Tyler Slade: Stop Waiting for Permission

Don't wait for permission — make yourself more valuable and just do the work; opportunities follow the value, and it becomes easy for leadership to say "you're in."

Loyalty follows the person who builds people up, not the building: Tyler's team followed him from dealership to dealership because he invested in their growth and their income.

In a famously selfish industry, choose to zig while everyone else zags — being the leader who genuinely gives to others is a durable competitive advantage.

The most critical coaching happens in the postmortem right after each car deal, sold or not — real-time feedback while the details are fresh is where reps actually improve.

Culture has to survive the leader's absence, so invest the most time in developing the management layer into future GMs and dealer principals, not just coaching the front line.

Marry the old-school model that still works with new AI tools: unbiased, actionable data — like why a customer really chose you — surfaces blind spots a manager would otherwise miss.

Build a loyal base by pairing genuine, specific praise with one piece of critical feedback — people accept hard coaching from someone they know truly cares; win the heart and they'll do anything for you.