Deconstructing the Dr. Andy Palmer Interview With Automotive Technology Leader Anne Partington

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The reality of practicing leadership is different from talking about it. No one knows that better than Dr. Andy Palmer, who Automotive Leaders interviewed recently. And there’s no more important space for the right kind of leadership than the automotive industry.

Anne Partington, a mobility leader in the transportation industry and commercialization director for advanced transportation, explains: “We are living through immense and intense disruption across all of the automotive industry and with that brings opportunity for novel approaches and the culture change to support rapid innovation”.

Between traditional command and control OEM and California tech culture clashes, it’s ripe for opportunity and growth. So how is Andy Palmer really leading the charge?

“[He’s] running three start-up companies — not just one. And he sits as a board member on a fourth,” Anne says. “That is a demonstration of true commitment to innovation: To be in the thick of it.” Spearheading DEI initiatives and all-in commitments to net-zero emissions takes real guts in the automotive space. It’s hard to drive change, and even harder to make it stick.

But likability in a leader can go a long way in inspiring real innovation spurred on by culturally diverse teams. “Every time there is a challenge or a failure, that is a great opportunity to learn,” Anne says. “When leaders like Andy Palmer share those experiences, and in that manner are sharing their vulnerabilities, it makes them much more identifiable.”

Together with host Jan Griffiths, Anne breaks down the key learnings from the interview with Andy, with a thorough deconstruction of what leadership and culture really mean for an evolving automotive industry. They share what really resonated and what the automotive space can expect now and in the future.

Themes discussed on this episode: 

• Why understanding social and technology trends is important to driving cognitive diversity and inclusion in organizations
• The importance of actually living your values to drive real change and growth across different teams with diverse experiences
• Going all in on your mission and being willing to put yourself on the line
• Why automotive and the entrepreneurial spirit mesh together so well
• What disruptive challenges automotive faces now and in the future — and what to do about it

Featured Guest: Anne Partington

What she does: Anne Partington is a mobility and transportation expert in the automotive space. Her work as a commercialization director for advanced transportation focuses on advancing new technology in the market. Her areas of expertise include mobility, innovation, sustainability, inclusive leadership and supply chain management.

On leadership: “Sharing that life is a journey of ups and downs, successes and challenges, makes a leader really approachable. There is no one of us that has that perfect journey of having a vertical trajectory all the way up — it's quite stepped. And every time there is a challenge or a failure, that is a great opportunity to learn. When leaders like Andy Palmer share those experiences, and in that manner are sharing their vulnerabilities, it makes them much more identifiable. […] That’s also very inspiring for people who want to take risks. to try new things, to try to be supportive of others, to bring diverse voices and marginalized communities to the table who historically have not been present [or] had a voice.”

Episode Highlights

Timestamped inflection points from the show

[2:05] Key takeaways: Anne breaks down the main ways the Dr. Andy Palmer interview resonated with her.

[5:04] Cognitive diversity: Andy had the foresight to not just understand social trends, but to act on them by bringing them into traditional processes. Healthy dissent at the table really matters.

[8:34] Creating parallels: Moving DEI forward takes real creativity and innovation. Jan and Anne dive into what Andy did to make it happen.

[11:53] Living your values: Jan breaks down why Andy never took other automotive roles being thrown at him. 

[13:05] Startup and disrupt: Running three companies and being on the board of the fourth helped Andy pave the way for sustainability with his all-in, net-zero mission. 

[15:28] Building bridges: Anne shares advice for connecting the entrepreneurial world of start up with traditional OEM manufacturing, and the invaluable lessons learned.

[18:14] Cultural fit: Between traditional automotive command and control and the California tech space, there’s no one culture. But further than this, different cultures are experienced within teams, so it needs to be a key focus of companies that want to thrive.

[24:12] Lucking out: Andy could’ve cashed in on his ‘Godfather of EV’ title, but went for honesty and humility instead — the hallmarks of not just a great leader, but a likable one too.

[30:49] Advice for auto industry leaders: In closing, Anne shares her unique insight into the challenges disruption brings for automotive. 

Top quotes

[2:57] Jan: “One of the biggest challenges in practicing the growth mindset is making the time for it. It's so easy to keep your head down in the weeds and focus on the day to day for the business, but [Andy] seems to have one eye on the future — and he's always learning. That's hard to do.”

[3:35] Anne: “Anytime you’re working on something that's so far out, that there's really high risk and the potential for reward is really unknown. You’re trying to predict consumer usage, regulation [and] whether the shareholders will find value in the path that you're taking. These are the hallmarks of a great leader, someone who has to be very resilient to what the feedback might be in taking these types of strategic risks. It is easier and a short-term greater thumbs-up when the focus is on the ROI. But if we’ve learned nothing else in the last few years, I think it has been very apparent that the world is unpredictable.”  

[11:20] Anne: “You really do need a champion to be in place, top-down, who then enables and supports the movement of that DEI work. Most importantly, not just to create belonging, but accessibility to high-level strategic work, all the way to driving decisions and beyond. And then supporting the decisions that are made in that space, and ensuring that it is understood that people can take those risks, have those conversations, and they are going to be supported along that journey.” 

[16:19] Anne: “All the way throughout my career, where I saw an initiative or an opportunity to be intrapreneurial and bring together a team of people to solve a problem or a customer issue, I've always had the support. If I felt that it wasn't there after a few years, I would also look to continue to grow. But in every role I've had […] I recognized the value of bringing together teams, particularly cross functionally, even supplier partners, and really being entrepreneurial. That spirit really fuels that entrepreneurial behavior that in some ways is very parallel to entrepreneurship.”