When most people hear the word CEO, they think of names like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos and assume the title has nothing to do with running an independent repair shop. Tom Grady disagrees. By textbook definition, he points out, the main differences are that big-company CEOs report to a board, are responsible for a share price, and probably earn a bit more. The core job is the same.
In episode 9 of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey talks with Tom, owner of Red Hawk Auto Service and a veteran of Ford, Nissan, and dealership management, about the four primary roles every independent CEO needs to embrace to grow their company.
What You Will Learn
- There is a lot of confusion around what it means to be a CEO
- As business owners, we need to be forward-thinking and change our mindset today
- About the importance of developing a strategy
- What is the right way to develop a culture
- Barking orders versus generating internal customers’ autonomy
Questions Asked in This Episode
- Could you give us a bit of your background and how you got where you are today?
- When you talk about looking at the future, you’re protecting that, and you’re looking and saying, every action we do today and every way we treat our internal and external customers will affect our future. How do you maintain this mindset?
Clearing Up the Confusion About Being a CEO
Tom opens by addressing the confusion around what it means to be a CEO. Many shop owners think the title is either a formality or something reserved for large companies. In reality, any owner who is responsible for the direction, people, and results of a business is already doing CEO work, whether they are doing it well or not.
His background gives him a useful perspective. Having worked inside major manufacturers and run dealerships in New York and California, Tom has seen how large organizations develop leaders and strategy. He brings that discipline to an independent shop.
One reason the confusion persists is that many owners associate the CEO title with distance from the work, as if becoming a CEO means losing touch with customers and technicians. In reality, good CEOs of small businesses stay connected to the front lines. They simply spend that time listening, observing, and coaching rather than doing the work themselves. The goal is not to disappear from the shop. It is to change the role you play in it.
Forward Thinking Starts Today
Around the 6 minute mark, Tom explains that business owners need to become forward-thinking and change their mindset now. Every action taken today, and every way internal and external customers are treated, shapes the company’s future. Kim asks how he maintains that mindset, and his answer centers on discipline: regularly stepping back from the day-to-day to look at where the business is headed.
Forward-thinking leaders regularly ask questions such as: What will our customers need in three years? How will vehicle technology change our work? Who on our team will be ready for more responsibility? What could disrupt our business, and how would we respond? Making time for these questions, even monthly, helps owners spot opportunities and threats early. Many leaders schedule a quarterly planning day away from the shop to focus entirely on the future.
Developing a Real Strategy
Strategy is one of the four roles Tom highlights. Without one, a shop simply reacts to whatever comes through the door. With one, the owner makes deliberate choices about which customers to serve, which services to offer, how to price, and how to grow. A strategy does not have to be complicated, but it does have to be written down and shared.
The SBA’s guide to writing a business plan offers a simple structure, and ATI’s Plan Your Best Year Yet series walks shop owners through annual planning.
A simple strategy for an independent shop can be built around a few core decisions. Who is your ideal customer? What services will you be known for? How will you price compared with competitors? How will customers find you? How will you deliver a better experience than alternatives? Answering these questions in writing creates a reference point for daily decisions. When a new opportunity appears, you can ask whether it fits the strategy or distracts from it.
Strategy also means saying no. Many shops dilute their focus by trying to serve every vehicle and every customer at every price point. Choosing a lane makes marketing easier, training more focused, and operations more efficient.
The Right Way to Develop Culture
Tom also discusses how to develop culture the right way. Culture is the set of behaviors that are accepted, rewarded, and tolerated in your shop. If the owner does not shape it deliberately, it forms on its own, often around the loudest or most negative person in the building. Developing culture means defining values, hiring for them, training around them, and holding everyone accountable to them, including the owner.
ATI’s Create a Culture of Possibilities and Bruce Spencer’s episode Bringing the Best of Corporate America into the Automotive Industry offer more on this topic.
Values only become culture when they show up in daily behavior. A practical way to make that happen is to tie each value to specific actions. If one of your values is “transparency,” it might mean sending photos with every inspection and explaining every line on an invoice. If another is “teamwork,” it might mean technicians helping each other without being asked. Recognizing people when they demonstrate these behaviors, and addressing it when they do not, turns words on a wall into a living culture.
Internal Customer Training
Training is another CEO responsibility. Tom talks about developing internal customers so they can grow into their roles and take on more. When people are trained well, they need less supervision and can make better decisions, which frees the owner to focus on the future.
Training is one of the most direct ways to show employees that the business is invested in them. It also reduces mistakes, improves efficiency, and prepares people for bigger roles. A training plan for each employee, covering technical skills, communication skills, and leadership skills where appropriate, helps make training consistent rather than occasional. Many shops budget a set number of training hours per employee each year and track progress toward that goal.
Training also supports succession and growth. A shop that develops people internally always has someone ready to step into a bigger role when an opportunity opens. That bench of trained employees is what allows a CEO to open a second location, take extended time off, or eventually sell the business without everything falling apart.
Barking Orders vs. Creating Autonomy
Finally, Tom contrasts barking orders with generating autonomy. Command-and-control leadership may get short-term compliance, but it does not build a team that thinks for itself. Leaders who explain the why, set clear expectations, and trust people to deliver get more commitment and better results over time.
Command-and-control leadership often comes from good intentions. Owners who know how to do the work want it done right, and telling people exactly what to do feels efficient. But constant orders train people to wait for instructions, stifle new ideas, and burn out the leader, who becomes the bottleneck for every decision. Leaders who build autonomy explain the goal, share the reasoning, set expectations, and then step back. They check results, coach when needed, and let people own their work.
The shift can feel slower at first, because people need time to learn. Over months, though, the team becomes faster, more capable, and more engaged, and the owner gains time for the strategic work that grows the business.
What Big-Company Experience Teaches Independent Owners
Tom’s background with major manufacturers and dealerships offers a perspective many independent owners never see. Large organizations rely on structured planning cycles, clear job descriptions, formal training, performance reviews, and metrics reviewed on a regular schedule. Those practices can seem like corporate bureaucracy, but scaled to the size of an independent shop, they provide the same benefits: clarity, consistency, and the ability to grow without the owner doing everything.
Independent shops have advantages large organizations envy, such as speed, personal relationships, and flexibility. Combining those strengths with a few disciplined CEO habits gives owners the best of both worlds.
Four CEO Roles to Put on Your Calendar
- Mindset: Set aside time each week to think about the future of the business.
- Strategy: Write a one-page plan for the next 12 months and share it with your leaders.
- Training: Identify one development opportunity for each person on your team.
- Culture: Name your core values and discuss one of them at every team meeting.
For a companion conversation, listen to Mike Bennett in Learning to Get Out of Our Company’s Way and Brian Hammond in From Shop Owner to Business Owner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a small auto repair shop owner really be a CEO?
Yes. Any owner responsible for the direction, people, and results of a business is already doing CEO work, whether well or poorly. The main differences at large companies are things like reporting to a board and answering for a share price. The core job is the same: think ahead, set strategy, build culture, and develop people. Being a CEO of a small shop does not mean losing touch with customers. It means changing the role you play in daily work.
How do I create a strategy for my auto repair shop?
Start by answering a few questions in writing. Who is your ideal customer? Which services do you want to be known for? How will you price compared with competitors? How will customers find you, and why will they choose you over alternatives? Keep it to a page or two, share it with your leaders, and review it regularly. When a new opportunity appears, use the plan to decide whether it fits or would distract the shop from its focus.
How do you build a positive culture in a repair shop?
Define a few core values and tie each one to specific, visible behaviors. If a value is transparency, it might mean photos with every inspection. If it is teamwork, it might mean technicians helping each other without being asked. Hire with those values in mind, recognize people when they demonstrate them, and address it when they do not, including when the owner falls short. Culture is what gets accepted and rewarded every day, not what is written on a poster.
Why is command-and-control leadership a problem in a shop?
Giving constant orders may get quick compliance, but it trains people to wait for instructions, discourages new ideas, and makes the owner the bottleneck for every decision. It also wears out the leader. Explaining the goal and the reasoning, setting clear expectations, and then letting people own the work builds a team that thinks for itself. The shift feels slower at first while people learn, but over time the team becomes faster and more engaged.
Resources and Links From This Episode
Connect With the Guests
- Tom: LinkedIn
