Name: COO Summit 2024: Driving A Storied Rental Car Company To 21st Century Success
Uploaded: 2024-10-08
Duration: 15 min 14 s
Description: Chrissy Taylor, President and Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Mobility Interviewer: Ruth Umoh, Next To Lead Editor, Fortune; Co-chair, Fortune COO Summit

Chrissy Taylor, President and Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Mobility Interviewer: Ruth Umoh, Next To Lead Editor, Fortune; Co-chair, Fortune COO Summit

COO Summit 2024: Driving A Storied Rental Car Company To 21st Century Success

Conferences

Well, Chris at enterprise, you refer to 2024 as the year of the operator. What do you mean by that? And why? 2024 in particular? Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it and thank you to all of you in the audience. So um you know, it is Enterprise Mobility um as car rental, but we are so much more than that. We have truck rental fleet management. Importantly, we have 90,000 employees and in 90 territories and country. So the year of the operator is really, really important to us. And as we think about the year of the operator, it really comes down to four core areas that have made us successful for over 67 years and will take us into the future first customer experience. We have to make sure that we continue to provide excellent experiences for all of our customers employee development. We are the largest employer of college graduates in the country. And so we need to make sure that we're providing opportunities and development for our team. And then we are a growth company, we wanna continue to grow because if we're growing, we're providing great experiences, we're developing and promoting our people. And then lastly, fourth is a reasonable bottom line so that we can give back to all the communities that have made us so successful because we have 10,000 locations almost. And we wanna make sure that we're making an impact locally in developing those communities. And so the balance of that is really when we talk about the year of the operator and what that means, this is quite prescient. And we were talking about this in the green room earlier, you said you have about 90 different locations or, and, and, and, and 90,000 employees. Uh Right now there is a storm and last, last week, there was also another storm that was battering a number of these geographies. How do you think some of those, how do you think here from the? Yeah. So we have a lot of actually partners in the room and we're just talking to one of the insurance companies as we're figuring out, you know, where do our vehicles need to be? How can we best help our partners such as insurance companies, government agencies fema, they are on the ground, North Carolina, very hard, difficult place to get to. But what it comes down to is our decentralization and our local leadership that is where the rubber meets the road. That is where they're focused on operational um excellence and making sure that we have the right car in the right place for those people who are um unfortunately, in the situation that they find themselves in and then we start planning for the next um hurricane that is also circling right now. So it really comes down to our decentralization and our local management with the guidelines of operational excellence and that has worked very, very well for us. So, a huge shout out to Steve Brad, who is our general manager in North Carolina. I wanna pivot and talk about human capital because at enterprise, you all are deeply obsessed with promoted from within. What's the competitive advantage you see in there? Yeah, it definitely is a competitive advantage because you're learning the business from the ground up. And I started as an intern um during college, just like everybody else, I needed a job, I needed some money. So I was an intern and then became a full time management trainee in 2000. Um And so 95% of our management team has actually come through the management training program. And so promoting from within means we can take more time with our employees, we can take more time to develop them, give them the resources that they need to make sure they're developing their career with us. For the law hall, we view our employees as an investment. And then as I talked about earlier, we have our fleet management business, which is our original business. We have truck rental, we have commuting, we have car sharing, we have business rental sales, we have this huge sales organization. So once you go through that management training track, you can then hop over into these other business lines that you already know the fundamentals of the business. It's like getting your MB A on the job. It is a huge competitive advantage for us that we invest in our people. And I also want to note that you took part in inside management training program. Absolutely, man, I know how to wash a really good car. Um But that is not what it is about is about getting your MB A on the job. It is really fun because you are growing and developing your own business, your own team, you're in, you're responsible for your customer service, your PNL and driving the business because each location is its own business. They're running multi million dollar assets at that business. And so, you know, our people, you know, tend to be on the younger side in those locations, but we're really trying to develop them for the future and it's been very successful for us prior to your ascension to the corner office, you were an operations chief, you held the coo role. What learning did you take from that position that now translate to the corner office and how much of a learning curve is there and jumping from offers chief to the CEO, um I've had 17 different roles in our company and also worked internationally, which was very helpful. And so getting those different perspective is very, very important as you're working towards that C Suite Ceo role or even coo role. And so when I think about coo it's really important because we were decentralized and our, we do promote from within. And so making sure that we're taking the time to listen to our operators understand what they need and then how does that fit within our core principles? And so listening, surround yourself with a great team and then make sure that I'm asking a lot of questions and I'm inquisitive about the business because we will never stop learning. Because if we want to propel ourselves into the future, we may be doing different things in the future. But who we are to the core of our DNA will never change. Jumping to CEO in that transition. I think that took a lot of listening. A lot of listening. Um Timing is everything I became Ceo January 2020 how much was going on? I sort of fell apart. And so, yeah, and so timing is everything, but I cannot emphasize listening and over communicating whether it's in a time of crisis or transformation or evolution. As all of us are talking about here today and are thinking about for our businesses. So you're not gonna change the whole company in one day. It's, it's an evolution. So listen, surround yourself with great people and be open minded. It's, and so this is we're a family owned business. And so my dad always says who we are to the core of our DNA, our culture will never change. But what we will do be doing in the future might be different. And that's OK. That's really exciting. That's my job as CEO to make sure that we're leading into the future. But understanding the legacy and the past of where we came from and what makes us suc successful. I'm gonna ask you one more question, quick note for the audience. I am going to momentarily turn to you. So start thinking about questions. You'd like to ask Chrissy while she's here because you've now twice used this term decentralized structure. Break down what that means, why you pivot it to a decentralized structure and where you're seeing some benefits. Yeah, absolutely. The decentralized structure actually happened from my grandfather. We are based in Saint Louis, Missouri, but we have o operating groups in 90 countries and territories. And really when he started hiring great people. And so we opened up Kansas City next with Don Ross, who was a great leader for us. And we knew that we needed to be on the ground in our local environments and markets, making sure that we can make quick decisions for our customers and that we individually in each market is responsible for our customer service for developing our people so that we can grow the business because you cannot replace that individual knowledge and leadership of each market. Yes, we have a corporate office, but at the corporate office, we talk about those four operating principles of operational excellence. And so we are creating the playing field and so you create that playing field, but then you enable and you allow people and empower them to make decisions at the local level. And that has worked beautifully for us. It's a competitive advantage and it helps our people grow, get promoted and move through the system as well. Any questions from the audience, raise your hand and we'll have a mic runner come to you. Any questions over here, please. I appreciate you telling us a little bit about the decentralized structure that you guys have. So when you have a geographically segmented team, what are some tactics that you guys use to make sure that you're aligned? Yeah, absolutely. And I think over time and maybe through the pandemic, it, the communication got better and so using those tools and resources so that you can, we've actually never talked to our gen, our general managers are the ones who oversee all of our markets. And so we've actually never spoken to our general managers more than we have since COVID because of technology and zoom and teams and all of those things we talk a lot about. Don't be behind your desk, you need to be visible example. We're very large in Europe, our UK operation is the largest, we were in Germany and uh Spain and France. And so we make sure that we o are over there every several weeks, seeing the team going into our locations, checking in on our management team, going to see customers. And so being visible as a leader is very, very important in our organization. And then we've got FVPS over these regions that then are also very visible. So a majority of our job is is being on the road and being with our team and talking about operational excellence. So it can be challenging and it's hard because we're a big organization but our people, our 90,000 people are what power us in our culture. And so you can never spend enough time with your people and on the road in your locations. Very important. Great question. Uh I wanna talk about A I, how you leverage in A I and other and the mobility space and what opportunities do you see from an efficiency standpoint? So the mobility landscape is very dynamic right now, there is a whole bunch of technology coming in and the vehicle is being transformed. And A I is one of those things, I think like many of you in the room, we are looking at efficiencies and call centers and how we make sure our data house is in order and that is important. But when we think about A I, we also think about connected car creating better experiences for our customers. We talk about autonomous vehicle, we talk about electrification. And so we are a mobility company and so that vehicle becomes important to us. And then what is the technology and tools around that vehicle that we can provide better experiences? So we absolutely talk about um efficiencies. Um but really, we have to put the customer at the center of everything that we're doing when we're using new technology and tools. And it's a super exciting time for us. But we want to be very thoughtful about how we use new technology and how we embrace the customer and our employee. That employee experience is also very important. Let's zero in on the customer experience aspect and I'll personalize this because I told you I rented an enterprise vehicle. Thank you very much uh directly helping your bottom line. And I drove from New York City to Washington DC as I told you and it was a seamless experience. But I think one area where there was a bit of a waiter, a tad bit of friction was just at the counter waiting for someone to get the car. Do you see yourself getting rid of that human experience? I mean, I personally don't need that human interaction. Uh Could you digitize that? Well, you actually are probably a national customer. So we have National Alamos. So thank you very much, National Road Warrior. Use any car bypass the counter and go that is an amazing offering. So this is where technology and humans and our employees come together because you've got to have that amazing customer experience and you have to have that amazing employee experience. And then you bring that together in a marriage with technology. And it is very difficult with our wide base of customer, whether it's truck or fleet or National Alamo Road Wire to be all things to all people. And so we are thinking very hard about how we use our digital properties and how we remove friction from our process. And national is a great example of that. On the enterprise side, we are using our digital properties and technology to make sure that you can bypass the counter and go. And so there is check in just like you see online. It's a new feature for us so that you can check in bypass the counter and then our person will meet you at the car. Sometimes somebody is not a road warrior, they're infrequent. And so our person can step in and ask or answer questions about the technology in the car or if it is an electric vehicle that does that is there's a learning curve with that. So we want to make sure that there is enough employee interaction because that's our wow difference. Our 90,000 people are a differentiator. So that was a long answer. Sorry. No, no, it was great. I mean your grandfather founded Enterprise in 1957. It's not the world's largest vehicle rental company. You seem to be shying away from this myopic Brandon that's focused solely on rental cars. Um And so I'm curious, what's the catalyst behind this uh rebrand from enterprise holdings to enterprise mobility? Yeah, it has been an amazing, amazing journey and it's been one year since we reintroduced our brands as Enterprise Mobility and we love car rental. It is the powerhouse. However, my grandfather founded us in 1957 in the lower level of a Cadillac dealership as leasing and so long term leasing um three year leases and that business has actually been off the hook and fabulous for us. And so as we think about the future and enterprise Mobility, it better describes who we are and what we do because we have nine distinct business lines. We have 90,000 people and technology that helps our business partners. And so we are ingrained only 11%. We did a big study, only 11% of the population and consumer knows we do more than rental. And so there is a huge opportunity especially in the business to business space, to do more, to help solve more problems for our business partners. And so there's a real opportunity out there that we want to grab and we wanna, we wanna wow our customers and grow our business for our employees. And so that is the reintroduction of enterprise mobility and it will take time. It's a new brand, but we are in it as a multigenerational family business. We are in it for the long haul and we full circle operational excellence, enterprise mobility is about operational excellence, great customer experiences, employee development, grow the business because it enables those two things and then everything else will fall into place. And we give back to the communities that have been so awesome to us and why we've been so successful. Even the most important question for last, a lot of people rent enterprise vehicles uh for long road trips. So, uh, what is your go to Carpool karaoke song? 00, ok. That was a left field dua Lipa. Ok. So I like all do a Lia songs. She is in concert. I'm trying to figure out where I'm gonna meet her, but usually it's, um, the one, the Barbie song or just take a, take a pic, who cares? Do it. Now, you're going to sing and show us your vocal chops. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Only if my uh twin sister will do it with me. Well, thank you so much for an insightful conversation. This is fantastic. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.