When I first conceived of starting a new company for automotive digital marketing, I knew that I would need someone to run it. This was the plan from the start, which is why I listed my position on LinkedIn and everywhere else as “Founder” rather than President and/or CEO.
My time is spent in the realms of search, social, and content. Frankly, it’s best for both our clients and the company as a whole for me to focus solely on delivery of the services and refining the strategies. Digital marketing moves too quickly for anyone spending their time leading a team and working with business needs while still trying to keep up.
I knew I needed a CEO, but I have trust issues. Anyone who works with me must be honest, transparent, dependable, aggressive, compassionate, responsible, experienced, humble, and willing to go twice as far and twice as fast as anyone in our industry. It was a hard set of expectations to fill, which is why it took two months to identify the one and only choice, Tyson Madliger.
Tyson brings a ton of experience to the table. He’s worked on the automotive digital marketing vendor side for 17 years. It was a good contrast to my decade on the retail side. He is a Christian; it’s so important to be of like-mind on such an important issue. He embodies everything that I wanted in the leader of my company. We looked at several people but Tyson was the only consideration (no offense to those who didn’t get the job).
Arguably the most important component is his dedication to excellence. Falling short is not an option for Tyson as it has never been an option for me. Every company claims to hold excellence in high regard but very, very few are willing to make the sacrifices to their bottom line that are necessary to truly bring it for their clients. True excellence isn’t cheap.
Our company is not focused on growth which is probably why we’re growing so quickly. Aggressive dealers who want nothing short of the absolute best are being presented to us at a much faster pace than we ever imagined. Tyson’s entry into the company and leadership going forward is going to make for some pretty solid plans in 2014 and beyond.
We’re pumped!
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