An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Have an agenda for every meeting (not a literal one, but always know what you want to accomplish) and those meetings will become a lot more valuable. This is something a former boss imparted to me, and it was always good to try to figure out what his agenda was even though he rarely published one. I do think it pushed us to be better critical thinkers.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lee Riser.
Lee is the vice president of marketing at Real Truck. She has a demonstrated history of 20 years in the automotive industry and is shaking up the field as one of the few women in that space. Away from work, Lee continues to break the norm as a female by competing in off-road racing and overlanding.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I got into the industry more by accident than anything else! I was working in the staffing industry right out of college and a client company reached out about an opening they were trying to fill. I spoke with the current marketing director and hearing the description I commented what a fun job it must be. She asked more about my background and said I should apply! It was not the norm, but I knew it was an opportunity I wanted to pursue, so I met with her and got the job. Just a mere six months after being there, she said I hired you as my replacement so it’s all yours. I was very new to the industry but loved the passionate people and consumers I’d been working with. I knew then I had found the industry I was meant to be in. I decided very early on that it was the industry I hoped to build my career in.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
I think just being a female in this very male dominated industry can be disruptive. I am out there challenging the misconception that it is a man’s world in the automotive aftermarket. My presence at events, in motorsports or at a shop goes against what a lot of men in the industry have been accustomed to. I remember being one of the first women to get Off-Road Business Magazine’s High Riser of the Year back in 2007 when there were not a lot of women in off-road, period. I’ve been pleasantly surprised though that the industry doesn’t see it as a bad thing, as a whole. Men in the industry often embrace or encourage me to be a champion to get more woman involved. My peers often say it is refreshing to see my passion for an industry and category that they too care so much about. Enthusiasm is infectious and when they see mine, it is hard not to say even though disruptive in the space, this can’t be a bad thing!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Mistakes are certainly part of the process and the way I see it those are always learning opportunities. I am sure there are a lot of funny mistakes I’ve made over the course of my 20 years in the industry, but I do take the stance to learn from those and then just simply let them go and move on. As I think on it, the fact that I haven’t retained a funny or challenging one to share says maybe I am following my mantra of just letting them go.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I’ve had some amazing mentors along the way that I stay in contact with to this day. Joel Ayres encouraged me in my volunteer roles at SEMA and was a huge supporter of me all along my journey both on the volunteer side and in my career. He gave so freely of his time to SBN and was one of the reasons I got involved and helped champion the SBN Speed Networking breakfast. Another mentor, Mitch Fogle certainly gave me so many opportunities to advance in my career and challenged me to always be the very best version of myself and never apologize for being Lee. I can’t forget the strong women of SEMA and this industry like Marla Moore, Luanne Brown and Jessi Combs that have served as role models and mentors who gave me the confidence and courage to put myself out there for any role or opportunity I came across.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Yes, in our culture now we want to be disruptive, we don’t want to confirm to the norm, but I do think that it is a fine line. When you are disruptive, and it is counterproductive to what the team or company is trying to accomplish than it is not serving the greater good. When it comes to the industry though, I say be disruptive, even if it has withstood the test of time, does it mean it should stay that way? I say no. If your disruption will benefit more people than it won’t then you do it. You want to be disruptive to things that need disrupting and yes, I know that can be subjective. No female techs on our team, then we need to change that, no ladies racing from our company, why let it stay that way? Find those things that if you disrupt will lead to good and positive impacts and you certainly can’t go wrong.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Have an agenda for every meeting (not a literal one, but always know what you want to accomplish) and those meetings will become a lot more valuable. This is something a former boss imparted to me, and it was always good to try to figure out what his agenda was even though he rarely published one. I do think it pushed us to be better critical thinkers. Another very cliché one, but one I hold in high regard is to always be the BEST version of yourself and if people don’t like that it is their problem. Another tip from a previous CEO who so often said just be Lee as that is exactly what we need. If I am thinking about nuggets of wisdom, this guidance has always helped me when it comes to joining and building new teams. When a group comes together, they always go through four phases: forming, storming, norming and then finally performing. Be mindful of what stage you are in and learn the best way to move past storming as quickly as possible so that every member of the team gets to the performing phase. This will allow you all to grow together.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
I want to do more of what people don’t expect! I just ran the Rebelle Rally, an all-woman’s off-road race that covered 1600 miles of amazing off-road challenges over 10 days. It was TOUGH, hard and I learned more than I was expecting. I also agreed recently to be part of another amazing competition that I can’t talk about just yet, but that I know will surprise some people which is all part of me shaking it up. I want to continue to say yes to the things that push me out of my comfort zone and make me a better leader, listener and teammate.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
The biggest challenge is that we have to do everything under more scrutiny or with more to prove. If you want to do something outside of the box, you better excel at all along the way. Whereas your male counterpart might be able to do it more under the radar and no one bats an eye. If he succeeds you hear about it and if he doesn’t, it’s just another day. I don’t think we have that same luxury.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I really enjoy Conversations with Big Rich. It is about people in our industry and their stories. It celebrates things about them that make them unique, and I appreciate the very causal format and always learn something from the guests.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
That is probably the toughest question of the day. If I could inspire a movement around anything to remotely improve things for the better, I would count that as a win. The movement I would like to inspire is more women joining and thriving in the automotive aftermarket and embracing the hobbies and activities that promote getting into ‘The Real’ which is a huge focus for the RealTruck moving forward. For me personally, it started with Ultimate Adventure, then the Rubicon Run, it continued with the Rebelle Rally and I know there will be more to come. I hope by me laying some of the groundwork we see more people not only within the company, but also the entire industry, decide to go racing, overlanding or take an ultimate adventure and take the opportunity to get into ‘The Real’.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I am BIG on quotes, so I have a few, but one I keep printed on my desk is:
“If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.”
It’s a guiding principle in both life and business. If I’m going to do it, I want to do it well and I want to be passionate about it. This helps me to really believe in what I’m trying to accomplish because life really is too short to live halfway in. I feel like I accomplish things by sheer determination because of that very reason.
How can our readers follow you online?
LinkedIn is probably the best place: Lee Riser
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Lee Riser of RealTruck On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.