Mark Gilbert on Building Tomorrow’s Dealership Leaders Today

SCOTTSDALE, AZ, UNITED STATES, July 22, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As the automotive retail industry faces generational turnover, evolving expectations, and rising complexity, Mark Gilbert, CEO of Automotive Training Network (ATN), is calling for a renewed focus on leadership development at the dealership level.

"A dealership's culture, performance, and resilience all start with its leaders," says Gilbert. "But leadership doesn’t happen by accident. It has to be built, coached, and supported."

With many senior managers and general managers approaching retirement or burnout, dealerships must identify and train new leaders who can step up, not just in title, but in capability. ATN has launched a comprehensive Leadership Development Track to help dealerships invest in their next generation of decision-makers, culture carriers, and strategy drivers.

Gilbert explains that outstanding leadership today isn’t about command and control. It’s about emotional intelligence, team engagement, data-driven decision-making, and the ability to coach others. ATN’s dealership programs emphasize practical management skills, daily accountability systems, and real-world conflict resolution to prepare future leaders for the challenges of modern dealership operations.

"We focus on turning top performers into team builders," Gilbert says. "That means training on how to lead meetings, give feedback, manage performance metrics, and keep morale high, especially when the market gets tough."

As new technologies and buyer behaviors continue to reshape the dealership environment, Gilbert warns that leadership gaps could become performance gaps. "You can’t scale a dealership on personality alone anymore. You need systems, standards, and leaders who can create both."

ATN’s approach combines in-store workshops, virtual coaching, and peer accountability formats to ensure leadership growth is not just taught, but applied. Dealers participating in the program report improved employee retention, more substantial interdepartmental alignment, and clearer succession planning.

"The dealerships that thrive in 2025 and beyond will be the ones that grow leaders from within," says Gilbert. "Our job is to help them build that bench."

Mark Gilbert
ATN
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