Leadership Lessons with Jim MacGregor
September 12, 2024
Jim MacGregor – VP of Operations of Toyota Material Handling Systems
Educate, Engage and Empower
The MHEDA Journal sat down with Board Member and long-time MHEDA member Jim MacGregor to discuss his thoughts on leadership and how he got to where he is today. MacGregor has been in the industry for 40 years and has been a leader not only for his colleagues but for other MHEDA members. His experience through industry changes and constants has made him well equipped to discuss the intricacies of business, employee management and empowerment, hardships and more.
TMJ: In three words, how would you describe your leadership style?
MacGregor: Educate, engage and empower. This was introduced to me by Toyota, and I am forever grateful for learning this some years back. It has become part of my leadership style and also part of our company culture.
TMJ: Can you briefly overview your career journey to where you are today?
MacGregor: I began my career in New Jersey in 1984 with the local Caterpillar Dealership, Foley Towlift. I started the journey as an aftermarket salesperson responsible for providing solutions for our customers and selling parts, service and rental equipment to our customers to maximize their uptime and productivity. From there, I moved into equipment sales for a short period, before relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, where I continued working with the local dealership, Yancy Brothers, as a major account parts and service rep. My responsibilities were to improve the efficiencies and productivity of our largest customers ensuring that we retained them.
I made a move to Atlanta Forklifts Inc. which does business as Toyota Material Handling Systems and Advanced Material Handling Systems in addition to several other DBAs in business verticals such as storage and handling, dock and door and industrial power – batteries and chargers – with more to come. It was here that I became the corporate parts and service manager creating a strategy to exponentially grow in all areas of our aftermarket business. We developed a CSS Team that is nationally respected for top performance year over year moving our aftermarket growth in double-digit percentages since inception in 2003. I was promoted to vice president several years back, and while my primary focus was still the growth of our aftermarket business segments, I was also blessed to be involved in the creation and adoption of our Culture and Core Values. This was very rewarding to me personally but, more importantly, it brought unity and teamwork to our entire employee family.
TMJ: What changes have you witnessed during your tenure and what things have stayed constant?
MacGregor: In the past 40 years, I’ve witnessed substantial change in our industry. Prior to COVID-19, we feared commoditization of our industry as the focus was product-centric. During COVID-19, everything changed for the better. The way that consumers purchased their products changed how we moved products from warehouses to consumers’ homes. Traditional methods of moving products through-out the warehouse became quite challenging when employees were home sheltering in place. Those of us in the supply chain and logistics space were classified as essential workers and able to continue working to ensure that citizens could obtain medical supplies, food and other essential products during the pandemic. With the immediate impact of the drastic reduction of persons in the workplace, other methods of material handling became the immediate buzz. Industrial truck dealerships could not find enough technicians to maintain and repair material handling equipment (MHE), and our customers struggled to recruit and retain MHE operators.
This challenge spotlighted the need for more conveyors and automation requiring fewer people to continue picking, packaging and shipping products from their respective loading docks. As we attend Pro-Mat and MODEX, we see an enormous change in who is exhibiting at these industry shows. Very few industrial truck manufacturers are exhibiting unless they are showing their new automation solutions that “bolt-on” to the industrial truck solution. Instead, we see more AMRs, robots and high-density solutions being exhibited. Most industrial truck dealerships have already aligned themselves with products and services in these new spaces to remain relevant in the material handling space.
TMJ: What was one of the biggest challenges you ever faced and how did you address it?
MacGregor: COVID-19 was the largest, non-precedented challenge to manage through that I had ever experienced in my career. We relied heavily on our OEMs and MHEDA to help us navigate the unchartered waters. We spent countless hours sharing best practice solutions on how to circumvent many of the challenges resulting from COVID-19. The time spent participating in the numerous calls was one of the most important and impactful times ever. The relationships created were priceless, as was the understanding that we are all in this together, regardless of working to help sister dealers within your brand or helping competitor dealers to ensure that all dealerships were elevating their respective games to keep us all customer-centric during these unprecedented times.
I was never prouder to be on the MHEDA Board of Directors than during this time and do the right thing for MHEDA’s membership, regardless of the brands represented or the vertical of material handling they represent. Topics like employee retention, working from home, retaining culture when employees are separated by the pandemic and much more were openly discussed and addressed together. It was a great time for our industry, and it will never be the same moving forward.
TMJ: What advice would you give to an emerging leader or someone new to the industry?
MacGregor: Success is not measured by personal accomplishments. Taking time to develop leadership skills and employing them daily in your company culture is paramount. It’s never about you. It’s about the team and the customers. Be humble and honest, take time to build trust and never be frivolous.
TMJ: What is the best business advice you ever received and from whom?
MacGregor: Don’t be quick to judge. Take time to determine the root cause of things that don’t seem right. “Genchi Genbutsu” is a Japanese term that was relayed to me by my friend and dealer principle, Lee Smith. The term means “go and see” to learn the root cause of the challenge.
He explained that data is important. What we do with the data is what differentiates us. Lee explained to his leadership team that if an employee’s performance is slightly off, don’t assume why and confront the employee with a series of questions, but rather visit the employee with compassion and care. You may find out the employee just learned their spouse was diagnosed with a disease which is what impacted the performance.
By using “Genchi Gembutsu,” you now build trust with the employee, and you have the opportunity to assist them and their family through their difficult challenge. This was a wonderful business lesson, but also a life lesson. I have been blessed to work with Lee for more than 20 years and it’s been an amazing ride. He continues to teach his employees with the same level of compassion every day and I am forever grateful.
TMJ: Is there anything else you would like to add?
MacGregor: MHEDA is an amazing association. Leverage your membership always. Dealer principles pay for the dealer membership, but the networking and educational opportunities included with your membership are where you realize the value of your membership. Send your managers to their respective department conferences. Send your leadership to the networking events scattered across North America.
The relationships and best practice sharing opportunities afforded to your dealerships are second to none. MHEDA is an inclusive association. While there are three legs to the MHEDA stool – industrial truck, engineered systems and storage and handling – MHEDA continues to create new and innovative ways to bring value to all members regardless of which of the three legs they work in. Take advantage of your membership. It’s worth its weight in gold!
