Forecast failure
There I was again, scrolling the LinkedIn feed to see what there is to see in the Powersport World for the day. Sometimes I see glimmers of hope, where the industry is focused on its roots – but still has an eye on expansion. On other days, I see the path of self-destruction and forecast failure.
As a Powersports Enthusiast, what are some key things you think about in the industry? Speed, Power, Freedom, Community… these all come to mind for me. Another thing that resonates with me is the idea that the people we do business with are enthusiasts themselves.
Well, sometimes I have a knack for predicting things in our space. I predicted that the pandemic would drive traffic to our dealerships. I predicted that Supply Chain issues would interrupt the flow of business. I predicted that the interest rates would rise and affect sales.
Even though it still has a way to go to match my prediction, I also felt that if dealers continued to fail in training their service staff to deal with a new style of client… they will drive even more customers to the aftermarket space. It makes sense, if interest rates and supply chain keep people from buying new… they will try to resurrect the old on a budget.
If you were in the Powersport Academy, we’d already be working on the training for that.
This piece is to talk about the awkwardness that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion demands bring to our sport. Yes, I went there.
As you scroll through LinkedIn, you will see posts that are very much meant to profile new hires and celebrate the victory of successful staffing. In our current social climate, many of the announcements have a certain bend to them. They are “Women of Color”. While I may already be too late to say this. I am not against diverse hiring practices. Hear me out on this.
When I was the Technical Training and Publication Manager for Suzuki Motor of America, Inc. I campaigned aggressively and successfully to hire Michelle Cunningham as my eLearning Specialist. I heard it all:
- She’s a woman
- She doesn’t ride
- She was never a mechanic
- She’s one of those “artist types”
Here’s the deal… We needed an artist type at that time. I also needed to hire someone that had the tech chops to perform the computer side of the job, as I already had the Subject Matter Experts (SME) in the office. She specifically met my biggest needs and the situation — while containing a couple of speed bumps turned out to be one of my biggest wins.
She has gone on to work for Honda, and a couple of other great names since leaving Suzuki after the layoffs. This was a win where the individual came to the position with specific, demonstrable, talents and a history that governed the opportunity at that level.
I remember during the process, the frustration I had in justifying my hiring decision to Vice Presidents. They were saying it would be better to continue to hire powersport enthusiasts and attempt to teach them about the tech, rather than hire for the tech and lend the powersport knowledge. In my case, the formulation of the company with a richness in the SME category focused me on the tech for the hire decision.
So Where is My Criticism
My criticism is when you see the very public post of a Person of Color, Woman of Color, Female, or LGBTQA+ hired and promoted as a diverse hire. When you click that person’s name and link, you might expect a job history that has an alignment, or a series of posts that demonstrate their industry enthusiasm. Instead, you see nothing. You see nothing that relates them to the job at all.
Now go deeper. If you are on LinkedIn, click their connections and look for any themes in their connection list. Review their “Posts and Activities” and you will see post after post of them celebrating diverse hires over any interest in the industry for which they have just agreed to cross over.
If you call it out, the labeling starts in earnest. You are labeled a bigot, racist, conservative, supremacist, and perpetrator of hate speech. It is not hateful to call out practices that damage the industry I love as a whole. I believe these corporations can hire whomever they want. Here is my request – my pleading – my begging… train them.
It is not insensitive to require a new member of the industry to learn the industry. It is not cultural appropriation or negative indoctrination to submerse the hire into the culture that surrounds Powersports. This is not to say that Powersports is reserved for just beer drinkers and Heavy Metal. However, there are unique verticals that need recognition in the industry.
All industries have these verticals… Healthcare, Tax Prep, Automotive, Restaurant, Legal, Police Administration. When these companies “tick the box” reporting their diversity, then promoting this shamelessly on social — but not supporting that individual… they set the new hire up for failure.
One of the biggest failures is people like me writing up stuff like this calling them “Diversity Hires”. It sucks on both sides of the talk. I am an enthusiast and want to see the OEM’s and larger companies in the space find success and growth. The folks they hired are real people. They may be getting treated like a tick box on a survey about diversity… but they are real people and deserve a real chance to succeed. Train them.
If You Are the Diversity Hire
Please know that I and others that express opinions similar to mine, do not wish you ill. We do not want to see you fail. In many cases, we have held similar jobs or worked with these companies as enthusiasts that struggled through a lack of process or training… but at least had the enthusiasm to push forward.
If you lack the enthusiasm, and excitement to move forward in the industry, and the company fails to mandate a training process… the treatment of the job as a paycheck will be short-lived. The Powersport Industry can both be like a close-knit family… but can also eat its own when results damage the community. If you think the company is prepared, has a plan and will teach you everything you need to know… nope.
Do this… reach out. Connect with some of us that have a history within the industry. I can ramble off ten names that are sociable and a wealth of information in the space. Come with “Hat in hand” and a little humility and just connect. Show the desire to find success.
Who Are Some Ladies I Admire in the Space?
I feel like I want to call out some folks that have etched a definite mark of success in the space. Women in Powersports is not as rare as people would have us believe.
Keri Sano – former manager at Ducati NY, Owns a Coffee Shop, World Traveler
Breanne Poland – Awesome campaign for Royal Enfield
Gina Marra – Go Az Motorcycles out of Arizona
Hannah Johnson – 1st Female Ducati MasterTech