When Steve Ballmer recalled the moment he realized Satya Nadella was destined to lead Microsoft, it wasn’t during a boardroom showdown or a dazzling presentation. Instead, it came when Nadella, then head of Bing, suggested hiring a sought after executive — and offered to step down and report to the recruit if that’s what it took to bring him aboard. Ballmer said that act of humility was the moment he knew Nadella had the right blend of intelligence, drive and self awareness to one day be CEO.
That story resonates far beyond Microsoft’s headquarters in Washington. For the car wash industry — where growth has been meteoric and private equity capital has fueled an era of consolidation ripe with management opportunities — Nadella’s approach to leadership offers a lesson. Intelligence and drive matter. But humility — the willingness to learn, to adapt and to put people first — is the true differentiator.
Nadella’s act underscores that leadership is less about title and more about character. The same holds true in car washing, where the challenge isn’t simply filling roles, but developing leaders who combine intelligence and drive with the humility to learn an industry that takes years to master.
As Jason Johnson, CEO of Quick Quack Car Wash, sees it, “You’ve got to be smart, kind and driven. Those are table stakes,” Johnson said. “But there’s this extra quality of humility that overlays all of this.” Nadella showed it when he stepped back, putting the organization first. That kind of humility, Johnson said, is the foundation for true leadership — and it’s what the car wash industry desperately needs.
The Absence of Leadership
Many insiders hesitate to say there’s an outright absence of leadership in the industry. The nuance is in how you define leadership — and the important distinctions. As Johnson said, “I think we just lack tenured leadership in our industry rather than leadership.”
While there are some strong leaders who’ve come in from the outside who are super capable, they just need some time, he said. “It takes time to learn your team. It takes time to learn your business. We underestimate how long it takes to become really good at that.” He compared it to a college education: You don’t master a discipline in a weekend seminar or a handful of online videos. You need years of exposure, experience and trial and error to develop competence and confidence.
Unfortunately, the industry often expects leaders to be ready overnight. In Johnson’s words, “We’re a TikTok world where we want to watch 30-second videos, when we need three years of learning.”
This impatience has consequences. Many private equity firms have brought in highly capable leaders from outside industries, but they underestimated the learning curve. “People are surprised at how complex learning to car wash is,” Johnson said. “Just one location — getting the chemistry right, the equipment right, the people, the culture, the interaction with the customer — it’s a lot harder than people anticipate.”
When these outside leaders are rushed, their tenures are often cut short. Instead of cultivating leadership maturity, the industry ends up with a revolving door.
Compounding the problem is a wave of generational turnover and the impact of rapid consolidation.
Tom Fields, corporate support manager at Waves Express Wash, pointed to these two forces as the main contributors to the leadership vacuum. Longtime owner-operators are retiring and selling, often taking decades of accumulated knowledge with them. At the same time, large platform-owned companies — often backed by investors — have higher turnover rates, draining site-level leadership.
“The industry is seeing precisely both these factors,” Fields said. “Private equity is purchasing washes but not focusing on talent retention or what it means to put someone in position to lead a site.”
Fields stressed that the solution isn’t complicated: Find people who share or align with the brand’s vision. Profit alone can’t be the guiding star. “Talent comes from all demographics and generations, but when we start to prioritize profit over our people and the communities we serve, that’s what shuts a wash down.”
Where Outside Hires Struggle
One tempting fix is to bring in leaders from other industries. This has worked really well, in some situations, but the results have been mixed.
Stephen Denissoff, president of Synergy and continuous improvements leader at Splish Splash Auto Bath, said the uniqueness of the car wash business is often underestimated. “It blends retail, service, mechanical systems, chemistry and operations all into one,” Denissoff said. Leaders who don’t grasp that full picture often fail to earn credibility with their teams.
Johnson agreed. When an outside hire is brought in, they often need to be taught the basics of the business: “Where are the knobs and levers? What things can you change to impact customer experience, car volume or pricing?” It takes time, and without patience, these leaders burn out quickly.
Still, outside hires bring valuable fresh perspectives — if they’re supported. Denissoff emphasized that onboarding, mentoring and intentional integration are crucial. Without those, the gap between external expertise and car wash reality becomes a chasm.
Pete Nani, CEO of ZIPS Car Wash, put it simply: “I’ve seen great leaders come in that didn’t engage and they wound up not lasting very long.” Engagement, he said, means literally working in the trenches — washing cars, braving the heat or cold, and understanding firsthand what employees face daily. Only then can outside leaders gain credibility and empathy. “Engagement is what helps anybody from outside the industry come in and be successful.”
“Engagement is what helps anybody from outside the industry come in and be successful.” — PETE NANI, ZIPS CAR WASH
This is an excerpt of an article from CAR WASH Magazine.
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