Transmission Newsletter – vol. 7

I would like to start off by saying Happy New Year to everyone. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year’s. 2014 should be a great year as I feel that we have a lot of great teams in each market that are working well together. I know that each department has goals for this coming year and I am confident that through everyone’s effort they will all be reached. Let’s get started with our first newsletter this year. I’d like to open with a quick look back at some of the stories that our 501c3, BPM Inc., helped to impact:

In 2013...
...you helped Joe support his two children
...you helped raise thousands of dollars to feed at risk children in all of our markets and abroad
...you helped Donna keep her job and support herself
...you helped Hannah support her 3 children
...you helped a woman who had been bedridden for 15 years get to the medical treatment that could change her life
...you helped value men & women that have faithfully served our country in the military
...you helped Elizabeth provide for her 3 girls
...you helped kids in treatment at the Ronald McDonald House
...you helped Echo Bell enrich the lives of 10 battered women with computer & life skills to help them support themselves
...you helped provide school supplies to at-risk children here and abroad
...you helped value the seniors in our communities in nursing homes
...you helped advocates who stand up for victims of child abuse
...you helped Mobiar with a vehicle to provide for his family
...you helped a mother rebuild her life and provide care for her special needs child
...you helped a teenager suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease get treatment
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2014 will be a very exciting year for us. We hope and have plans to actually double the amount of cars we donate, thereby doubling the amount of people we impact. I am deeply humbled, and at the same time very proud of what we are accomplishing together. Everyone’s contribution makes these stories possible.

Our People

I would like to start this section off by congratulating our first annual Andy award winners again, Sue Koch, Justin Drieling, Nathanael Ziegler, and Aaron Armstrong. What a great honor to be recognized by your peers as demonstrating our nine Cultuarl Values and living out the Mission. To recognize them for this achievement we flew to Chicago to spend the day touring downtown Chicago and Christmas shopping with the cash we gave them. As the day came to an end, one of the winners made a comment that I believe sums up our whole organization: “You know, one thing I have learned through all this is that I am part of a great team”. All I can say to that is “Amen”. I feel the same way. This is a perfect example of the Cultural Value of Team: working together as a Team made up of Teams. 

Our Communities

We just had a great story take place around Christmas time at our Mazda store in Lincoln. There was a lady whose grandfather was a veteran and just passed away here not too long ago and he left her some money. She decided that she wanted to buy a car with that money so she came to our dealership to see what we had.

After visiting with our Sales rep here and hearing our Mission and what we are trying to do to impact people, she was so moved by the story that she decided she would donate her car. Since she was blessed with money given to her by her grandfather, she wanted to bless someone else with this gift. Not only that, she chose to buy her car from us over the local Subaru dealer, even though our competitor had a lower price, all because of our Mission. Since her grandfather was a veteran we told her that we would see to it that this car she donated would go to a veteran to honor her grandfather.

If you don’t think what you do matters, this story should prove that everything we are doing matters and you all make that happen everyday. Thanks to this salesperson (Eric Delaney) who shared this story with the customer and in turn impacted her and another veteran in need. We’ll be sharing more of this story with you as it continues to unfold.

Our World

Not a lot of news in this area right now. The majority of our focus currently is in the other three impact areas. We remain committed to this, and look forward to developing these initiatives in 2014.

At the Christmas party you saw the video where we shared our 10 Year Vision for the organization. Jump on AAGConnect.com if you haven’t gotten to see it yet. For this growth to occur it is very important that we grow leaders from within in order to step into these future leadership roles. We will continue to develop these emerging leaders and identify more within the organization as we continue on. Thanks for all you do and let’s have a great 2014.

Mike Anderson