Rob Williams is the President of Hankook Tire North America, one of the most respected names in the global tire industry. From his early days in Virginia to leading a multinational brand, Rob’s story is one of grit, curiosity, and relentless drive. With decades of experience spanning retail, commercial, and manufacturing, he has built a reputation for developing people, simplifying processes, and leading with purpose. At Hankook, Rob continues to champion innovation and partnership through what he calls the “Four P’s”: Product, Partner, Process, and People; a framework that defines the company’s culture and customer relationships.

In this episode…

What does it take to lead with heart in an industry built on grit and innovation? In this episode of Gain Traction, host Mike Edge welcomes Rob Williams for a conversation about leadership, teamwork, and building something that lasts. Rob reflects on his journey from a small-town kid bussing tables in Virginia to heading one of the tire industry’s top brands. He shares how lessons from Goodyear and Michelin shaped his leadership style and how Hankook’s Four P’s philosophy keeps the company relentlessly focused on excellence.

Rob also takes listeners inside Hankook’s state-of-the-art plant in Clarksville, Tennessee, a symbol of how technology and teamwork can transform an entire operation. From tackling workforce challenges to investing in innovation, Rob explains how Hankook is setting new standards for quality and growth. Whether you’re in the tire business, manufacturing, or leadership yourself, this episode delivers powerful takeaways about resilience, culture, and purpose.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

[01:13] Who Rob Williams is and how he got his start in Virginia

[02:58] How a first job bussing tables taught early lessons in humility

[04:31] How Black Monday changed his career path and led him into tires

[05:46] Key takeaways from Goodyear and Michelin that shaped his leadership

[08:25] The “Four P’s”: Product, Partner, Process, and People and how they guide Hankook

[10:17] Why Rob moved to Nashville and his perspective on the city’s growth

[11:27] How Hankook supports its dealers and builds true partnerships

[15:00] Inside Hankook’s Clarksville plant: Expansion, innovation, and automation

[19:25] How Hankook is navigating workforce growth and new technology

[21:08] A funny travel story that proves even leaders have off days

[23:36] The books that inspired Rob’s leadership style and relentless mindset

[27:08] What “going from good to great to relentless” means in business and life

[33:55] When Rob turns the tables and asks Mike Edge a few personal questions

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Rob Williams LinkedIn
• Hankook Tires Website
• Tread Partners
• Gain Traction Podcast on YouTube
• Gain Traction Podcast Website
• Mike Edge on LinkedIn

Quotable Moments:

• “Don’t forget the people that brought you to the dance.”
• “Are you laying bricks, or are you building something special?”
• “We’re going from good to great… to relentless.”
• “Hankook, One Team.”
• “Innovation and teamwork can transform an entire operation.”

Action Steps:

1. Revisit your leadership framework: Identify your own “Four P’s” that guide your team or business.
2. Focus on people and partnerships: Build relationships that drive long-term results, not just transactions.
3. Invest in innovation: Explore automation and technology that streamline your operations.
4. Prioritize culture: Create an environment where every employee feels they’re building something special.
5. Adopt a relentless mindset: Never settle for “good enough”, keep improving every process and every product.

• Gain Traction Podcast
• Hankook Tire
• Hankook Tire America Corp
• Mike Edge
• Pursuit of Excellence
• Rob Williams
• Tread Partners

Transcript

00:00
How do you go from there to relentless? And relentless, you know, would be you’re the best in your field. I mean, you’re the Wayne Gretzky in hockey, you’re the Michael Jordan in basketball, you know, you’re the Jim Brown in football. And I think it’s kind of like that elusive goal of being the very best. And for us, I mean, I want us to become relentless because there’s multiple meanings for that too, you know, Never give up, never stop. Never feel like good is good enough. 

00:32
Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, the official podcast for tire business. I am Mike Edge, your host and I have the privilege of interviewing the tire dealers, shop owners, counter sales reps, technicians, industry executives and other thought leaders of our industry. This episode is brought to you by TREAD Partners. Tread Partners is the leading digital marketing agency that specializes in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops. Tread Partners works with clients that have hundreds of locations, down to five locations. Get a professional, unbiased opinion and let Tread Partners review what you’re doing. It starts with a simple conversation. To contact tread partners, visit treadpartners.com so let’s get started. Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, the official podcast for tire business. My guest today is Rob Williams, president of Hankook Tire North America. Rob, welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast. 

01:24
Hey, Mike, thanks for having me. It’s a rainy day here in Nashville, but Vanderbilt won over the weekend. So am I still celebrating? 

01:32
Listen, and I admit to this, but I know you’re probably celebrating more of the fact that you got Brian Kelly fired at LSU is really what happened. 

01:41
Yeah, I got Brian Kelly fired and I’m not going to say it, but I actually heard this morning three Tennessee schools are in the top 25, first time ever. Yep. Not Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Memphis. Now I didn’t want to say Kentucky by mistake. Sorry about that. 

01:58
No, that is right. Memphis has squeezed up in there. I didn’t. I forgot about those guys. That’s fantastic. 

02:04
Yeah, absolutely. 

02:05
No, Tennessee beat my Kentucky Wildcats. Yeah, it was. Listen, we’re on a bad streak right now. I don’t want to talk about it, but I’m an SEC fan and it is kind of cool to see Vandy in the position that they’re in. 

02:17
Really is. 

02:18
I don’t know that they’ve ever been in this position. 

02:20
Have they not? 1947, they cracked the top 10. I think today they’re number nine. So that might be the highest ever. 

02:28
Yeah, well, and they, they look formidable. It’s not like a hoax you know, they’re playing well, I like the coach, I like the team. There’s a kid actually in my hometown that was recruited by them and he’d be playing for them next year, so. Yeah, but anyway, must be a smart kid. 

02:45
Obviously all the smart kids go to Vandy. Apparently. That’s why I didn’t go there. 

02:51
Hey, me too, brother. Yeah, but I want to learn a little bit about you, like, you know, where you’re originally from and what, you know, what was your first job. Let’s, let’s talk about, you know, man. 

03:02
You’Re really going to make me go back now. 

03:03
Oh, yeah, oh yeah. 

03:05
So I grew up just outside of Richmond, Virginia, little town called Mechanicsville, Virginia. And my first job, believe it or not, was, I’m trying to think working at a dinner theater, busing tables. 

03:19
Nice. 

03:20
And the dinner theater had, you know, a lot of plays and shows and it was a great experience to meet a lot of really neat people. I think I was 15 at the time. And I will say, the little town I grew up in never had a mayor. And that was always my aspiration, to be the first mayor of Mechanicsville. And today in 2025, I don’t know that they have one because I left there 26 years ago, never to return other than to visit. 

03:51
That’s a great story. Well, and that’s a great job too. You get, you learn a lot starting at the bottom of the ladder there. 

03:58
Absolutely. 

04:00
Yeah. I tell people that I worked in my dad’s stores, but convenience store business is one of them and yeah, it’s a good place to, you know, get stepped on a little bit and. Oh yeah, pushed around a little bit, you know, mentally, very humble for sure. 

04:16
But at 15, that’s all, you know, right. Is you just want a paycheck at that point. And free food. I got free food as well. So I really enjoy that part of. 

04:25
It that is with boys at that age. That’s definitely. Yeah, that’s that inspiration right there. 

04:31
So navigate. 

04:33
How did you get to the tire business? 

04:36
I tell you, Mike, so I’m not going to say how old I am, but I did graduate, you remember, Maybe if you don’t remember, Black Monday in 1987, October of 87, I was looking to graduate and went to Virginia Commonwealth. Go Rams. And you know, I was going to go into either finance. I had a brother in the stock business, an uncle in the insurance business, another uncle in the real estate business, and figured, hey, I’m gonna do one of those, even though I Came from a very blue collar family. When that happened, like the whole world stopped in 87. So going into any of those industries were totally out. 

05:19
So like most people in the tire business, you know, I applied and got accepted into the Goodyear management training program thinking, you know what, I’ll probably do this for a year or two and I’ll move on to something else. And, and to quote an old mafia movie man, once you’re in, you never get out. Like the industry, it pulls you in, you just can’t get out. 

05:39
It happened to me and I was. 

05:41
Yeah. 

05:42
So that. Go ahead you so good. You’re you with the program and yeah. 

05:46
So I, I started there and retail stores actually what I learned Mike, the main thing about customer service and you know, the first store they put me in was in a very, I’ll just say repressed area of Richmond. 

06:01
Okay. 

06:02
The store had never made money. A dealer owned it, they gave it up. Company owned, moved in and I just, I took care of customers. Only thing I knew at 23, 24 and called everybody sir and look at their license plate back before it was technology. And you know, I’d see the car pull in. I said, Mr. Edge, how you doing today? You know, welcome to my store. And from there I flourished. I mean I was very fortunate. You know, spent 19 years, they’re probably one of the few that flipped over to another tire company, well known with the marshmallow man. So I left the blimp company, went to the marshmallow man and worked for that company. Owned distribution for about 10 years on the commercial side. So after running retail, you know, became a district manager. 

06:53
So really just learned the business from the ground up at the company owned distribution, tci. I eventually became vice president of commercial operations. And they did a phenomenal job, both companies did, of teaching you every facet of the business. I mean whether it be sales, marketing, operations, inventory, distribution. And thoroughly enjoyed both of those. I tried to get out for about a year and a half, two years, went to triple aaa. I was actually still in the business because I was running their cares. Vice President and got a call about Hankook in 2018. And funny story, when I used to work for the other company, Hankook was actually one of my vendors and helped me out immensely when we had a shortage. And I’m like, you know, I really like the company. 

07:49
And when I interviewed with him, I told that story to the CEO or the president of North America at that time. And he goes, I like you. I think you might have a Spot here with us. So I started in 2019, and Mike, I’m one of those that, you know, paid. Paid my way through college, work, and three jobs. Never really aspired to the position I’m in. After a couple years at Hankook, I really felt like it would be an opportunity for me to maybe take this role on. And I’m very proud of the team we’ve put together. And I started with what I call my four P’s, and, you know, the first one is you got to have a great product right at the end of the day, and we have an innovative product that hopefully we’ll talk a little bit about that. 

08:36
Everybody’s very proud of the product we have here at Hankook and how well it performs and the innovation and the technology that we have. The second one, you can do these in any order you want. But the partner. The partners for us are very important that we have to have partners to take our product to the market. We’re very fortunate to have a great distribution network and some of the best partners that truly bring value to our product. The third is what I call kind of the process, the procedure, how we actually make sure that we can be easier to do business with here at Hankook. And we want to make sure that a dealer feels like, hey, we can take your product and do well. And I actually kind of interchange that with the. With profit. 

09:26
I want to make sure that our dealers feel like they can make a good profit with their product because that’s what they’re in the business to do. So kind of the procedure and the profit all go hand in hand. And then fourth, and certainly the most important is the people and to put together a team that believes in what you’re doing, that every day comes in with a bit of enthusiasm and passion to be the very best they can be. And that. That’s had me here now for almost six, going on seven years, the last three heading up North America and having an absolute blast doing it. You know, there’s some days that you go home, you just want to get in the La Z boy and kick back and do nothing. The wife is like, you got a honeydew less. 

10:08
Your job’s not over. But. But otherwise, I got to admit, I found a home that just suits me and fits. 

10:15
That’s all. 

10:15
It’s me very well. Yeah. 

10:17
So did you move to Nashville for the job? 

10:19
I did, yeah. Yes. I’ve moved around like most of us tire nerds. 

10:23
Yeah. 

10:24
That have moved around over the years, but, yeah, we’ve Been in Nashville now for about seven years. 

10:29
Nice. Well, you’ve even seen the growth of it. It’s just incredible. Well, I tell people all the time because I have to drive through Nashville, but it’s like at this point the infrastructure will never catch up with the population. It just, it just seems like there’s always going to be. They’re going to behind. Be behind somewhere. 

10:48
Yeah, Yeah. I live 27 miles and it took me an hour and five minutes this morning to get in. Of course, the rain doesn’t help around here. Anytime you get anything but a sunny day, the traffic gets worse. 

10:59
Yes, it does. Well, that’s a great story and I love your honesty about it, but I like your four P’s. And you know, if there’s one of the things I wanted to ask you because our listening audience, you know, when we met, and to his credit, Chris Taylor with Crane, the owner of tire business introduced us and thought you’d be a good addition to our podcast. And I, I told you, our listening audiences, there’s primary tire shop owners, operators, managers, if there’s anything that you could tell them that you would want them to know about you guys. Is there anything else that stands out besides the four piece? 

11:34
Yeah, Mike, for sure. I think our partners, we have to understand the challenges that they have. And a good example would be, you know, just this SKU proliferation today is just growing. Oh, yeah, enormously. And I can only imagine, you know, having to balance all the different manufacturers, all the different SKUs. So we want to try to help them with maybe like a power line, something that we can kind of customize for their market to make sure they have the right product in the right place at the right time. 

12:06
Nice. 

12:07
So I think, you know, just helping them with the product portfolio is very important. I think the other one that we’re really improving on as far as the process is, you know, sellout programs. We’ve got to have programs that are helpful to the dealer. You know, whether we do like a hand cook one program. If they have associate dealers, you know, we have, you know, secondary supply to make sure they can get their inventory just in time from pretty much any wholesaler. You know, we have manufacturers rebates that we’re still very aggressively pursuing. We try to have seasonal promotions. You know, obviously this is a very busy time for all weather and even winter product in the northern climates to make sure that we truly partner with them and all the different facets. 

12:55
And I mentioned earlier, and I’m never ashamed to admit it, you know, that the P word of profit is not a bad word. And you know, if we come out with innovative products that are accepted by the market, you know, hopefully the price is a little bit higher to the market so they can make a good profit on our product. And we want to listen to the dealers when they say, hey, we need, you know, we get market or profit compression. We need your help hand cook that. We need to listen and understand how we can help them with that. So for us, I think it’s really having a very well rounded product, very well rounded programs. 

13:32
And then, you know, my fourth P I mentioned a few minutes ago was people, I want my folks to be on the ground in the stores helping the dealers. We were not a remote company. We’re our hands on. You know, I always say kind of get your butts and trucks and, you know, your boots on the ground and that’s the company that we are, you know, and as a result, we may not have as many people as some of the larger manufacturers, but we have some of the best. So I’m going to say quality over quantity. How about that? 

14:05
Well, that’s well said. And you stated two things that I’ve, I mean, just dealers that I know in my area because I’m always curious, who do you buy from? Why do you buy from their distributors or whatever? And they go, well, first of all, they show, you know, that’s number one. I see the rep a lot. We become friends, whatever it might be. But it’s just the fact that, look, they all know that there’s going to be problems and I know that I can pick up the phone and call this person and they’re going to address it and take care of it. So that’s that point. 

14:33
And then the other one you always hear is, well, I deal with these guys because they leave a little meat on the bone and they allow me to profit, you know, and it’s not overly dictated to me what I’m going to make where I can have some room to, you know, flexibility with the different customers I have. 

14:47
Right. 

14:48
And I think that’s well said. But you obviously, you’ve had good retail experience to feel that and I can feel that from you. 

14:56
Yep, yep, absolutely. I’ve kind of lived a day in the life. For sure. 

14:59
For sure. Well, I did want to talk about your plant in Clarksville. How many years ago did you guys complete that plant? 

15:08
Yeah. So Mike, give you a little background. We actually started what we call phase one production in 2017. 

15:17
Okay. 

15:17
And that was all passenger light truck capacity, really up to 5 million units. You know, today with all the sizing, we look at it more on a ton, on a pound. Today we do about 4.5, 4.6 million units. A lot of high inch product as well. And we broke ground on phase two and phase three back in 2023. So to give you a little insight about our phase two and phase three. Phase two is very close to being complete. If I can just talk the fire marshal into giving us air co. We got to get the sprinkler system fully intact. And phase two will be about another 5 million passenger and light truck units. But we get to full capacity, we expect to have first tire, knock on wood, the Monday after Thanksgiving. Yeah, absolutely. So we’re moving quite rapidly. 

16:20
Then phase three, which is really simultaneous with phase two under the roof, we’re just having to set the equipment up in phases, will be after the first of the year where we’ll be doing medium truck, which I spent really the latter part of my career on the medium truck side. So I got to admit I am very excited to be there when the first tire rolls off for medium truck in North America. And we do expect the first tire to commit sometime in January on the medium truck. Mike, just a couple of facts. We’ll have 2.2 million square feet under roof. 

17:02
Wow. 

17:03
As I mentioned, we’ll be doing 10 million passenger light truck, 1 million medium truck when we’re at capacity. The one thing that people say, man, what keeps you up at night? Well, before we started phase two and three, we had about right at a thousand team members. We will have over 2,200 team members sometime next year. And you can only imagine with the labor market the way it is, that is very difficult. You know, it’s a very demanding job physically, mentally, you know, intellectually. And to have more than double the workforce. I got to give a tribute to my HR team up in Clarksville. They’ve done a tremendous job. They’re constantly recruiting, whether it be at the Fort Campbell Army Base, which we’ve had a great rapport with Austin Peay State University, the local university there in Clarksville. 

18:03
We’ve had really good luck co oping with them, putting together programs to graduate students that can help us, you know, specifically in engineering on their STEM program, and then just word of mouth, you know, getting out in the community, being actively involved where everybody knows the name Hankook. We expect to be the single largest private employer by this time next year in the Clarksville region. 

18:29
Oh, man, that’s fantastic. I mean, that’s a lot of growth in a short period of time. But I’ve driven by the plant. I’d love to have an opportunity to see it again, as you guys can make that happen. That’d be awesome. I don’t know what it is. I love plants, but I do like tire plants. I’m stuck on that smell. I think. I just, you know, once it gets in your blood, I guess it just gets there, like they say, right? 

18:52
Well, I’ll be honest with you don’t smell as much there because once again, innovation and technology and little things like, you know, the filtration system and highly automated 3D robotic forklifts everywhere. You’re walking around and you’ll see a forklift go by with pallets of rubber and bead bundles and, you know, it’s highly automated, highly technical. And once again, you got to have a lot of really good folks that are passionate about what they’re doing to help you get those 11 million units produced. 

19:25
So how much leverage has this plant giving you guys in. In the era of tariffs now? 

19:32
You know, Mike, that’s the million dollar question. You know, we still sell far more than we can produce domestically. So obviously everything we import is gotta have a tariff on it. And most everybody knows that there are a lot of different raw materials that you still have to import. And all of those are tariff or there’s a certain type of steel that can only be made in three countries that the USTMA board, we all got together recently and talked about, you know, things like carbon black and you know, natural rubber obviously has all got to be imported. All of that is still going to be tariffed. And just to be very transparent, the labor in the US is far greater than it is any other country. 

20:18
So the truth is you’re really helping out more from a supply chain and availability standpoint, but not necessarily a cost standpoint. You know, you kind of control the supply chain a lot better. You’re not worried about containers and vessel issues and port problems that we’ve all experienced over the last four to five years. So for us, it’s more about having the product being made in the US the quality of the US and then being able to control the distribution. Definitely more so than the cost. 

20:51
I appreciate that is a good explanation because there is, I mean, the ingredients are still, there’s so many ingredients, like you said, are still imported. So it’s. 

20:59
Yes. 

21:00
And then what the labor cost Here, it just almost. It’s. It’s probably a wash, but. 

21:06
Yeah. 

21:08
On a personal level, I always like to let people know who my guest is by asking certain questions or whatever. And. And I always like to know, is there a. Do you have a funny story or a story in your career that kind of stands out in your mind that you’d like to share people with? Kind of, maybe. Let’s know who. 

21:25
Probably think about that one Mike, the one that always comes to mind. And I’m not going to name any names, so this way I can make sure that, you know, nobody’s incriminated. 

21:35
Plausible. 

21:36
Yeah. When I was a VP of operations at a aforementioned company, I had a gentleman that worked for me. He was always on the road, just traveling and did a great job for me. And I called him up and I said, hey, man, I need you in Charleston, West Virginia, like today. He goes, well, I mean, like, when I said, no, I mean, I need you there today. Get on the next plane. Got something going on I need your help on. He said, okay. And I said, give me a call when you get there. So this was, let’s say, like it is now about 10:30 in the morning. So about 4:30, I hadn’t heard from him. 5:00′, clock, hadn’t heard from me. And then finally my phone rings and it’s this individual. And I’m like, hey, what took you so long? 

22:18
He’s like, moss, I got a problem. I was like, what? He said, you remember you told me to go to Charleston, West Virginia? And I said, yep. He goes, you won’t believe this. I’m actually in Charleston, South Carolina. I’m like, what? He goes, I kid you not. I just booked it for Charleston, South Carolina. I get on the plane and, you know, when the. The pilot or the flight attendant says, hey, we’re going to Charleston, South Carolina. He’s like, oh, here’s my sign. It’s like, oh, my God, I can’t tell my boss this. So I kid you not, the guys in Charleston, South Carolina, instead of Charleston, West Virginia. So up to this day, every time I talk to him, I just call him, hey, how’s my Charleston boy doing? And he goes, which one? 

23:02
So those of us that travel a lot, I guess it could happen. And this was it. Can. 

23:08
That’s. That is proof. I mean, you know, sometimes you wonder if you got on the right flight or whatever. But he was probably so focused on the word Charleston, he didn’t even pay attention. 

23:17
He was like, rob, I didn’t want to Call you. I knew you would call me sooner or later because I am so embarrassed because I’m literally in Charleston, South Carolina, trying to book a flight to Charleston, West Virginia. But I got to go back through Charlotte again. And that’s where he started out, was in Charlotte. 

23:33
Oh, that’s even better. That’s funny. Was there like a favorite book that you’ve got or anything you recommend out there? 

23:40
Yeah, you know, Mike, I really like Audible Books and the old fashioned hard bound book, you know, Good to Great by Jim Collins is a kind of an oldie, but a goodie. And there’s one that I’ve even read since then. I don’t remember who wrote it, and it may have been him subsequent. Is good to great to relentless. And you know, a lot of people say, hey, we want to go from good to great. And at Hancock, that’s kind of where I feel like we are. You know, we’re a really good company, that we got a great product, we got great people. But how do you go from there to relentless? And relentless, you know, would be, you’re the best in your field. I mean, you’re the Wayne Gretzky in hockey, you’re the Michael Jordan in basketball. 

24:25
You know, you’re the Jim Brown in football. And I think it’s kind of like that elusive goal of being the very best. And for us, I mean, I want us to become relentless because there’s multiple meanings for that too. You know, never give up, never stop, never feel like good is good enough. And that’s kind of my mantra, is to just be relentless about everything you do, whether it be in, you know, in work or in life. 

24:55
That’s. It’s interesting you bring that up. I, I don’t know why, but I’ve been on a little kick of watching these. Excuse me, videos with Nick Saban. Oh, yeah. 

25:05
Oh, yeah. 

25:06
I, I think he’s relentless. I think his pursuit of excellence was as almost. Well, there’s second to none. I think he as a coach is probably the, I mean, he set the standard high and not, not because of the achievements and the titles, but the way he went about it. And I, I like that relentless attitude. I don’t know if everybody remembers this, but do you remember when they played in the national championship game against Notre Dame maybe eight years ago or something? They destroyed them. They beat him 42 to 6 or something like that. But this was the fourth quarter. 

25:39
And I don’t know if you remember this for Alabama, and Alabama’s quarterback, which I’m drawing a blank right now, got in an argument, and they were shoving each other on the field right before a play, and it looked like some type of unsportsman like character between them. And at the end of the game, there was only like 2 minutes left in the game. And at the end of the game, you know, this is not the press on the field where they congratulate Nick, but when he’s sitting at the table, they ask him, did that really disappoint you? And he said, absolutely not. You guys don’t know what was going on there. He said, I’ve always taught them to the score. Doesn’t matter. Do not worry about the score. The score is my job. Your job is the next play. 

26:18
He said they were actually arguing over an audible. And the center has the right to audible his. His audibles to the. To the line, and it’s supposed to correlate with the quarterback. And they had a disagreement, and they were. They were roommates. They’re good friends, he said, but that’s how intensely they were focused on not the score, but the excellence in the next play. He goes. He goes, I absolutely love. This is Nick. He goes, I love it. That’s what I want to see out of my players. They weren’t worried about the scoreboard. They were worried about getting the next play right. And I thought, man, he had that. That’s. That was like proof that he had ingrained that relentless attitude into his kids. You know, they weren’t thinking about, hey, we’re about to win the national championship. 

26:58
They were arguing over the next play. I love it. Isn’t that cool? Yeah. Yeah. Well, is there a. Is there a quote mantra or something that you live by or something you use? 

27:09
Yeah, Mike, one thing I learned years ago, when I first got my first promotion, one of the guys that worked for me said, hey, you know, you’re on to bigger and better things, but don’t ever forget the people that brought you to the dance, if you will, and, you know, hey, you’re running a retail store now, and one day I see you going on to do bigger things. But don’t forget the guy back in the back changing tires or, you know, servicing a car or the guy that’s up front writing up work orders. And that stuck with me and what I do now at Hankook and with their team. Like, we have a town hall this coming week, and I get a chance to present quite often, and I like to tell the same story that I think really relates with who we Are. 

27:53
And it goes back to Roman times, you know, where you had three guys doing the exact same job. And go, ask the first guy, what are you doing? He goes, I’m just laying bricks. You know, mortar and bricks all day, just toiling in the hot sun. You know, this job is horrible. Ask the second guy, what are you doing? Well, he’s doing the same thing. Well, I’m laying bricks, but I’m gonna build this wall. It’s going to be, you know, a beautiful, you know, 10 story wall. It’s like, okay. So he asked the third guy, what are you doing? He’s like, I am laying the first brick, the most important brick for the foundation of the most beautiful church ever, the Notre Dame Cathedral. And so he’s got the vision of what’s really transpiring. 

28:35
And I truly share this story every time we do a new hire orientation or at town hall, because then I say to the team, hey, are you guys laying bricks? Are we doing something very special here? 

28:48
Yeah. 

28:49
And then we close out every meeting after that and I get somebody in the room to say hand cook. And then everybody else automatically knows. They say one team. So I’ll say, Mike, you’re the cheerleader today and you’ll say hand cook as loud as you can. And everybody says, one team. And the reason why I think that’s so important, Mike, is when you look at the organization that ultimately I’m responsible for. I’ve got folks doing any number of jobs and everyone matters equally because without somebody and customer service taking the order, nothing matters. The person collecting the money down in army, you know, if I don’t get paid, nothing matters. You know, the guy out on the line and the Clarksville plant that’s making sure that, you know, the extruding is done to the exacting standards. 

29:41
If we don’t get that done perfectly, nothing else matters. So the mantra of Hankook, one team and are you laying bricks? Are you doing something special? I think is truly starting to resonate with the team here at Handbook. 

29:55
Man, I tell you what, Rob, that’s a, that’s well said. I, it’s inspirational and you, you obviously are passionate about what you do and I think you’ve given a, a great representation of what Hankook is, at least in North America, to the, the audience and I really appreciate you expressing it. But being here today, it’s really. Thank you. And I, I love that expression of, you know, I’m, I’m building, I’m building a beautiful church. Or building the cathedral, whatever. But I’m not just laying bricks. And when everybody sees it that way, it’s. 

30:31
Yeah, you’re all. 

30:32
Everybody’s on the same. On the same team. I mean, it’s. That’s powerful. Thank you. 

30:38
Very true. Right? Hey, well, thank you. And half. I got like 30 seconds more. If it’s okay, I want to Table on Mike Edge. 

30:45
Oh, boy. 

30:46
Can I ask you two questions? Two? I’m gonna throw you a softball. What’s your favorite car? What’s your favorite car? I mean, like your dream car. 

30:55
This is going to sound crazy. Okay. A refurbished 1963 International Scout. 

31:00
Ooh, I like it. Why International Scout? 

31:04
My dad had one growing up and he sold it when I was 14, and I thought I was going to get it to drive when I was 16. Now his was beat up really bad, but I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And I loved it because he used to take me hunting in it. But, you know, when you see these things refurbished today. Yeah, Godly. They’re, they’re. It’s a point of nostalgia for me, but I love the simplicity of it. And they’re a little four cylinder, but they last forever and they run like little tanks. And I just. Yeah, that was always my. If I, if I had my pick today, if someone said, this is what. 

31:39
You’Re getting, that’s what it takes, that’s awesome. I like that. I like that. All right, now the second one’s gonna be a little bit tougher. 

31:44
Oh, gosh. 

31:45
So you host a lot of different podcasts other than the one today. What’s been your most entertaining podcast and why? 

31:56
Probably. I probably have two. One of them is Walter labeck with Point S Tire. Just because he was so self deprecating when he told his. His humorous story was a job interview. It wasn’t even the tire industry at the time. But he, his fly was open and his shirt was hanging out and he said, and he was laughing, telling it. But I felt the, I felt the embarrassment when he was telling me. And so it really caught me off guard because I don’t like to know these stories, you know, before we start podcasting, I just tell him, I expect these questions and what he told us. I couldn’t quit laughing because I could think of the intensity, the sweat, you know, and he said, well, you know what happens for every guy because your brain goes in the 50% mode. 

32:41
You’re 50% of your brain’s going, hey, do I zip up or ignore it. The other one’s trying to continually have a conversation with these people and you just got all this turmoil going on in your head. That was funny. And the other one was Sonny McDonald. He’s been one of, he’s with Toyota Tire, but he’s been one of the funniest guys. He, his first job, he worked for Discount Tire. He was at IU with the Indian University. And the, his manager used to let the guys, all the workers use the bays before they were open. So he said, Saturday morning, I was there early 11 Saturday morning, I had my car on a lift and I don’t remember what I was doing, but I had my tires off, whatever, maybe I checked my brakes or something. 

33:22
And he said, but lo and behold, he comes back up and he says, Hey, 15 minutes guys, we’re open at 8 o’, clock, the line’s already starting. And he said, now mind you, he said we had five or six bays here and the doors here, so it’s all parallel. It’s just right there on the front side of the building. And he goes, he comes back and he goes, guys, get your cars out of here. Five minutes, we’re opening. And he said, you know, I’m a typical 18 year old, 19 year old at the time. I do what he tells us. Finally at the last second, I’m backing out and my back, right wheel falls off. I don’t put the lug nuts. 

33:56
Oh, that’s a cardinal sin, right? Yeah. 

33:59
And he goes, and what am I gonna, he goes, what am I gonna do? Look at the gas to go, don’t worry, this is my car, but we’ll treat yours better. Anyway, I said, did you keep your job? He said, yeah. Stated I stayed in the industry, obviously. And anyway, those two just stand out. 

34:16
Yeah, good. 

34:17
I like, I like good humor. 

34:20
Yeah, good. 

34:21
So I appreciate the questions. Thank you. 

34:24
Absolutely. My pleasure. Appreciate your answer. I’m candidly. 

34:27
Yeah, absolutely. Well, we’ll have you back sometime and I look forward to. I’ll take you up on the Clarksville visit one day. 

34:35
Absolutely. I’ll definitely love to host you up there anytime. 

34:39
Awesome. To all our audience out there, as usual, thanks for listening. And if you do want to reach me for any reason or give us recommendations for guests, please email me [email protected] until next time, have a great day.