 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines. We are broadcasting live from the beautiful Think Tech Hawaii TV studio in the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. This show is based on my book also titled Beyond the Lines and it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. Today's special guest is the president of the Automotive Body and Painting Association of Hawaii and president of his very successful Unibody Autotech Collision business. He is Michael Chong and today we are going Beyond Auto Repair. Mike. Rusty. Great to see you. Thank you. Thanks for having me on the show today. I'm so excited to be here and you know just to share with you. Well you know I had no idea that you played tennis in high school. I know. I mean all these years that we've known each other and I didn't bring it up but I did. I've been playing tennis since 6th grade all the way through senior year in high school. And what schools did you go to? My middle school was Stevenson Intermediate. That's where we started tennis and then moved over to Roosevelt High School. So did you go to states? I did go to states and interesting enough you know we played doubles one time and my doubles partner and I we happened to beat a seeded team and got seeded top five. Nice. We decided to go on our singles level so we never played again and we kept our seed for a couple of years so that was pretty interesting. Good. Yeah. So Mike what college did you go to? University of Hawaii. And what did you study over there? Engineering. Oh. Okay. Okay. Now I want to ask you Michael about your mom. I know that she's had a great influence on you. What's the biggest thing that you've learned from your mom? Mom? Coming from an Asian background you know just working hard. My parents bust her butts just just provide for us growing up and the trust that she's laid upon me at a young age just makes me who I am today because of the fact that you know do the right thing all the time and you know put the effort and hard work into it. And Michael tell me about your dad. My dad growing up like any other Asian family you know dad was the rock hammer you know we've gone into many many disagreements but it was dad. And he proved to me that you know you have to strive for excellence and you have to put in 100% with everything you do. Nice. And that's what I look upon for my dad. Michael I want to ask you what is the first job that you ever had in your life? First job that I had was Burger King. Really? And it wasn't I didn't even get to what we call it flipping burgers or making the sandwiches. It was like cleaning the brass pipes. Not even getting to cash here you know it was all the good work for it. Unfortunately you know fortunate or unfortunate it lasted two weeks because of the fact that my family wanted me to concentrate on on school and said you know I don't think that's going to help you with your studies. So your dad started Chong's Auto Service? Yeah Chong's Auto Body back in the day I want to say back in the 70s. When we immigrated into Hawaii due to the fact that my aunt married military. Mom was pregnant with me and wanted to get the family into the United States via through Hawaii. At that time you know dad English not being in second language needed to start living and instead of looking for a job my aunt introduced him to a few auto repair shops owners at the time learned to trade and within a couple years opened up his own first car garage. So did you work with him in the business? In the business growing up as a kid as a boy you know being around cars I wanted to be there but it wasn't a work it was it was it was going through summer you know summer summer vacation, sanding cars, messing with motors and and and just being a being a boy but not necessarily thinking that I'm learning the trade we're getting into the trade yeah and at the same time because it felt like a dirty business I always told you know my family and everyone else I'm not doing this it's too much work it's too much work it's tough work it's tough work yes all right so now you're the president of Unibody Auto Tech Collision what how did that company start and how did it evolve from your dad's business well from dad through college he needed help because of the fact that it was getting a coming to be a competitive market so going to school helping him out from there realizing the successes that he needs we needed to really look into it as a as a business and during that time graduating in the 90s as an engineer we were a dime a dozen couldn't get a job so dad offered the same salary as an engineer come help me out which I think he kind of planned out which worked out pretty good got involved helped him out started growing as dad and son mumping heads and and and almost to the point that we've got into some fistfights just with disagreements but you know just two boys in the family yeah but at the same time he's still dad so throughout that process as we grew and evolved we both talked about okay what is the evolution of this business and where do we go and Chong's auto I mean we could have kept the name but I looked at it where maybe a bigger picture find out what's efficient and what works and that's where you need body auto tech was created back in early 2000s wow nice yeah so Michael so many people know you and so many people respect you as a successful leader why is your business successful why is my business successful I mean it's about people you know you really gotta invest the time and and and money into your people they're the ones that's that will grow your organization and run it because of the fact as a matter of fact today with my unibody staff gives me the time and and privilege to you know show like this they basically run with it and I just invest more time with them yeah you empower them I empower them yes so how do you see the auto industry evolving right now wow auto auto industry is evolving every minute yeah we we I don't want to say we joke around with it but we kind of tend to say to their our clients imagine a smartphone on wheels you know how we we get a new iPhone the new iPhone just came out right every year for the cars again you got new models coming out every year but throughout the process more technology is getting into it self-driving yeah they've got safety systems that's just evolving every day so a learning process or learning curve for us in our industry is tremendous and we need to research every day all the differences that come out I know that you owned surrender bar before yes that's how I met you yes that's how we met so I want to know Michael what was the best parts of owning a bar best parts of owning a bar actually is just meeting the people yeah you know in my in my business in regards to the auto industry you meet people you may see them come back but you know statistics is every seven and a half years the bar business I get to meet all walks of life every day they come in and my strive was you know just just understanding and and being genuine with people made me a better person and made me understand especially the culture in Hawaii it's not just friends but long-lasting relationships friends that I can call upon anytime and then you got guests that come you know whether it's out of Ireland whether it's another state or another country coming you to visit you at the bar and just having a conversation and stories like how we're talking today you learn you learn tremendous things about people and that's what I loved about it and you would schedule a lot of business meetings over there and that was that was a catch you know because of the fact that I felt doing a lot of business meetings elsewhere an opportunity came up and people were saying you know you're crazy what are you gonna open a bar and restaurant do you know anything about it well you do some research and you got to take risk and and go for it but at the same time scheduling my meetings there and I think there was a few that you see in some of the wine tastings and the the food tastings we did and yeah it was a learning process as we went and it made me a better person and a better leader today well I had a great time every time I would go so good time yes it was so Michael what what did you learn about that experience from owning a bar owning a bar again it's the people the bar business having great people is is really challenging and it comes down to the point that I think the competition with bars are so stiff that people can people meaning your employees or your staff or your team and move move so quickly yeah so how do you keep them how do you entice them to stay with you and a lot of it a lot of it was me getting the respect out of my staff that in turn have them stay and when they stay it built the success of the bar and then I took that more into my other businesses that hey maybe I'm not spending enough time with my my staff yeah I make an effort to make sure that I understand what what everyone's going through personally and find out what their goals and their success lies in them personally then in turn they share that with our business or or our business model or our organization all about empathy it is yeah it is definitely caring about your people's well-being and and their personal goals yes yes you're absolutely right now you're the president of the automotive body and painting Association of Hawaii tell me about that organization the automotive body and painting Association of Hawaii in short we call it APA yep it's in it's an organization believe it or not was established in 1959 so it's a learning process for me I got elected president this year and we're body shop members across the entire state and we look at how can we elevate our industry and how do we share knowledge educate and and make sure that we are on the cutting edge of doing our repairs the biggest thing that we're looking at today is educating the consumer and when I say educating the consumer it's like you know when was the last time you got into an accident you remember it's probably a long time or maybe never and most people don't get into an accident statistics go back it's an average about seven and a half years so when you do get to an accident what do I do what are your questions where do I go this is where the apple comes into play or the organization comes it's like we want to educate the consumer and gain trust with the consumer so that they understand when they do choose a shop and especially if it's a member shop that you know they can they can make sure that the cars get prepared properly and Michael it sounds like you know the members of your organization I mean yeah you guys they're they're all competitors but it's really you don't have the mindset of being competitors you have the mindset of actually helping everybody in your industry so that like a high tide raises all boats absolutely in our industry you got to look at it where we are competitors but how do we make us make ourselves better right you know when when we look at and we try to strive the best that we can be like you said you know in in a harbor when we raise that tide all the bolts rise at the same time same with the shops that we work with because we may not look at working on the same car all the time and we may have different trials and tribulations that we we encounter that information is so valuable that we can share one another within member shops so that we can not or actually avoid that second mistake yeah and maybe learn from one another from there and it's a win-win for everyone yeah I can see that clearly yeah and you guys also you did a big donation to the Hawaii food bank yes we did tell me about that so we have our annual golf tournament and this year it was a huge success we raised $10,000 initially from the from the golf tournament funds itself but at the same time within two weeks we've not two weeks we had eight member shops and associate members which means car dealerships as well so we've got surf go and Nissan Toyota surf go and Nissan of participate we actually receive a thousand pounds of food wow plus another 2800 and some change so with this program through the association hold of 12,000 and some change plus a thousand pounds of food it was a great event I mean it's a feel-good thing too because we learned more about the food bank through this process and this at the same time hopefully we can show the community that that we as an association care about the community and we want to we want to do good that's absolutely fantastic I love that and you have a huge passion about child safety seats definitely definitely there's so much that I've learned about child safety seats in regards to how they're installed on in vehicles believe it or not 90% of the time it's installed improperly only because of the fact that especially in Hawaii we're in a rush and Hawaii you've got mom and dad who's got you know different jobs they drive differently and then they're shuffling their kids back and forth and and when they're moving the child seat back and forth we're not taking the time install them properly not not only with that but if they get into a collision people the consumers don't realize some of these child seats even though that we don't see damage physical damage to the seat it may need to be replaced then there's the other aspect of there's recalls as well as expiration dates did you know that child seats have an expiration date no I didn't either until I started researching and playing with this so as an organization early next year first quarter we're looking at building a large event and it's free to the community we don't have the date yet but we're focusing about March of 2020 to do a child safety inspection program but hopefully we can get more and more community members or just just people to understand that we ought to take a second look on how we're installing our child sounds good Michael we're going to take a quick break and when we come back we're going to continue going beyond auto repair sounds good you are watching beyond the lines on think tech Hawaii with my special guest Michael Chong we will be back in a quick minute Aloha I'm Mellie James host of let's mona up Tuesdays every other Tuesday from 11 to 11 30 this show is meant to dive into stories of local product entrepreneurs and how they're growing their companies from right here in Hawaii I'm so thrilled to have our show kicked off and so please join us on Tuesdays at 11 o'clock as we talk to local entrepreneurs and hear their stories Hello everyone and welcome to the think tech Hawaii studio my name is Andrew landing I'm the host of three Matters Hawaii we air here every Tuesday at 10 a.m. Hawaii time trying to bring you issues about security that you may not know issues that can protect your family take yourself take our community protect our our companies the folks we work with please join us and I hope you can maybe get a little different perspective on how to live a little safer Aloha Welcome back to beyond the lines on think tech Hawaii today's special guest is a great leader and president of the automotive body and painting Association of Hawaii is Michael Chong and today we are going beyond auto repair Michael I know you read my book beyond the lines I want to know your thoughts about it you know you've created this book that's easy to read and down to the point I've given it to my managers given it to special people that I feel that it's going to benefit them and I always go back and share the four P's people purpose process performance and it's so true I mean over the years as we go through either leadership seminars classes or the books that we read sometimes they're a little more complicated but I like how you put it as a four P's it's it's simple to remember as well as the fact that simple to understand and I'm going to use that if you don't mind continuously people I deal with but it's it's an awesome book I think you did a great job thank you I feel great about I love it I love it and then this way it's easier for me to utilize a tool like your book and pass it on this way you know instead of coming always from me I think some of the people I talk to think I talk too much for one and at the same time they think I know too much but this way you know I can pass on something else to them yeah you can blame it on me yeah Michael what kind of leader are you what kind of leader am I I guess looking inside out I feel like I'm a compassionate I like to go back and say you know be the compassionate samurai yeah be compassionate but sturdy outside in maybe some people might think I'm a little more aggressive but at the same time I think you know I've learned the concept of listening first you know and I feel like I listen very well and with that develops a good character that I feel I gained the respect and trust my peers or whichever organization or group that I lead and I feel I feel confident with that and I like how the response comes to it how do you keep improving yourself as a leader keep improving always keep an open mind never know never state that I know everything I always want to understand new new things I hate reading that's why your book is easy to read I like listening to audiobooks yeah anytime there's a pause in a day that kind of suits me and he kind of go back and forth through it but at the same time again we just need to learn over and over again I'm hungry for new information what people can share and I digest that and see what works and you gotta take risk and try it and if it doesn't work learn from it and move forward right that's why you're successful Michael thank you now who you know I always say that the the greatest leaders build other great leaders who's who has had a big influence on you as a mentor as a mentor honestly and and I look back over and over again I met a lot of great people a lot of great leaders out there but I always fall back in the biggest mentor and biggest leader that I see my father yeah only because I look back in and understand if I was put an issue bringing a brand new family newborn into a foreign country not knowing the language and not understanding and back then there was no Google right so you go in and you're gonna open up your business and you're gonna strive in and continue to work blood sweat and tears and be successful I looked into that history and that's what drives me today to be that better leader not just for my father for my family and now my whole Ohana as you can say is my my unibody family and their families yeah so you know I look in the fact that I want to see how I can grow everyone that comes around me and then today you know having the respect and honor of being elected president of the Association now I've got 70 plus body shops throughout the the state and they're my new Ohana my new family how do I extend my leadership and my experience to those out there and then I'm not better than anyone out there but I think I do well by transcending that information whatever experience I get towards the people that I look up to totally agree Michael what's the what are some of the biggest adversities or challenges that you faced in your life biggest adversities I want to say one was you know the decision of taking over that taking over his business the fear was is this going to be successful am I going to be successful is just the right you know right right reasons and so forth and the second one is going through divorce you know I it draws a lot of negative energy into your life that you kind of lose purpose you lose that focus and I still had the responsibility of my repair business and my team there but how can you say you were never there you were there physically but you were not there so those are probably the two biggest adversities that I would say in life I can see that now you know some of the greatest leaders I mean it takes a lot of courage on their part to do the right thing to make the right decisions do you have an example of time where it took courage on your part to make a tough decision my toughest decision and and it kind of goes back to that adversity of an experienced right in life was it kind of hurts still thinking about it but today you know back back I wouldn't I want to say a few years I had to hire my sister whoa so she was part of the organization it was just how do you do that yeah especially the fact that you got to go back and I don't know if the word is explain or or share that information to your parents to my father and mother they're looking at me like what kind of person are you well what are you doing but I had to keep strong and and and look at the big picture and the big picture was it just wasn't same passion it wasn't the purpose that my sister was was there or she didn't see the purpose that I needed her kind of trend her own her own ways and and aside from that I think growing up she had to grow up being in my shadows yeah so I know it's tough for her as well but you know with that being heartfelt challenging courageous today I can say honestly I have a better relationship with my sister and she actually works for another shop today and and it's a win-win because now she can develop her leadership skills and she's helping with her experiences develop that shop and and share share you know her experiences and at the same time develop her growth as well and then aside from that our family dynamics is a lot stronger so I'm hoping I'm thinking but I'm hoping that she sees that and and and you know the conversations we have today after today she might be shocked that I brought this up but maybe maybe we'll have another conversation for that but you know I love her dearly and I'm super proud of what she's doing at the other shop by the same time I'm super proud of how you know she's keeping our family strong at home yeah sounds like it just wasn't the right fit and she needed to you know pursue a different passion and maybe she didn't see it at the time but you sooner or later when you look back yeah they can see that that was it was tough on you obviously tough on her but but look at how it all works out definitely and it's interesting you say that because I think now they look at the fact that wow it was a tough decision for me now yeah but back then it was kind of like you know I'm the bad guy and you know what are you doing are you willing to like throw this away you're destroying the family but it took years but you know today the dynamic is so much better and being that's coming from a strong Asian family my dad will never admit it yeah mom will never admit it but you know I think I think reading between the lines between the line between the line I feel I feel like that they're proud of the fact that I made that courageous decision because it's so much better today yeah for sure yeah Michael what you know we've received words of wisdom and some great advice over the years but what what's one piece of advice that really sticks with you one piece of advice that really sticks with me I want to say is you know you're gonna hear so many people tell you different things you're gonna read so many things eventually I look back and I really feel my gut and I don't know what you call it intuition instinct instinct but I think the gut is what's telling you that that's the risk you want to take and for me I made a lot of mistakes but at the same time with those mistakes and those risks I've learned more so it's almost like I want to go out there and make the mistake and then it's almost like going back to the whole idea of why'd you open a bar you know why'd you open surrender bar and grill it's like I don't want to go in there and make a mistake and I go back and say you know what if I didn't do that the character I have today about understanding people maybe I might not have it or maybe I'll gain it later on in life but I got it today and it's making me more successful with everything else that I you know touch touch in hand or endeavor so it's it's it's the gut that you got to go through make sense yeah Michael before we finish the show I want to ask you one more question what gives you fulfillment what gives me fulfillment you know it's got to be my family and at the same time I knew I just got married a year ago my wife's awesome down to the point that it the dynamic again you know talking to my about the divorce in the past but today my wife my family that that how do you say that culture fit so well yeah and the support that they give fulfillment fulfillment again for me is because of the fact that my family risked so much in their life put so much effort in their life I want to see what I can do to make their life continuing on most enjoyable that drives me everything awesome Michael wanna thank you for sharing your insights on the show today thank you thank you for having me this is awesome like I said very nervous at the beginning but you know got excited and I'm glad I could share with you share with the audience and hopefully this will develop a better leadership skill for me moving forward and you know I hope to come back for your show yeah that'd be great definitely thanks Michael appreciate that and thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii for more information please visit Rusty kibori.com and my book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble I hope that Michael and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs aloha