is it still absolutely necessary that they're in person?

Greg Noethlich: 29:54

I'm a huge face-to-face leader. I don't know people call me old school management style these days, which I don't really care. I feel like it. I had a conversation this morning here in the office with several people that would not have happened around a really key topic if we were virtual and it just it.

Greg Noethlich: 30:17

There is a lot of value in having people face to face and you know it helps a lot because our industry people are hanging parts on cars, repairing product and going to a store to buy it. Some people are buying them online, but a lot of people like to go to stores and buy them and people are in the plants manufacturing that they're not at home. And so I always feel like, why do people in finance think that they can do their job at home and not need to interact with people? You know they have vendors that we have to pay or customers we have to receive money from. If there are issues, they walk down the hall and talk to the salesperson about accounts receivable issues or talk to purchasing people about vendors and setting them up and utilizing that kind of cross functionality is a big, big key to success.

Behzad Rassuli: 31:04

So the you came from a manufacturing background and so that being at the plant, seeing the part or the product and touching it, seeing the problems, talking to the person who can fix that problem that, I imagine, helped you have a good way of making the case to somebody who says I'm interested in this job but I want to be remote. Or do you just kind of skip past them and say I'm looking for people who want to be in the office? There's a distinct difference there between coaching and educating people on the value of being in person, without just saying like, because I said so, uh, versus, and then just saying like, listen, you know, we're going to filter for people who are the best, and I'm, I'm a build big believer in filtering, so I'm, you know, I both. I'm curious about both perspectives.

Greg Noethlich: 32:10

Well, I mean I don't want to say it's a dead fast rule that if you, if we know the jobs in Chicago, you're not going to be working remote, because we do have certain SIMS situations that come about.

Greg Noethlich: 32:21

But I would say predominantly when we're interviewing candidates and the job is in Chicago, that the job is in Chicago and personally from my direct reports they have to be here and that kind of cascades down in the organization as a culture.

Greg Noethlich: 32:36

I do agree with you that I grew up in the plants pounding the pavement and realizing getting things done were because people were interacting in front of a machine to figure out what's wrong or people are making products.

Greg Noethlich: 32:47

So that probably has a big piece of who I am and how I lead. But you know, and I think everybody that is in certain roles and in leadership have difference of opinions on it. You know, I was just with one of our banks that works with us and they're 100% back in the office and you would think, like a lot of our IT people think, well, I can work 100% remote, I can just log into your computer from my home and work it out and go on to the next problem and save the commute time and I still am a huge believer that success is built through teams and to a candidate that wants to come in and work hybrid 100%, it really hurts and limits their ability to connect with the organization and connect with people on a broader scale, to learn how companies get things done and to be more than just a task pusher.

Behzad Rassuli: 34:05

To be more than just a task pusher, and I think it'd be really hard to promote somebody into a legitimate concern that they're the.

Behzad Rassuli: 34:08

I don't know which generation is maybe it's Gen Z or there's a new one, I don't know if it's alpha or something but um, that their world is so much more digital than ours and, uh, we grew up in a much more analog world where there was actual physical contact with people and and items and you know, and materials that uh, there's a real risk, in my opinion at least and I and I there's there's a lot of research around this that the combination of predominantly digital digital interaction between, uh, you know, teenagers and and then early teens is is already a barrier to uh entering the workforce where there is in-person contact.

Behzad Rassuli: 34:54

But I imagine that taking a job then that is remote only kind of fortifies that digital interaction with people and at some point you know you mentioned your leadership team your direct reports need to be in the office. That makes a ton of sense. You know they're incredibly responsible for the production and activities of the company. But there's a real risk that the people who kind of the next generation who has digital experiences, digital communication and then they start off in digital jobs. You know what happens in that transition period. Have you, have you put any thought to that, or have you experienced that at your organization?

Greg Noethlich: 35:35

Well, I mean, I experience it every day because we run into challenges around people and do they qualify for the role, are they in Chicago or they want to work remote, and so we run into those challenges all the time and I feel like you're right. I mean, especially having younger kids and the social media and the addiction to the phones is a big thing. Interestingly enough, in 2007, I was living in North Carolina and there was a couple that was going to all 50 states and interviewing Americans, and so they came to our house and interviewed us and one of the questions that they asked was what was our biggest fear for your kids? And I at that time said the phone. You know, I was just more worried about pictures, so to speak. Oh yeah, this was when this was 2007. Oh my gosh, yeah, this was like pictures on phones versus no TikTok.

Behzad Rassuli: 36:26

I don't even know if Instagram was purchased by Facebook at that point.

Greg Noethlich: 36:30

Yeah, it was way early on in that insight associated with what was going to be a big challenge for society today. Society today and for me, I guess it's hard for me to be anybody different than I am, and I'm a very in-person, face-to-face leader and so, culturally, that's what you'll find at Old World or that's where you're going to find wherever I end up in life, because I like to be face-to-face.

Behzad Rassuli: 36:56

How do you think of. You know, when I think of your job history. Obviously we talked about the leadership side. You know multiple leadership positions, multiple leadership opportunities, but there's another side of the spectrum where people stay at the same company for 30 years, then work them themselves themselves up into a leadership position. Do you have a position on that? You know which is the right path for the optimal level of experience and then career progress? You know, is it, and I don't know if there's a right answer here. I think it might just be related to the individual, but would you guide somebody to spend 30 years at Old World to work their way up into a leadership position, or would you say five years in your role and then, like you know, I welcome you to explore other opportunities to really advance your career?

Greg Noethlich: 37:44

Yeah, I think everybody crafts their career in many, many different ways. I feel like experience is really important and somebody that wants to take on additional responsibilities or new roles. The experience could be within the company, over time or with other companies, and for a long time there was about everybody's job hopping. So I used to have this. Well, you were at this job for two, two and a half years, three years on this one. What was going on? Well, I ended up working for very similar individuals Bruce Smith I talked to you about over time and because I had that relationship with him, it was different than just job hopping because I was unhappy.

Greg Noethlich: 38:28

It was a next opportunity with working with people that I knew. But we have a lot of people that have a lot of good tenure and long tenured here at Old World and I love it. I think it's great experience. They provide a great perspective on things, and then we kind of mesh that with new talent. Think it's great experience, they provide a great perspective on things, and then we kind of mesh that with new talent and it's been remarkable for us so you were able to position your.

Behzad Rassuli: 38:50

You were able to really communicate this like at the next job that when somebody asks why so many stops on their resume, you can associate it with. You know, I was recruited into multiple, multiple different roles with one person. Were you ever released from a job or fired from one?

Greg Noethlich: 39:06

Yeah, I actually had had that experience. So the individual that I worked for for so many years, Bruce um, we ended up in a real tight situation at the foundry we were talking about earlier and he had to let me go. I was really surprised. Yeah, he had to let me go, Like personally letting you go.

Greg Noethlich: 39:23

It did. How did that go? It strained our relationship. I was A shocked, strained our relationship and I think you know, having to be replaying, that I should have had thought about him as much as I thought about me. But ultimately it was a great thing for me because it forced me into going back to work at Pactive, where I had left to go to work for him and I had turned into a great opportunity long-term. But our relationship suffered over those years for sure so you.

Behzad Rassuli: 39:55

so I just want to recount this. So you worked with Bruce for maybe like 20 years you said Off and on, yeah, 15, 20.

Greg Noethlich: 40:01

worked with Bruce for maybe like 20 years.

Behzad Rassuli: 40:02

You said While I was on, yeah, 15, 20. And there were constraints at the company, I'm assuming financial things were tight and somebody you know. There were headcount reductions and he told you that you're one of them. I can imagine that must hurt. It strained your relationship, you said, but was it hard for him to?

Greg Noethlich: 40:20

deliver that to you had to have been. I mean, I know that because I've had to do the very similar thing. Your relationship, you said but was it hard for him to deliver that to you? Had to have been. I mean, I know that because I've had to do the very similar thing on the flip side.

Behzad Rassuli: 40:28

Meaning somebody that you I'm very close to and I had to let go. Okay, so you're in Bruce's shoes in that situation. How did that-.

Greg Noethlich: 40:36

It was almost worse than getting let go, than having to do the let going, so to speak.

Behzad Rassuli: 40:43

Was it an easy decision for you because the numbers were so clear? Or was it like, look, this is the, there's no way out of this and I really, really don't want to do this?

Greg Noethlich: 40:52

or you know, in anybody in the leadership role, you're always faced with challenges and sometimes reductions in force happen over time and people get consolidated and jobs change. So you have to, as a leader, make those hard decisions. I think some people are very it's easy for some leaders to do it. They separate themselves, they have a different leadership style, so to speak. I've had to make a lot of hard decisions, as everybody else has, and they're just not easy and in some cases I feel leaders get a little disconnected to it. They're saying I need to make a 20% headcount reduction, go, execute that and versus. Sometimes you have to look somebody in the eye and make sure you're still connected with the decisions so you don't let your organization get to that point.

Behzad Rassuli: 41:39

So you made it your responsibility to actually communicate that.

Greg Noethlich: 41:41

Yeah Well, especially because it was a direct report of mine, so I had to. So you know it's tough. It's a hard lesson in life. You know take advantage of your opportunities. It will happen to people and it continues to happen to people in business. But now you got to learn from it, move past it, and I at the time didn't think that that was going to be possible, but it was amazing how it worked out for me.

Behzad Rassuli: 42:07

So in your situation, how long were you out of, or not working at that?

Greg Noethlich: 42:14

point. I actually started pretty much the next month and then ended up moving to Chicago and working for Pact of again, which I had worked with them in the past.

Behzad Rassuli: 42:24

So did that help you kind of soften the blow, or was it still tough to hear it from Bruce?

Greg Noethlich: 42:29

Yeah, I think that probably was the bigger piece of it, because we went into this challenge together and obviously we were in a tough time and yeah it wasn't fun, but I would tell you, it turned out miraculously for me because it got me back into a great organization and I was able to run all the manufacturing at Pactive and got exposure to the owner, Graham Hart, and he owned Prestone and so he saw all the accomplishments that we made there and he took a chance on me and he moved me from Pactive and I had recommendations from the CEO and my boss, CEO Kevin, and he put me in the job.

Behzad Rassuli: 43:13

Was that the obvious move? You know, were there other companies under his portfolio that he thought?

Greg Noethlich: 43:22

all you that he thought yeah, I was shocked. I told him that that I was surprised that he actually put me in the role, because Prestone is not heavy manufacturing. It's blending fluids, blow molding bottles, so to speak. And there was a there was a hard parts company water pumps and fuel pumps which is like machining and assembly work, which I had a lot of experience in, and he he wanted me to learn sales and marketing.

Behzad Rassuli: 43:36

Why, why, why did you? I mean it's you know I'm putting my leadership hat on here and I have a hard parts business and I have a you know talent who's extremely experienced in manufacturing. That feels like the natural. You know, I need a steady hand here, right? So? And it sounds like he said I have that steady hand and I'd like him to do something completely different.

Greg Noethlich: 44:02

Well, part of. I don't know all the psyche and decisions behind it, but if I was making that decision, maybe that challenge is a bit harder overall, and so for a new CEO to go in, maybe giving them a softer challenge, so to speak, if you will could have been it. I don't, I don't know, but it was great for me because I didn't know anything about what a planogram was. What a pog was was a buy one, get one. I had not had any of that activities in my career up until that point, and so they were very committed to seeing me be successful, and I had a lot of great sales and marketing people around me to help so so you're.

Behzad Rassuli: 44:39

You know a nerd as a student, but like were you a nerd about learning this? You know the, the cpg world as well.

Greg Noethlich: 44:46

You know the consumer, the consumer, brand and package goods world I was incestuous and I had like my lunch hour for the better part of three months. I was like three times a week I had like c CPG 101 classes, so to speak, like I'd cycle through different people, whether it be from hefty bags or a Reynolds employee helping me learn about all the different tactics.

Behzad Rassuli: 45:11

But you know, going out and seeing customers even that was new to me, and so just you know, when you're working in a manufacturing plant, you're focused on how many pieces that I make that shift and that day and that week and that month, not the end customer and realizing that there are negotiations and there's all these other things that happen with relationships. So that's amazing. I mean you must have really made an impression. If you got a, you know, CPG CEO role and we're also learning CPG 101 at the same time Do you feel like you can make that kind of leap with people that have worked for you? Have you found yourself in that position where you say you've given that opportunity to somebody, like in a similar situation?

Greg Noethlich: 45:54

Yeah, I mean, if I know the capabilities of somebody and I've worked with them or in seeing them, then I will absolutely give them an opportunity to do something different in a bigger, broader role. I like that. Some people that I hear at Old World I used to work with in prior companies I like that. I think it's a great means to the end to building your team.

DTP: 46:17

This is DTP IT Director and Sustainability Committee Staff Liaison at Auto Care Association. Are you passionate about shaping our industry's future? Join an Auto Care Association Advisory Committee and make a real impact as a volunteer. You will drive innovation, tackle key challenges and collaborate on cutting-edge solutions for the entire supply chain. Don't miss out. Join us at our upcoming Leadership Days event to start making a difference. Learn more at autocareorg slash leadership days and find information on current committees at autocareorg slash committees.

Behzad Rassuli: 46:54

What were some of the exciting parts about actually running a prominent brand like Prestone or maybe Fram? Yeah, it was always fun because you can find all the paraphernalia like a prominent brand like Preston or maybe you know Fram.

Greg Noethlich: 47:04

Yeah, it was always fun because you can find all the paraphernalia. I mean, you see my office today.

Behzad Rassuli: 47:10

We're sitting here and I have more pee. It is littered with from every decade. There's peak antifreeze in a glass bottle, in a tin, and these are look like things that have been salvaged from you know someone's backyard. I mean it really does capture the history and you must be, you must be incredibly proud of leading that, that kind of a brand. But I mean it must be so different than making a piece of equipment that goes into a brand you know.

Greg Noethlich: 47:42

Yeah, very different. I mean all of what you see, or a lot of what you see behind me. I've collected on my own through eBay's and all these things and I get a lot of shit for having this cluttered up office. It certainly needs a lot of help to amplify, but it's just part of what I do.

Behzad Rassuli: 47:56

So Preston is a competitor to Peak right. And so what was that like? Moving from, uh, preston it wasn't an immediate move, but you were at Preston, new of peak and uh, you know, now you're a peak at Preston. What were some of the dynamics that came out of that exchange? Were there dynamics where they're like fun stories?

Greg Noethlich: 48:19

when they're well, I'll tell you a couple, two, two two quick stories is one when I first took over pressed on the song black and yellow. If you ever heard that by wiz I think it's like wiz khalif or something hat and did. I had that as my ringtone, so I was literally, you know, bleeding yellow you changed that before you got the to this.

Behzad Rassuli: 48:38

The interview for this job?

Greg Noethlich: 48:39

yeah, of course yeah, yeah, but it described me at the time of being kind of all in with it and I was incestuous about Peak. I wanted to know everything about their success and so oh, from Preston. When I was at Preston, I was incestuous about my competition and understanding and wanting to know more and more and modeling them and how are they winning bids and what is it going to take for me to win. So it was a really interesting obsession, so to speak. I used to see some because we were both based in Chicago, so I'd see some of the peak. You know head sales, jerry Richie, who has passed away, unfortunately early in life, but I'd see him on the airplanes. I bumped into him at the restaurant we went to last night, um, back in 2012 or 13, and took me all dinner long to get the energy up to go over there, the whatever, the courage to go up and say hey, jerry, do you remember me? I'm Greg from Preston. He's like who are you? Again, I knew that kind of stuff. It was just.

Greg Noethlich: 49:38

It was so defining for me over over in those really early years of running a business.

Greg Noethlich: 49:45

And then I got into Fram and Fram and Champ Labs were two filter companies that had come together and I was running that for a couple of years, which was really more exciting, I think, because there was a lot more manufacturing, kind of back to my core, you know, making filters and we really made like 85% of those filters. So it was fun to stamp the metal and pleat the paper and assemble that product and I got the leverage of a lot of the relationships with the customer base that I had built when I was at Preston. So it was really natural to get in there. And you know, same thing, when I joined Old World, it was like I had the perfect resume and background to help bring this company from all the. You know we just turned 50 last year as a company and 1973, tom Herbison, riyadh, started this business with $2,000 and built it into this in what they have today and it's. It's been a great honor for me to run this company, for sure.

Behzad Rassuli: 50:45

How important is that story that they, Tom and Riaz, spent 2000 bucks and, uh, your private company, you don't broadcast your financials but you're not a million dollar company, You're not. This is not a $10 million company, the large company. This is not a $10 million company, the large company. How important is that story, kind of on a daily basis, to your, your team and to you just operating? You know the, the business, the responsibility that comes with that.

Greg Noethlich: 51:11

Yeah, man, it's a. It's a real play. I love talking about it. I love, I think the story is great. Of course, the company has been in and out of so many fun things as they've grown over the 50 year history. We have some of the employees that have been here 30 plus years and so being able to walk in, talk to these people, hear about all the fun, exciting things. Rick Jago ran the company for 20 years or so and he's on our board today and he's an amazing individual to be kind of walked in my shoes with this business and with the owner Tom, and it was. It's been awesome.

Behzad Rassuli: 51:48

What are some of their lasting the original founders, what are some of their lasting mottos? Or you know the, the kind of lessons that they left for the organization that you feel like you have a responsibility to continue.

Greg Noethlich: 52:02

Well, if you ask pretty much anybody in the company what is one of Tom Herbst's main mottos and how he ran the company, and how Rick did and Jerry Riccione and now Greg Nadelick, is have fun, make money. And it's kind of an ironic saying, so to speak. But if there's one thing that describes me as like I love to have fun, it's part of how, who I am and how I lead and, and you know, making money is obviously very important for all of us and for a company at large. So they came together really well.

Behzad Rassuli: 52:35

So my, I get my personal leadership fit right in. When I was preparing for this, I asked some people about you and uh, they one person characterized it. As you know, old world was known as the company that said yes and had fun, and perhaps they lost their way for a while. But Greg is the epitome of the person who has fun and says yes, and so it's an absolutely perfect kind of profile match. But the company has resulted. The results of the company show that it was a perfect match, you know in the first place. So what is? What is that? How do you do that? What is having fun? You know how does that come out at work for you or for your company? You know what are some examples of that?

Greg Noethlich: 53:17

As whoever whoever told you that, by the way, I, oh they, they get a gold medal. Yeah, they get a gold star, because they were spot on on it and I don't know how it happened, but it just happened. Some of the things that we do that are fun. I mean, we did last year we did 50, 50 events for the employees for turning 50. And so we had some. Really, you know, ice cream is easy, but we did company picnic for the first time. We, when we did company picnic for the first time, we had a humongous turnout for the company picnic. Which day and age. When do you hear about companies doing picnics?

Behzad Rassuli: 53:45

Yeah, I don't.

Greg Noethlich: 53:46

You don't hear about them. No, we do. In the company, the family started this many years ago a holiday party and we all go downtown and it's you know, dress up. It's suits, tuxedos, if you want. It's suits, tuxedos if you want. It's a formal holiday party. Those are usually the first things that get cut at private equity companies and we keep that alive and thriving Even 2021, when I first got here, when things were coming out of COVID and challenging the fam is like this is very important for us and we need to keep it. So I mean, anytime I go to customer events, I'm very upfront. I'm out there with my, my folks. I love to be involved. Poor Christy, who runs sales for us, she's she has has had a hard time getting used to me being with customers, maybe when she's not there, but that's part of how being upfront and out leadership and, as a result of being out and about, you have a lot of fun. Yeah.

Behzad Rassuli: 54:46

So you, that means just leading by example. So you're just an energetic person, you're comfortable having fun with your colleagues and at work and everyone just able to let loose with it. I mean, I saw your 50th anniversary party at Apex. You rented out one of the bigger restaurants and you completely transformed it into a gigantic party. It was that. Was that something you'd been looking forward to for years? Or was it and you wanted to kind of throw money against it? Or were you kind of like, oh you know, let's, let's not, let's not overdo this.

Greg Noethlich: 55:17

So that's a really ironic story about the Preston Peak kind of Greg Turner from black and yellow to bleeding blue is when I was at the apex for the first time in 2012,. Danica was signing autographs in the Peak booth. That day, danica, patrick and I was standing there looking at the line of people around their booth in the Preston booth like, oh my God, what am I missing here? I just had so much envy of that situation and I vowed at that time. I'm like I have to do something like that. And that 50th celebration that you talked about not only did we have Danica at our booth, but we had Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty, michael Waltrip, kyle Petty and John Force. Oh, you went all out. We went all in and then some, and then we got the sugar cane right on the exit of Apex so that everybody knew what we were celebrating and it was an amazing business that has been built in the automotive aftermarket and it was so fun. We went all out for sure.

Behzad Rassuli: 56:26

I mean, that must have been really rewarding for you and personally gratifying, given going, you know, going from standing in the line to being the person you know with people hosting the line. Exactly right? Yeah, no question. Yeah, I didn't stand in that line. That looked too wild for me. Yeah, when you joined this, when did you join the company, april?

Greg Noethlich: 56:42

2021. Covid. So one year after COVID kind of was identified.

Behzad Rassuli: 56:49

Yeah and uh, when you got to the office was, was it humming, was it, you know? Was it buzzing or was it? Um, everyone, everyone was still. I imagine you came, you know, being the person, the in-person employer. Uh, that you, you came straight to the office. What? What was it like when you showed up?

Greg Noethlich: 57:09

Yeah, the office hadn't been occupied for over a year, and so I felt like I'm a brand new CEO. I have to connect with the culture of this company and now I'm responsible for it. And how am I going to do that without having people around me so I can get to know? I'm just obviously came from Champion Laboratories where we were making oil filters down in Southern Illinois and really we were out for maybe one week and so people were always in the office. So when I was running that business, people were there.

Greg Noethlich: 57:37

So coming here was different. It was a new challenge that, as a leader, I had never, and a lot of everybody that was in organizations, whether you're an employee or running the business at large to figure out and navigate. The COVID challenge was tough, but we were able to, and we had our majority of our managers and leaders came in in October. So it took, you know, whatever five, six months to make that happen here. But we haven't looked back and we have a hybrid schedule now, which people have the option to come in Mondays and Fridays if they want, but the Tuesday, wednesday, thursday they're here, yeah, so when you.

Behzad Rassuli: 58:15

I was walking around your office before this meeting and on the floor above us I saw this, this plaque, or this, this series of, um, uh, different kind of. I think these are valid, the corporate values, I suppose, uh, and I make that association because have fun, make money is one of them. But, um, some of the others here. I love these and I took a picture of them and I'm going to read them off here. So, never, never, never, give up. That was a quote or a book or something. I had a book that said that, uh, when I was growing up, and I absolutely love that Handle conflict. Talk is cheap. Always fulfill your commitments, the team wins. Timing in business is everything. Hire and deal with people of passion, separate business from personal and talk to everyone. So, did these come from you or were they here before you joined? Yeah, they were here before I joined. Actually, what?

Greg Noethlich: 59:15

is your reaction when you saw them? Oh, I was like this describes me to a T. I don't know how that could have happened, but it did happen and a lot of that. You mentioned passion or that board has passion on there, or that board has passion on there. That is a big thing in my leadership style, that I think a lot of people need to have more. Show passion around something and I'm into the initiative in a big way. People get rallied around that.

Greg Noethlich: 59:57

It's infectious, and they don't want to show up without that as well.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:00:01

Yeah, they got to match your energy, yeah, so to speak. Yeah, yeah, I think that's true and I think I mean it's certainly reflected in the business. I mean, the office is buzzing. You know, company cultures are really fascinating, I suppose, organisms if you want to call them that because they're not like a strategy right, you can't just state a strategy. A culture is something that the organization kind of has to live. When you joined, let's call those kind of the the values or the culture of the company is were they being exhibited, do you feel like? Or they had the organization kind of lost its way prior to you joining?

Greg Noethlich: 1:00:40

Yeah, I think about that from time to time and you remember those. If you go to a party and you pop the top and something would like explode out of it.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:00:48

Yeah, I actually just got one of those and like blown on my face. Recently my kid found one of those.

Greg Noethlich: 1:00:53

Popped it open. Yeah.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:00:54

Yeah, so I know exactly what you're talking about.

Greg Noethlich: 1:00:55

So I felt like all of that, of those values, were in that jar of old world. When I walked in and literally I popped the top and they all came back out and it was in a very, very short order. We got our mojo back and as an organization it's.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:01:19

We have been humming and we are really, really excited about the business and where we're going. What? What happened there? Like, what was the? Was it just that the team needed one more ingredient or new leader and they were all ready to go? Or was it that, you know, they needed to build trust with you first? How did? How did that? You know? How did it happen that you could just pull a string and like get this company.

Greg Noethlich: 1:01:37

I feel like that was part of the culture number one already that had not had been gone for several years, and it was. It's easy for people to go back to their natural strengths, given that they don't have any restrictions anymore, and so that was easy for me. Number two it was reputation. So we actually had people that used to work with me at Fram or Preston, that worked at Old World at that time, and so they were able to say, hey, we know Greg, we've worked with him in the past, we know how he is, he's great. No, hey, we know Greg, we've worked with him in the past, we know how he is, he's great. No, don't worry about it, or whatever the rumor chat was. I feel like that helped everybody feel more at ease with me coming in too.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:02:19

I think that's a really. It speaks to the personality and the reputation you built before showing up here.

Greg Noethlich: 1:02:28

That, prior to even showing up and having to say anything, that there are there are people who say it's, this is going to be great when greg gets here yeah, I think you know sometimes people don't think about the how small the world really is and that the second and third degrees of separation seem to find their way. It's not just a linkedin profile, because there will be. I mean, ironically, we are we're in the process of interviewing for a pretty big position in our business and one of our board members used to work for a company that they knew people and we're talking about in another country to get a reference check on somebody that's applied that we're really highly considering. So you wouldn't think about those types of connections that end up happening. And so you're coming in feeling like references aren't important or reputation is not important.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:03:18

It really is, because it definitely helps when you think of succession planning. How quickly do you think of succession planning Like for you, you know, for your role. Let's say you vacate your role, retirement whatever reason, but is it?

Greg Noethlich: 1:03:31

Well, really quick. I'm not retiring anytime soon. I love what I do, so I've got a long, long path.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:03:35

But if I got hit by a bus, so to speak, yeah, as our head of people operations likes to call it winning the lottery, right, so you'd yeah, it's a positive way. I lean on the getting hit by a bus kind of thing. But so what what? I? And I think about this because you know, you've led other organizations and every time that you leave that spot, you kind of leave a vacancy, and so succession planning must, must, be something that you, you focus on. How does it manifest here? Is it that you, you feel like you have a, a number of people who could fill the role? Is it something that's stated early on, or is it something that's just kind of you know, look, there are a number of people that could do this job and the companies can be in great hands.

Greg Noethlich: 1:04:15

No, we spent a lot of time on it as an organization. Now it's prior. In my prior lives I never was private equity centric, one single owner centric and investor. So I think succession planning is different across the situations or company that you're in. This organization we're large enough and prominent enough that succession planning is important, and especially for the leadership team and continuity for the organization at large. I think there was some experiences over the last 10 years that this company had that succession planning needed a little bit more mapping out, and so we work in as a, as a board, and I work with our, with our board, on that, for sure what was.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:04:55

Uh, you know one of your, your hardest jobs. What was of all the jobs you went through? You know some. Maybe we'll do some quick hit questions here. You know what was, what was the hardest?

Greg Noethlich: 1:05:02

job when I was a plant manager for the first time Oklahoma city hardest job. What was your favorite job? My favorite job? Wow, I was a plant manager in Minnesota and injection molding that was really fun. Great group of people, uh, fun plant. Knew everybody by name? Um, yeah, it was. That was probably one of my favorite. One of my favorite ones? Oh man, when I was at Pactive, I got to run all the manufacturing for them. It was like 35 plants. So I always felt like that was my ideal job and that's probably where I was going to retire doing and then ultimately ended up landing this job and it's been the best and most fun ever.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:05:41

I mean it's you seem like you're having the time of your life here and you mentioned you had a mentor growing or going through your career. Do you view, how do you, how do you manifest your mentorship now? Do you view yourself as a mentor to many people? Do you kind of have the hey? You know I, I had all these experiences with a few people and here are some valuable lessons I learned, you know, do you cognizantly mentor people?

Greg Noethlich: 1:06:06

Well, I mean I've had, I have had three large mentors in my career and I feel like they were. You mentioned Michael Klein. He's one of them. I feel like they were very instrumental in my success, helping guide me in the right times, making sure I was patient at the right times, as I, as in my career Now, do I feel like I'm mentors? Yeah, sure, I think that there are people that I would work with or still don't work with that call me chat about their career a bit. So sure, I mean I'm happy to do it anyways.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:06:37

You're happy to do it, but you don't find it to be like a responsibility that's burdening you. No, not at all, it's just natural. So, as I was saying, you know, I kind of offered up something that somebody described you as. I want to give you the opportunity to describe yourself, and not now, but I want to put it in this context. It's 10 years from now and I run into somebody who has worked with Greg Natelik. What do you want them to say? And I say, hey, did you know Greg or did you work with Greg? What do you want them to say? What do you want you know? And I say, hey, did you know Greg or did you work with Greg? What do you want them to say? You know, oh, yeah, he had this impression on me, or I'd learned this from Greg. You know what? What impression or values would you like to leave? Um, would you like other people to associate you with?

Greg Noethlich: 1:07:22

Well, I want people to think that I'll do what I say, so I have integrity about it, about what I do and how I do things. I want people to look at me and be like man. He's got a lot of energy and passion for what he does and has fun doing it, and so I. If I can leave that lasting memory on anybody that has come across my path and I've worked with over the years, that'd be awesome.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:07:43

I absolutely leave this conversation feeling like it's been fun talking to you. It's been fun knowing you for the years that we've known each other, I think since 2017. And your passion and your energy is contagious and it's infectious, and so keep doing what you're doing. Thanks so much for doing this with me.

Greg Noethlich: 1:08:01

Yeah, I appreciate it, it was fun.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:08:02

Great experience, Great time Thanks.

Greg Noethlich: 1:08:04

Greg.

Behzad Rassuli: 1:08:45

Thank you. 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.