While he may possess a myriad of titles, his role is clear-cut: As an award-winning human resources executive, entrepreneur, thought leader, writer, speaker, theatre director, producer and founder of World Child Cancer USA, AAPEX 2015 General Session Keynote Speaker Louis Efron found his passion and purpose in enlightening, inspiring and teaching others.
Efron just recently stepped down from his post as the head of Global Employee Engagement at Tesla Motors to work on his second book, which will focus on helping organizations transform their employee engagement, culture and business success. His previous book is called “How to Find a Job, Career and Life You Love.” Everything Efron does is aligned with his sense of purpose.
At AAPEX 2015, Efron will be talking about the connection of purpose to business results in organizations. His presentation seems well-timed as the steadfast silent giant known as the automotive aftermarket industry teeters on the precipice of dramatic changes, including telematics, connected cars, major industry consolidation and the employment demographic shift from Baby Boomers to millennials, just to name a few.
Regardless of the changes, Efron sees the immediate sense of purpose that employees within the auto care industry can proudly cling to. “The most important thing I see – at any company that really inspires its employees to jump out of bed each morning – is the connection to a larger mission and purpose,” Efron said. “I really do believe the auto care industry has a huge connection to purpose because if it weren’t for this industry, we wouldn’t keep the world moving. It gets people to important things in their lives – job interviews, great events, difficult events in their lives, travel, vacation, whatever it may be – all of that is connected to vehicles and moving around and I think a lot of people take that for granted.
“The most important thing for the auto care industry, or for any business, is to really ensure that the employees understand the connection behind what they are doing, even at the smallest level to the bigger picture,” he added.
Efron used the example that a counter pro selling an auto part at a parts store could potentially be helping someone get to a wedding. “There’s a much bigger connection, and I think great leadership is able to paint those pictures,” Efron said.
But how exactly does a good leader manager to maintain that kind of aspirational messaging in a consistent, regular way? Put your message everywhere, Efron says.
“The way to really capture that and infuse energy into every level of this industry is to make sure everyone employee understands that [message]… display customer stories in the lunchroom, reinforce every message you stand for as a leader visually, even in messages on a payroll check,” Efron added.
Efron will dive deeper on the subject of connecting a sense of purpose with business during the free AAPEX 2015 General Session, which takes place from 8-8:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at the Venetian.
