Leading Through Change: The Culture Shift Automotive Leaders Need to Compete Today

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No one would try to stream a 4K video on a '95 Windows computer—but in the auto industry, we're still trying to lead today's transformation with leadership models built decades ago.

That's the hard truth Jan puts on the table in this conversation with Terry Woychowski, President of Caresoft and former GM executive. Together, they unpack what's holding the industry back—and it's not a shortage of technology or talent. It's the culture. It's the leadership.

Terry walks through real examples of how legacy systems get in the way—from product specs that haven't been questioned in decades to organizational structures that reward risk avoidance over innovation. 

He compares that with how Chinese OEMs are approaching development differently. They make faster decisions, rely less on in-house development, and focus on speed and learning rather than perfection. They're not immune to fear, he says, but they don't let it dictate the pace of progress.

But this isn't just a teardown of bad habits. Terry zooms in on what good leadership looks like today. It's not command-and-control. It's mission-first, culturally aware, and brutally honest. It's being willing to get "dragged across the hone"—his metaphor for the painful but necessary growth process. Because leaders who avoid discomfort? They stay dull.

There's also accountability. Terry learned it early, growing up on a dairy farm, where cows—and their mess—don't wait for permission. You get the job done, period. 

That same mindset carried him through the plant floor at GM, where he once let loose in a way he thought would end his career, only to be welcomed with applause. Not because he lost his temper, but because he finally spoke the language of the plant.

Jan and Terry talk honestly about the cultural gaps that legacy auto still hasn't closed. Technology? Finance? Those are solvable. However, if the leadership culture stays frozen in time, no investment will be enough.

In the end, one thing is clear: you can't lead the future of automotive using the same culture that got you here. If the industry wants to survive the disruption ahead, it needs leaders willing to question everything, especially the way things have always been done.

Themes discussed in this episode:

• The need to replace outdated leadership models to compete in the EV era
• The culture gap between Chinese OEMs and traditional automakers
• Why true leaders embrace discomfort—and what happens when they don’t
• The cultural transformation needed to support EV and software-defined vehicle innovation
• The importance of fast decision-making in today’s global auto market
• Why cultural alignment matters more than strategy when leading change
• Why the auto industry needs focused leadership amid rising global competition

Featured guest: Terry Woychowski

What he does: Terry J. Woychowski is the President of Caresoft Global, a leading automotive engineering, benchmarking, and consulting firm. At Caresoft, he has played a pivotal role in driving strategic growth, developing next-generation solutions, and mentoring the global leadership team.

Terry brings over four decades of automotive experience, including a distinguished career at General Motors, where he held senior leadership roles such as Global Vice President of Program Management and Quality & Vehicle Launch. Notably, he served 12 years as Full-Size Truck Vehicle Chief Engineer. After retiring from GM, he joined American Axle and Manufacturing as SVP of Engineering and Quality.

He is a graduate of Michigan Technological University and serves on several boards, including MTU’s Board of Trustees and the Rackham Foundation, where he is a lifetime trustee.

On Leadership: “I would say, the foundation of my leadership hasn’t changed at all. I believe that leadership is based on a hunger—a hunger for things to be better than they are. A vision that this would be better. And I think a leader needs to be hungry. If you're not hungry and not making things change, you're not leading. And so, there's got to be that hunger to say, "Yeah, we're here. But this isn't good enough. This won't last. It should be like this." That hunger's been an element of my leadership, and wherever I've been,1 that's been true.”

Mentioned in this episode:

• A Monkey with a Dart Could Do Better?
• 2025 CAR Management Briefing Seminars

Episode Highlights:

[03:10] Change Is the Job Description: Leadership isn’t just about keeping things running—it’s about driving bold, necessary change when the industry demands it.

[05:12] Comfort Doesn’t Build Leaders: Too many leaders are promoted for past performance, not future vision—and without the right mindset for change, they stall progress where bold leadership is needed most.

[10:09] No Ego, Just Execution: Unlike legacy automakers, Chinese OEMs decide quickly, skip the ego, and improve fast by learning from others instead of reinventing everything in-house.

[13:27] The Bracket Problem: Jan and Terry reflect on decades of missed opportunities in design—why we still can’t get integration right, and how extra parts are often just patches for poor collaboration.

[20:00] Own the Process: Terry shares why real innovation happens when teams break silos, work shoulder-to-shoulder, and take full ownership of the process—not just the paperwork.

[23:37] Change It or Lose: Terry explains why startups and Chinese OEMs move faster by ditching legacy thinking, embracing risk, and reworking cars even after launch.

[29:15] The Grind That Sharpens Leaders: Terry shares how great leadership demands relentless hunger, painful self-growth, and the courage to stay true to your word—even when the process drags you across the hone.

[32:20] Colorblind in the Paint Shop: Terry shares the wild story of being dropped into GM’s paint operations, the culture shock that followed, and the surprising leadership lesson he learned after losing his cool.

[37:07] Culture Is the Real Gap: Terry warns that the auto industry’s greatest threat isn’t tech or money—it’s the cultural gap, and only leaders can close it.

[39:01] Calm in the Storm: Terry urges leaders to face existential threats with calm resolve and unflinching honesty—because the truth, however hard, is the only thing that gives people a fighting chance to act, adapt, and survive.

[46:50] Cowboy Up and Lead: From existential threats to logging chains, Terry reflects on grit, urgency, and teaching the next generation that real leadership means figuring it out—no matter how heavy the load.

Top Quotes:

[03:39] Terry: “Things have to change. The auto industry is changing in radically diverse ways and extremely fast. Change is the arena of leadership. That's what leadership is. It's about change. If things aren't changing, quite frankly, I don't think you're leading. You may be managing day to day, just keeping the ball rolling, but leadership says there's a better way. There's something we need, and it doesn't look like this. It's going to look like that.”

[07:15] Terry: “The skills that you need to be a successful leader aren't the same skills that were required when you were an individual contributor and doing your job.”

[12:49] Terry: “The Chinese seem to seem more like, “they're doing it. They got some really smart people. They've made this decision. We're going to do it.” And then they simply trump that by saying, "And we're going to do it better." Because they put all the R&D and they iterate. We have the advantage of looking at it now, and we can see, we can polish it like this, we can do it like this, and we can make it even better and even faster and even cheaper and improve upon it. So I think if you can park the ego at the door, and say, "Can I learn? Who can I learn from and can I just leapfrog from that as opposed to reinventing everything myself?” If you have to reinvent the entire car yourself, it's going to take a long time.”

[30:08] Terry: “if you have a knife and if you want your knife to remain keen, sharp, dangerous, effective, it has to be drug against a hone. It has to be continually honed. It's anthropomorphic to think that the blade has feelings, but if it did, blade doesn't want to be drug against a hone—that would hurt, that scrapes, that burns. But a leader needs to be vulnerable. So, you need to be willing to be drug across the hone, and you need to be willing to learn. Always. There's always something to learn and to get better. Do you want to be sharp? Yeah. Do you want to be effective? Yeah. Do you want to be dangerous? Yeah. Then be willing to be drug against the hone, 'cause it hurts, but you have to pay that to be a good leader.”

[39:37] Terry: “The greatest gift you can give to a person is the truth because if you are armed with the truth, at least you can make intelligent decisions. You can better your situation, and you can move in the right direction. It's when you don't have the truth that you are just kind of wandering. You need to be able to let people understand the truth.”