Driving in the Middle Lane: Business and Life Lessons From the Auto Industry

1. © Pat Schuch 2016
Driving in the Middle Lane:
Business and Life Lessons
From the Auto Industry
Dr. Pat Schuch, Author
President, Integra Resources LLC
Former Automotive Global Technology Manager

2. © Pat Schuch 2016
Dr. Pat Schuch’s Bio
• President, Integra Resources LLC, doing
leadership development; “7 Habits of Highly
Effective People” facilitator for 10 years.
• PE in Mechanical Eng’g. BS in Physics, MA in Education,
MBA from Harvard, Doctorate in Organizational Leadership.
• 30 years in auto industry: manufacturing, engineering,
strategic planning, global technology management.
• Author of Driving in the Middle Lane: Business and Life
Lessons From the Auto Industry.
• Married to Jon Schuch since 1971. 2 children, 6 grand-
children, 22 foster children. Travelled to 101 countries.

3. © Pat Schuch 2016
Lessons From the Auto Industry
My
Talents
My World’s Needs

4. © Pat Schuch 2016
My First Day
Lessons From the Auto Industry

5. © Pat Schuch 2016
Lessons From the Auto Industry
• Be compassionate & persistent with those who fear change.
• Adapt to hostile work environments with humor.
• Communicate well both non-verbally and verbally.
• Act in a professional manner, respecting yourself and others.
• Listen to the still, small voice.
• Think win-win.
• View mistakes as learning experiences.
• Be a mentor and role model.
• Realize the importance of sponsors.
• Respond to the urge to lead.
• Maintain balance and choose priorities wisely.
• Follow your dreams—with God’s help, all things are
possible.

6. © Pat Schuch 2016
Myths About Women in Traditional
Male Jobs: Women—
• Are absent more than men.
• Are transient because of marriage, pregnancy, home
responsibilities, and spouse’s out-of-town transfers.
• Do not have the muscle to handle discipline problems.
• Are too emotional to be in management.
• Lose their femininity taking on a man’s job.*
• Are harder to work with than men.
• Need to be protected from the unpleasantness of male jobs.
• Don’t have the necessary preparation required.
• Lack the commitment required by men’s jobs.
• Are better at detail work and following directions than at
seeing and generating big ideas.**
* Johnson, 1971 ** Carroll, 1972

7. © Pat Schuch 2016
Men Subconsciously Fear Women
as Peers Because Men—
• Believe women are unable to have on-the-job relationships
that are free of sexual tension.
• Have a physical need for women that might be exploited.
• View women as mothers, wives, sweethearts, subordinates.
• Have not been taught how to work with women as professional
colleagues and co-workers
• Fear women’s mental and physical superiority—women live longer.
• Are concerned about women (especially those without children)
concentrating on and being devoted to the job.
• View women as work freaks wanting to be facsimile men.
• Think that if a woman does the same job, it makes their own work
have less status and importance.
• Dread dealing with the concerns their wives may have about them
working with women.*
* Schoonover, 1974

8. © Pat Schuch 2016
Be compassionate & persistent
with those who fear change
• Being the first woman requires understanding.
• Men are going through a grieving process— the
loss of the status quo.
• Kübler-Ross Five Stages of Loss:
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance
• Some will come to value the differences of the new normal.
• Spend more time—not less—with people who don’t seem to like
you, so they can come to know and appreciate you.
• Being second may be worse than being first, if the organization
had a bad experience with the first one.

9. © Pat Schuch 2016
Adapt to hostile work
environments
No Women’s Restroom
• Maintain a sense of humor.
• Don’t complain.
• Don’t expect special treatment.
• Don’t drink anything.
• Train to only need a break at lunch.
• Ask a colleague for help.
• Temporarily hang up a sign.
• Request that a new restroom be built.

10. © Pat Schuch 2016
Adapt to hostile work
environments
Jig and Fixture
• Capitalize on your strengths.
• Try to make a tangible or noticeable positive difference a.s.a.p.
• Remember that your subordinates may be ridiculed for having a
female boss.

11. © Pat Schuch 2016
Communicate well
• Non-verbal
• Written vs. Oral
• Concise Elevator Speeches
• DWNDL Principle
• Presentations

12. © Pat Schuch 2016
Presenter’s Hierarchy of
Audience Response
Stay Awake
Change
Behavior
Modify Thinking
Understand
Listen

13. © Pat Schuch 2016
Act in a professional manner
• Dress
• Language
• Personal space
• See yourself and others as
equally valuable
• When passed over for promotion,
remember that lots of capable men
get passed over, too.

14. © Pat Schuch 2016
Listen to the still, small voice
• Pray, meditate, and trust God.
• God loves each of us infinitely, creating
each person for a unique purpose, a
special way to serve others.
• We are happiest when we use
our talents to fulfill that purpose.
• He guides each of us using a still,
small voice, especially when we
first awaken.

15. © Pat Schuch 2016
Think win-win
Harvard Business School

16. © Pat Schuch 2016
View mistakes as learning
experiences

17. © Pat Schuch 2016
View mistakes as learning
experiences
• Base actions on faith, not FEAR.
• Never waste or be bitter about a trial or mistake.
• Instead, embrace it and learn from it.
• What was an irritant becomes a beautiful pearl
of wisdom added to your life’s string of jewels
to share with others.

18. © Pat Schuch 2016
Be a mentor and role model
• Be the best YOU that you can be.
• Learn to give and receive help.
• Listen twice as much as you talk.
• Be an encourager—every day.
• Share your knowledge. It’s one way to
achieve immortality.
• Be a person of character and competence.
• You may be a role model (positive or
negative) even if you don’t want to be one.
• Walk your talk—it is the true meaning of
integrity.

19. © Pat Schuch 2016
Realize the importance of sponsors
• Your own hard work and talent are necessary—
but not sufficient—to get you promoted.
• My biggest career mistake: underestimating the
importance of sponsors (esp. behind the scenes).
• A sponsor is someone two levels above you who
gets your name on the important HR lists:
• High Potential List and Short List for Promotions
• Overseas Developmental Assignment List
• List of those getting large annual merit raises and
bonuses
• Presenter List for high exposure meetings.
• Stay in contact, even if you relocate.

20. © Pat Schuch 2016
Respond to the urge to lead
• Internal vs. external urge to lead
• Visioning
• Aligning

21. © Pat Schuch 2016
Generally Directionally Aligned…

22. © Pat Schuch 2016
Fully Directionally Aligned…

23. © Pat Schuch 2016
Respond to the urge to lead
• Internal vs. external urge to lead
• Visioning
• Aligning
• Empowering
• Modeling
• Serving

24. © Pat Schuch 2016
Maintain balance and
choose priorities wisely
“The priorities of your life
are like balls that you
juggle. It is important to
know which balls are
made of rubber and which
are made of glass."
-Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises from
1959 to 1994

25. © Pat Schuch 2016
Maintain balance and
choose priorities wisely
• Health, important relationships, job, interests.
• Your Life is the sum of the choices you make.
• The Life Formula:
If L = Life and C = Choice, then …
• L = C1 + C2 + C3 + . . . + C∞
∞
• or L = ∑ Cn
n=1
• To change your life, change your choices.

26. © Pat Schuch 2016
Follow your dreams—
and with God’s help,
all things are possible!
from 1959 to 1994

27. © Pat Schuch 2016
Lessons From the Auto Industry
• Be compassionate & persistent with those who fear change.
• Adapt to hostile work environments with humor.
• Communicate well both non-verbally and verbally.
• Act in a professional manner, respecting yourself and others.
• Listen to the still, small voice.
• Think win-win.
• View mistakes as learning experiences.
• Be a mentor and role model.
• Realize the importance of sponsors.
• Respond to the urge to lead.
• Maintain balance and choose priorities wisely.
• Follow your dreams—with God’s help, all things are
possible.

28. © Pat Schuch 2016
,
Thanks for your interest and attention
pat@integraresources.org
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29. © Pat Schuch 2016
Make good choices
• Spouse, family, friends, job
• Your Life is the sum of the choices you make
• The Life Formula:
If L = Life and C = Choice, then …
• L = C1 + C2 + C3 + . . . + C∞
∞
• or L = ∑ Cn
n=1
• To change your life, change your choices