It was early 2009 when Gregory Jackson realized he might have a ticking time bomb on his hands.
Jackson is the founder, president and CEO of Jackson Automotive Management. Two years ago, the company owned Ford, Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Scion and Saturn dealerships in Michigan and Florida. The dealerships generated $1 billion in sales in 2008 and employed about 550 people.
But over the span of about six months from late 2008 to early 2009, the dominoes started to fall. A series of violent shockwaves hit the American automotive industry as the economy sank into its worst recession since the 1930s. ✇ General Motors and Chrysler both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and, subsequently, underwent reorganization and streamlining. GM committed to moving forward with the Cadillac, GMC, Buick and Chevrolet brands, leaving the corporation to either find new owners for the Saturn, Pontiac, Hummer and Saab brands or discontinue them.
Jackson owned five Saturn dealerships, comprising half of his work force, which spent half a year on edge waiting for a definite word on Saturn’s future. In the summer of 2009, after a deal between GM and Penske Automotive Group fell through, months of waiting and wondering culminated with the worst fears of Jackson and his staff realized: Saturn was done. All new production was halted in October 2009, and all retail franchises would be closed by the end of October 2010.
“I can’t sugarcoat it. It was stressful, and it was very disheartening,” Jackson says. “There is nothing worse than to know someone’s family, walk in and tell them that they don’t have a job anymore — particularly when these were successful, profitable businesses just yesterday. There was a lot of crying among people. It was very emotional, due to the loss of jobs and the financial hardship you knew people were going to be under, both employees and managers.”
The death of Saturn tested Jackson as a leader and a communicator. He had to pilot his business through a devastating blow to morale and five dealerships’ worth of lost revenue, which dropped his company’s 2009 sales to $600 million.
What the circumstances reinforced to him was the principles of good business leadership: Keep your employees informed and make wise financial decisions.