In Part 1, Jim Voss, CEO of Tenneco, took on a company in need of a turnaround. In Part 2, he hands you the playbook behind it.
This is the Tenneco Way. Not a poster on a wall. Not a slide deck someone presents once a month. It’s the operating system running a 100-year-old company with more than 60,000 people across 28 countries. And as Jim puts it, it is the company's sustainable competitive advantage.
Jim sees culture as the most powerful advantage a leader can build. It's the thing that drives every result you actually care about, because people drive results, and culture shapes people.
From there, it builds. Simplify, kill the bureaucracy and the silos, and go hunt for friction instead of waiting for it to find you. Organizational velocity, the differentiator Jim believes will separate the winners from everyone else. Tenacious execution, because strategy gets eaten alive without it. Accountability and ownership without a shred of micromanagement. And win, treated as a mindset, not an outcome.
Then Jim gets practical. How do you roll core values out to 60,000 people in 28 countries without peanut-buttering it across the wall? The Tenneco mindset and the power of humility. Why did he grow his own talent through Tenneco University and the P3 standards that went from impossible to gold? This is not the legacy playbook. This is a transformation that actually happened, told by the leader who lived it.
Themes Discussed in this Episode
- Why culture is an operating system, not a soft HR initiative
- The six gears of the Tenneco Way
- Radical candor and building a company where bad news travels fast
- Redefining failure: we never fail, we win or we learn
- Organizational velocity as the next great competitive differentiator
- Accountability and ownership without micromanagement
- The Tenneco mindset and the power of humility
- P3 standards and the pride that drives performance
🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube:
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This episode is sponsored by Lockton, click here to learn more
Featured Guest: Jim Voss, CEO at Tenneco
Jim is the CEO of Tenneco, a global automotive supplier with operations spanning 28 countries and more than 60,000 employees. Before joining Tenneco in 2022, he spent more than a decade with Apollo Global Management as an operating advisor and portfolio CEO, leading complex business transformations across multiple industries. With nearly 30 years of leadership experience in industrial, chemical, and manufacturing sectors, Jim is known for driving operational excellence, building high-performance cultures, and leading large-scale turnarounds. He also serves as Chairman of Vacuumschmelze and sits on the boards of ABC Technologies and Kem One.
About Your Host – Jan Griffiths
Jan Griffiths is the champion for culture change and the host of the Automotive Leaders Podcast. A former automotive executive with a rebellious spirit, Jan is known for challenging outdated norms and inspiring leaders to ditch command and control. She brings honesty, energy, and courage to every conversation, proving that authentic, human-centered leadership is the future of the automotive industry.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Episode Highlights
[01:38] The Tenneco Way: Jim defines it plainly. It is the operating system and the company's sustainable competitive advantage, built on the belief that people drive every result.
[04:18] The six gears: Jan and Jim walk through the framework gear by gear, starting with core values.
[04:35] Radical candor: Start with the truth. Build an organization with the courage and the skills to have the tough conversations that get to the facts.
[08:11] Bad news travels fast: Jim's tell for a healthy culture. In most companies, good news flies and bad news crawls. He pays attention to how fast the bad news moves.
[15:14] Simplify: Reject bureaucracy, minimize layers, eliminate silos. Go find the friction instead of waiting for someone to bring you a problem.
[18:10] Organizational velocity: Jim's pick for the number one differentiator going forward. It takes getting every element right, from strategy to frontline competency.
[22:48] Tenacious execution: The bedrock of everything. Strategy gets eaten alive without execution, and Jim spends 95 percent of his time on it.
[24:00] Accountability without micromanagement: Why control is the easy way out and the enemy of true ownership.
[32:38] The Tenneco mindset: If he could keep only one gear, this is it. The power of humility, learned from the All Blacks, and refusing to be a victim of anything.
[41:08] P3: People, Pride, Performance: Manufacturing standards so rigorous that plants winning OEM awards weren't yet certified bronze, developed bottom-up with plant managers.
Top Quotes
[01:38] Jim Voss: "The Tenneco Way is our operating system. More importantly, it's our sustainable competitive advantage. "
[26:44] Jim Voss: " A winning culture is learned."
[47:23] Jim Voss: " Good leadership never builds something around an individual, whether it's the CEO or anyone in the organization. "
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