Pub. 1 2018-2019 |Issue 3

21 Q: Are there any specific individuals who had a major impact on your career? A: There are so many people who have influenced me. My father was an interesting role model who challenged me to be a leader. Another important influence was Frank Anderson, my accounting teacher at Highland High School. He taught me accounting skills, but he also taught me discipline and attention to detail. I wouldn’t be where I am without the skills I learned from him. Q: What is the most rewarding part of your career? A: It’s very rewarding to give job opportunities to other people. The opportunities benefit them, their spouses, and their children. That’s a lot of people. I also appreciate having the resources to make a difference in the community. I am a pilot for Angel Flight. Two weeks ago I was in Nebraska. This morning I flew a woman from Billings, Montana to the Huntsman Center. Tomorrow I’ll be in Pocatello. Q: What do you think will be some of the dominant trends within the auto industry in the next 5–10 years? A: Clearly, electronics and artificial intelligence are going to be big. I drive an Ascent right now, and it has better safety fea- tures than ever before. Ride sharing and car sharing will also be big because 90 percent of the time or more, cars are sitting and not being used. I think self-driving cars are further out. People have been talking for 20 years about dealerships becoming obsolete. It hasn’t happened, obviously, and I don’t think it will. Dealerships form an incredibly efficient system for delivering products and serving customers. Q: If you look back at your career and life, what would be three things that you have learned, that you would pass onto a younger member within the auto industry? A: 1. You’re not a pinball. Decide where you want to go in the next 5, 10, and 20 years, and then set the goals that will take you there. 2. Many young people treat work as if it were a hobby. What you should do instead is find a dealership you can believe in that has a style you like. Treat your job as a business within a business and stick with it. Build a clientele. We have people with so many longstanding customers that they make a good income with very little effort at this point. Customers just call them up and say, “We want a car.” 3. Find your passion and chase the education you’ll need to fulfill your dreams. You don’t have to get a university education. You can get technical training, too. Some of our mechanics have a six-figure income. Q: What do you see as the benefits of NCDU membership? A: Probably the most important benefit is the lobbying. Manufacturing companies are big. Dealers are little. Through lobbying, we’ve been able to get strong dealer laws in Utah that protect the dealers here. The other wonderful thing about NCDU is the amount of volunteer time dealers commit to making our industry better. NCDU has had the benefit of terrific professional staff. Max Lunt, Pres Kearsley, Jerry Hayes and Craig Bickmore have made the association what it is today. In addition, NCDU has created an association of like-minded people who want to improve our industry, and it puts together educational forums for dealers and employees. 3 Q&A with Mark Miller