Lookers CEO: “I always try to catch people doing things right.”

Last week, Glassdoor announced the Highest Rated CEOs in the UK for 2017, and Lookers (the car dealership)  CEO Andy Bruce came in at #12. Andy's approval rating is higher than that of Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs) and Paul Polman (Unilever), so he knows a thing or two about being a good boss! We spoke exclusively to Andy about his views on leadership, why he values peer group recognition and what job he would have done if he wasn't CEO. Glassdoor: What was your first job? My first "real" job was a graduate trainee at Land Rover as the assistant to the UK Sales Director. Little could I have imagined then that I'd go on to hold that role later in my career!   Glassdoor: What does “leadership” mean to you? It's about inspiring people to maximise their potential. It's important to set the cultural tone and to set out the vision and strategy clearly. After that, get out of the way and let people manage through empowering them within a devolved framework. Glassdoor: What has been your most rewarding moment as CEO? Your most challenging?  The most memorable moment was having the honour of collecting the award for Dealer Group of the Year in 2016. It's made all the more valuable because it’s selected by the people within the industry itself and peer recognition is hard to beat. More generally, seeing the company grow its sales and profits each year and giving our ever expanding team more opportunities to develop their career is incredibly rewarding. The most challenging moment was in summer 2016 when we bought two large dealer groups at the same time as selling a very large business we owned at the time. With combined deal values of over £200m, keeping all the plates spinning was "interesting" at times. Thankfully all deals were successfully completed and the acquisitions are performing extremely well. It was down to a good team around me. Glassdoor: What do you do to foster employee trust and engagement? I always try to catch people doing things right as opposed to the other way around. I think being approachable is important and listening to our people, who have got more good ideas than I will ever have. Finally, being honest with people, however challenging the subject matter, is what builds trust. Glassdoor: Your employees love working here as we see the strong rating on Glassdoor - How do you make this a great place to work day in and day out?  We have a strong culture here at Lookers, one built around respect for each other, regardless of what position they hold in the business. We work hard to foster a sense of mutual respect and admiration and make sure it permeates right through the business. We engender this culture is by holding our annual Lookers Guild Awards. The awards, which this year was held in Vilamoura, Portugal and will be held in Monaco next year, allows us to show appreciation to our brightest and most dedicated people. We’ve also made a huge number of changes to our benefits package recently which have had an immediate impact on the lives of our employees, both in and outside of work. These include extended holiday entitlement, a full year’s maternity leave, which is unheard of in our industry, and comprehensive critical illness cover. It’s all about making our people feel appreciated and allowing them to achieve the right work life balance for them. Glassdoor: Good leadership is not just one person - How do you work w/ your leaders and management teams to make sure employees have great leadership here? Communication is key. It’s really important that we’re all moving in the same direction, which is why I make a point of visiting as many of our 160 nationwide franchised dealerships as I can throughout the year to share learning, good news, as well as come together to discuss any challenges or areas of the business we can improve on by working together. The annual Lookers conference is also one of the biggest and well attended conferences of any industry and allows all of our senior people from all areas of the business to come together under one roof to celebrate our successes over the previous year and set out our strategy for the one to come. Everyone leaves rejuvenated and ready to take on their own individual leadership challenges head on. Glassdoor: Any advice for leaders of other companies?   Invest in your people. It’s as simple as that. People are what have made this business the success that it is today and it it’s our people that will help us get to where we need to be in the future. Glassdoor: Why do you think you get such high approval from your own employees? I actually think it's more a reflection of the culture of the business they work in than it is me as an individual. That culture, and the strategy that goes along with it, is the product of a much wider senior management team and I think the rating for the CEO really applies to them. We're lucky to have such a talented team. Glassdoor: It’s clear you inspire many of your own employees - who inspires you? I have been very lucky to work for some really inspiring leaders in my career. I've tried to learn from them and copy the things that made them inspire me. I also draw inspiration from the people here at Lookers. Inspiration can work both ways and it definitely does in this case. Glassdoor: What type of people do you like to hire and why?  Everything starts with the right values. No matter how talented or hard working people are, if they can't live up to the values we share across our business it won't work. Thereafter I look for people who will challenge us with fresh thinking because that's what will help us to keep improving. Equally, it's good to work with team players, people who know that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Finally, it's really important to have a diverse workforce and we're putting a lot of effort into this area.   Glassdoor: If you weren’t a CEO, what would you be (in terms of a job or career)? I feel incredibly privileged to have become a CEO. If I hadn't I'd have been happy with any role so long as I felt I had maximised my potential. I'd secretly like to have been a pop star or a professional footballer but I haven't got the talent to be either!

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If you like the look of Lookers, then apply for their jobs on Glassdoor.