The Road with DRIVE

Bob Spitz on Growth, Grit and Guidance

 

 

Looking back, what are you most proud of achieving during your time at DRIVE?
Surviving 31 years! Just kidding. The number of people we have helped achieve success.

How has the company evolved over the four decades you’ve been here?
Wow there are so many differences I’m not sure where to start. The culture under Bill is very different to that of Mike Lee. Although Mike owned a software company, he never wanted consultants to learn or know his shop management system. Where Bill is always looking at ways to improve and change, Mike did not like change. We started out as a seminar consulting company with a short 6-month program. We now look at clients for life. Mike was a very hands-on CEO; he liked to manage and control all aspects of the company. Bill is more hands off and trusts his managers.

What major lessons about leadership and business have stuck with you through the years?
I grew up in a time of very authoritarian leadership – my way or the highway. This approach to leadership isn’t workable in today’s shops. There are better forms of leadership that encourages a better working environment. A leader has to be adaptable and willing to evolve while not surrendering the position of leading a group toward a known goal that improves life for all not just the owner of the business.

Can you share a moment or project at DRIVE that was especially meaningful or defining for you?
In 31 years I’ve had a couple of these. The development of the Graduate Advanced Program which evolved into our current EXPO is one. Another one in the creation of the on-site inspection program that ultimately led to the SBA service. I truly believe that without the launch of the SBA program we would have been in serious trouble when the pandemic hit.

What advice would you give to the next generation of leaders at DRIVE?
Stay true to the mission.

How did you stay motivated and passionate about DRIVE’s mission all these years?
Always exploring new challenges. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

What do you think makes DRIVE’s culture unique, and how can we make sure it continues?
By not being money driven. Don’t get me wrong, we all want to make a good living and have the resources to expand the business. But our goal has always been to help and to improve the lives of the people in this industry. The culture of help is the backbone of the business.

 

What are you most excited about for DRIVE’s future, even as you step into retirement?
That it will become the one source for all aspects of managing a shop.

 

As you enter this new chapter, what are you looking forward to most personally and professionally?
Sleeping in! Having the time to pursue other interests. Get more involved in my motorcycle associations. Restoring bikes. Taking long multi day rides and exploring the great northwest! Learning German and visiting where my mother grew up in Germany.

If you could relive one year at DRIVE, which year would you pick and why?
1997. The growth rate of the business was astronomical. We were putting on 60-100
new clients a month onto the program. A very exciting time!

What’s the funniest or most unexpected thing that ever happened to you at work?
Getting to a hotel, expecting to deliver the seminar in the hotel’s new pavilion only to find it wasn’t completed and having to deliver the seminar to 150 people in a tent! It felt like we were holding a revival!

If DRIVE were a movie, what role would you have played? (And who would you cast to play you?)
The talented but impossible to control subordinate! You pick the actor.

 

What’s a piece of advice you used to give – but now you’d totally change?
Pay your techs flat rate.

 

What’s one thing about DRIVE that you think only someone who’s been here 30 years would truly understand?
What a wild and great adventure it has been!

If you had to pick a theme song for your career at DRIVE, what would it be?
I did it my way!

What’s one thing you’re excited to do now that you won’t have to sit in Zoom meetings?
That I won’t have to sit in a Zoom meeting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would you ever consider coming back… as a secret consultant in disguise?
DRIVE? Who’s that? If asked I’d help but on my terms!

 

 

 

 

Here’s some Bob trivia for you….all of his DRIVE TITLES!

• Consultant
• Sr. Consultant
• Workshop Instructor
• VP Production
• Seminar Speaker
• Chief Seminar Speaker
• Public Relations Manager
• Sales Manager
• Shop Inspector
• Marketing Executive
• VP Business Development
• VP Curriculum
• SVP Curriculum
• Cohost, DRIVE FACEBOOK LIVE

 

Don’t miss Bob on DRIVE FACEBOOK LIVE HERE.