Here's a leadership metaphor simple enough to actually remember on a Tuesday, and sturdy enough to still be true on a Friday when everything's on fire. Ed Roberts calls it deposits and withdrawals, and once you hear it, you'll start seeing it everywhere.
The Deposits and Withdrawals Framework
What's a "deposit"?
Any moment you build trust with your team before you need anything from them, showing up for them, backing their calls, being consistent.
What's a "withdrawal"?
The moment you ask them to follow you through something hard: a platform change, a role shift, a tough call they don't fully understand yet.
What happens if you only make withdrawals?
If we're only upsetting their apple cart, then we're not doing things to build the trust with that person.
What happens if the account's flush with deposits?
It's not a challenge to make the change. It's, how can I be a part of it?
What Happens When Someone's Just Not Rowing With You
Every GM eventually sits with this question: what do you do with the person who won't get on board, no matter how many deposits you've made?
Roberts didn't dodge it.
Sometimes you have to promote them to customer.
That line deserves its own quote card. It's blunt, it's kind, and it's honest about the fact that not every good person is the right fit for where the team's headed next. Roberts is clear this isn't a knee-jerk move, it comes only after genuinely trying to salvage the fit, and only once someone rowing the wrong direction starts costing the whole boat its speed.
The Part Everyone Forgets
Every tough personnel call gets watched by the rest of the team, whether they understand the full story or not, and that's the part worth sitting with longest.
Everyone doesn't know everybody's business, but you need those other people to say, "I don't know why that happened, but I trust that it was done with care."
That trust doesn't show up the day of the hard conversation. It's the compounding interest on every deposit made months before anyone saw it coming.
🎙️ Listen to today's Automotive State of the Union episode for the complete discussion.
You don't build trust in the moment you need it. You build it in all the moments before, when nobody's asking you to.
The dealerships that navigate change well aren't the ones with the cleverest rollout plan. They're the ones where the account was already flush with trust before the ask ever landed. Check your own balance before your next big change, not after.
