The podcast Guiding Growth: Conversations with Community Leaders from the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, event and meeting venue Modern Moments and the Gilbert Independent/yourvalley.net explores the human journey of leaders. There are stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks, and lessons learned. This partial transcript of the most recent podcast with Tim Hovik  has been edited for brevity and clarity.       

Tim Hovik is an executive and philanthropist residing in Arizona. He’s the owner and operator of San Tan Ford in Gilbert.  

He’s also past president of the Ford Dealers Advertising Fund and chairman of the Ford National Dealers Council.  

Hovik has led his team to several achievements, including the Presidents Award, Ford Top Dealer Challenge, Premier Club Protect, winner of Partners in Quality, Ford Top Volume Dealer Challenge, Premier Club Parts, Sales Leadership, Certified Pre-Owned Leadership Award and recognition in ONE Ford Elite. 

Hovik also has crafted relationships with the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Cardinals, Arizona State University, Arizona Diamondbacks, The Phoenix Open, Fiesta Bowl and the Charles Schwab Championship, plus countless public schools and organizations.  

Let's talk about childhood. What was that like? I grew up kind of in a middle-class family, grew up in Everett, Washington. Like a lot of kids, my parents, when I was very young, divorced. I'm the youngest of three, all three of us boys. I was really blessed that on both sides of the equation. My mom and my dad, I was never in the middle of anything between them, and they kept a cordial relationship.  

I think going back to my early years of grade school and middle school, I was kind of that middle person between my dad and my mom and always trying to kind of keep the peace in whatever things I could do. It's funny, those formative years, sometimes those things carry on with you. And I think people that know me in business or know me in politics or know me just in general, look at me as I'm kind of somebody who tries to bring people together much more than I try and push people apart. 

What did you do to keep busy? You know sports and then sports and then, you know, mixed in a few more sports. I was the captain of the football team in high school. I was the student body president, in fact, at my high school at that time. Nobody had ever been both. … When I went to ASU, I really was looking forward to just being sort of one of 40,000 kids. And what was interesting was, it was really good for a couple of years. And then I found, you know, I really miss being a leader. I miss being able to influence and do things and lead people to better things. And I think it was it was probably useful at that time in my life to learn that lesson and to realize the responsibility that comes from leading. 

How do you end up at ASU? How does that even become part of the equation? It's just such a chain of goofy events.My middle brother's best friend was a three-time tennis state champion in the state of Washington and their family knew our family well. He got recruited to go to ASU to play tennis. So my brother went to what we affectionately call in sports a directional school. My brother went to Central Washington for a year. Well, the next summer they start talking. Well, if you've gone to Central Washington and you're talking to somebody who'd gone to Arizona State, it wasn't a big conversation of ‘What am I doing at Central Washington?’ So, my brother transferred now. He's seven years older than me. I was in my late middle school years.  

I came down one spring break and was like, ‘OK, so it doesn't rain 365 days a year everywhere else.’ You know, not that it would catch a young lad's eye, but it seemed like the female population at Arizona State University was somewhat attractive. They weren't all wearing ski coats everywhere they went like where I grew up. From about the eighth grade on, somebody said, ‘Hey, what are you going to do when you get done with high school?’ I said I'm going to Arizona State. So I had a clear definition of what I was going to do. And so I followed my brother. and ironically enough before I came to Arizona State, my oldest brother, being somewhat intelligent as well, got involved in the same conversations, came down and visited. So he ended up coming down to Arizona State.  

What do you study at Arizona State? I studied political science. So full transparency, I never did graduate. I actually have more credits than you need to graduate. But the political science thing just wasn't up my alley. So I switched majors. So they're not in the right buckets, right. I decide, ‘You know what, I'm kind of burned out. I'll come back and finish.’ I need about another semester and maybe a session of summer school, and I'll finish. But I knew some people that had gone into the car business and had made a little bit of money, and I thought, ‘You know, that probably sounds like a good thing to do.’ 

I decided I would take some time, take off a semester. So I just walked in off the street to Tex Earnhardt to his original Ford store in Tempe and was fortunate enough to get hired. Initially, they did not hire me. I went back the next day after they told me they wouldn't hire me. And I said, ‘Something's wrong here because I'm just trying to get a job selling cars, and I don't know why you're not hiring me?’ Well, it turned out they couldn't verify some deal. I often think if I hadn't gone back the next day, what, what would my career or life would have been?  

Let's talk about people that guided you through this process. So when you're going through these school journeys and getting into the automotive industry, you probably have people that kind of help you out along the way. One of my best mentors was a guy named Ed Trexler. He was an instructor at Arizona State University for probably 50 years. And Ed Trexler was also at the time, one of the most famous officials in sports. And I really took an interest in officiating, because I was like, you know, as much as I thought I was a really good athlete, I was a really good athlete ever at Washington, but with 40,000 kids at ASU, maybe not quite so much, but I thought that's a way I can stay involved. 

And Ed Trexler had an expression that he said all the tim,e and that is “Hustle; don't hurry.” We hustle, we don't hurry. Hurry implies chaotic, careless. We hustle, we don't hurry. And his other famous saying, — and I live by these two sayings, it's so funny 30-40 years later — is he said, “Don't compound the drill, don't make it more complicated than it is.” This is the drill. It's two plus two. It's not trigonometry. It doesn't have to be complicated to be better. 

Let's go back to the kid who walked into Tex Earnhardt and Tempe many years ago. Tell me the advice that you, if you could give advice to that kid today, what would you have told him? I was at a big luncheon downtown Phoenix, and I was asked to be the introducer for Jerry Colangelo, and I know Jerry a little bit. I mean, he could pick me out of a crowd of two. But we kind of got into a conversation, and I was going to speak to some younger students at ASU, and I knew he had just spoken to something because I'd heard overheard a conversation, and I was looking to pick his brain so maybe I could sound smart like Jerry Colangelo.  

So I said, “Hey, you know, what was, what was your message to the kids?” And he said, “You know, Tim, I think the most important message you can tell younger people is that life is a bet and you're betting on yourself and never be afraid to bet on yourself. And then he walked through all the examples and the times. Remember, Jerry Colangelo started as nothing. I mean, he worked his way up to be the coach, the general manager. And how many of those guys? Oh, by the way, end up owning the team? Nobody. And then started the Diamondbacks, owning the team. And he walked me through it. It was all betting on yourself. And he said, “That's really what I try and let young people know is if you believe in something, don't be afraid to reach for it. It's the old reach for the stars. But I always took that away. 

What are some of your pinch-me moments where you still can't believe that this is you? Well, one of the big ones was last month. I interviewed Bill Ford in front of like 20,000 people. And I mean, here's the great, great grandson Henry Ford, and he's the chairman of the board for Ford Motor Company. And I'm Tim Hovik from Everett, Washington, and sitting there with him, and I think the pinch-me moment was when I was done and I walked back to the dressing room and where they take off your microphones and all that stuff. And I said the craziest thing about this whole event is I belonged up there. It wasn't by accident. I mean, leading up to it the whole time, I thought this is crazy. What the heck. But when I did it, and I was done with it, and Bill and I over the years have kind of created a friendship and we're talking to each other like I talked to somebody here in Gilbert. I mean, just people.