Career Spotlight | 5 questions to Steve Milette

Steve Milette |?President | Nissan Canada

1)??Celebrating your 5 years at Nissan Canada Inc. if you were to recap your journey, what are you most proud of?

?Has it been 5 years already? I have been very fortunate in my career where I feel that every new role I move to ends up being the best job I have ever had up to that point. That was true with the VP of Sales role when I joined Nissan. We focused on changing the culture from a push to a pull philosophy, and this shift was eventually recognized as a North American best practice, culminating in winning the coveted Chairperson's Award.

?Like many people in their current roles, I have spent the majority of my tenure as President of NCI dealing with the pandemic and the impacts of supply shortages and the numerous curve balls sent our way the last few years. You can’t control the context, but you can always control the outcome and I am very proud of the resilience of the team at Nissan Canada Inc. (Nissan, Infiniti, NCF, NCESI) and our dealer network. We have learned that it is OK to work-from-home, it is OK to sell at products at MSRP, it is OK to adapt operational plans on a daily basis if you have to, it is OK to ask for help, especially as it pertains to mental well-being, it is OK to find the right balance for you as an individual. The challenges were numerous, but the learnings have changed the work environment for the better. ???

?Our company was going through a transformation within what was a rapidly changing industry and it takes a very talented team to deliver the great results we have enjoyed during this time. I am especially proud of the 3 consecutive years of being recognized as a Great Place to Work in Canada. There is a great culture at NCI supported by great talent and I am very fortunate to have been able to steer the team through this challenging time. Like I said, this is the best job I have ever had and I have the NCI team and dealers to thank for that experience. ?

?2)??You work with a very diverse and dynamic team, how do you help foster your team's culture and stay connected to employees?

One of my fundamental beliefs is that the human capital is the most important ingredient for success. Just like the coach of a professional hockey team, how do you extract the full capacity of your team? How do you create a culture whereby the team members will metaphorically fight the battles as one team and stand behind you on the battle lines, as they believe in the vision and the mission.

?For me, it starts with an open door policy and the accessibility of the leadership team. I have observed in my career that the higher you move up the corporate ladder, the less direct feedback one receives. It is as if approachability was inversely proportional to rank. That makes no sense to me. If you want to change things and be responsive to the needs of the team members, it has to be the exact opposite. That is the safe environment I try to create, and although my calendar is often filled with meetings, that is because I truly make time to connect with as many team members as possible.

?We have so many great cross functional teams working on the vision together but we also have a lot of work to do on the diversity, equity and inclusion front, and we are moving forward in the right direction. I am proud of the new dedicated role we created to help us navigate through these opportunities at NCI. I look forward to doing my part in our DEI journey as I truly enjoy being part of listening tours, taking part in diagonal slice meetings and holding a number of one-on-one sessions with team members from across the organization. I love getting the various perspectives and it truly does help shape priorities and strategies.

?As I am surrounded by such great talent and I certainly don’t know everything about everything, I really focused the team on shifting the mindset from a culture of information sharing to a culture of insight sharing. Don’t download information on me, but tell me what you recommend we do based on the information you have. This has led to much more effective and expedient governance meetings and places the responsibilities at the right levels.

?3)??You have mentored many employees personally, what advice would you give to those interested in the program? ?

?I personally never had an “official” mentor, but I certainly did lean on unofficial mentors during my career to help me bounce ideas and concepts and seek advice on my career development. At Nissan, we have great mentorship programs and there is a definite willingness, I would even say expectation, for leaders to make themselves available to mentorship.

?My advice to career-oriented mentees is usually along the lines that they need to have a very vivid image in their minds as to what they are seeking to accomplish. My role is to help them better identify this vision and help them find a path to their dream roles. We all have a personal brand. If I ask internal and external stakeholders, what would they tell me about your brand? Take the role you are in today and let’s project ourselves 3 years out. What legacy do you want to leave behind? Simple questions, but they tend to extract what people are truly envisioning for themselves and forces the right actions to leave that positive legacy.

?All this being said, I tend to learn much more from the mentees than I can possibly contribute to their successes. That’s the power of mentorship. With barriers removed, it becomes a true heart-to-heart discussion, giving you direct access to the vulnerabilities and opportunities of the human capital of the company.

?4)??What inspires you to be the leader you are?

?At the root, I am a competitive person. I was just wired that way. With experience, I have learned to plan to win the long game, not the short-term battles. It’s the old “winning the war, not the battle” analogy. This leads my leadership style to be more on the calm and collaborative side. Keep the long-term vision in mind and don’t get too distracted by the short-term battles. I still recall winning hockey tournaments in my youth when we clearly beat much better teams. The difference was in the intensity of the players, playing to win as one team and sticking to the system our coaches had taught us. It’s the same principles in business.

?I find my inspiration all around me, from my family to my passion for sports to my interests in the business world to society in general. I don’t have a role model per se, as I feel very confident in my own abilities and vision, but I do have several benchmarks across various walks of life. During the last two and half years, the people of NCI got a glimpse of how my mind works as I started to share weekly, then bi-weekly memos with the entire staff as we all learned to navigate through the pandemic. While the origins were to relay confidence and perhaps even distract from the stresses of the times, it has become a very effective way to communicate on culture and business imperatives.

?During the pandemic, I generally found inspiration in the books I read, the quotes I came across in coffee shops or social media, the motivation speeches from my Peloton instructors, the reflections my family had at dinner time to the numerous world events we observed. Inspiration is all around, you just need to have an open mind to accept and be able to read the signals. I truly believe in the power of positive thinking. ??

?If I go back to my own mentoring advice, the plan I had coming into my current role was to leave a legacy of open and transparent leadership; a team where trust provides a solid foundation between departments within the organization and one where pride of working for NCI is palpable.

?5)??What is next, what vision do you have for NCI in the upcoming years?

?I feel like we are just starting on this remarkable journey. I often share that great employee experience will lead to great dealership experience that will have no other choice, but to lead to exceptional customer experience. We have so much to do.

?On the Employee Experience side, we are making continuous progress and I really hope for the team to earn a 4th consecutive Great Place to Work recognition. The reality is that earning this recognition is not the objective. It is simply a measure of our progress in engagement and trust with our team members. The ultimate goal is for the people of NCI to believe and feel that this is THE BEST PLACE TO WORK. There is no survey for that.

?We are making great strides on the Dealership Experience front and we will continue to collaborate with our great dealer and retailer partners to simplify our processes and make it easier for them to transact with our customers. We have very productive Dealer Advisory Boards filled with talented leaders and we have a lot to learn from them. The challenge for all of us is to retain the great learnings and best practices discovered during the last two years and make this the new standard. We like the build-to-order business model and the focus on operational excellence in all aspects of the business.

?On the Customer Experience front, the world is changing rapidly. There is so much choice in the marketplace and our country is very progressive in the shift to EVs. Nissan is ready and we need to ensure we serve our customers in the manner they choose to be served with the focus on providing an exceptional customer experience.

?I have often heard in my career that the next 5 to 10 years will see more progress than the last 20 or 25 years. I believe that this time the statement is true. Our industry is shifting quickly and that is why this is the best industry in the world with all its complexities and opportunities.

?The future is bright at NCI and I know this team will continue to deliver great plans and results for the brands we represent and the dealers and retailers that support us across Canada. How will we know when we have arrived? When employees say that they love working at Nissan, when dealers state that they love to sell and service our vehicles and when customers absolutely love their experience with our brands.