Ours is one of a handful of businesses in the world doing “ground-up” restorations of the most finely engineered automobiles ever made: Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Maserati, Duesenberg, duPont, etc. It’s the realization of a childhood dream for me, and the people I’ve hired are equally passionate about exotic cars and are some of the best artisans in the world. But none of us are particularly interested in management and systems, and we had production bottlenecks, interpersonal conflicts, and communication breakdowns that were getting in the way of getting the cars done: Restorations and service were both taking months—and even years—longer than they should have, and we were feeling frustrated and demoralized by our lack of productivity. It was obvious that we needed a tune-up, maybe even an overhaul.
We hired Deb Howard to improve our operations and management so that we were running smoothly, like the high-performance cars we restore.
Deb had the guts to tell me that my leadership was one of the core issues, and she worked with me for two years as an executive coach. She also helped me reorganize the business to rely more on group leaders to run the shop. Hard work and Deb’s straight talk resulted in positive change in both my professional and personal lives. I am better able to trust my staff to function at the level I desire while creating the freedom to pursue the goals most important to me. I now run the business. The business does not run me.
Finally, we are starting to win the awards I always knew we could. Thanks, Deb!
Chuck Wray
General Manager
Dew Motorcars, Inc.
Sterling, Virginia
