"Embracing a high level of education and cooperation are the two things I would encourage managers and leaders to do right now."

“Through the years, we made several transitions in the company, eventually dropping scrap metal and focusing solely on auto salvage. In the early days, we were basi- cally a U-Pull-It – people pulled their own parts. Eventu- ally we became full-service, and for six to seven years, we specialized in late model Cadillac and Chevrolet. With the rise of DRP repair shops, we had to transition back to all domestic car models when insurance companies started to dictate what the collision and repair shops, our cus- tomers, had to repair,” remembers Herb.

Dedication to People During all of his time in the industry, Lieberman was very active, and always willing to express his thoughts on its direction. He was a member of the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) since 1958 (which was then NATWA and ADRA before it became ARA). He was on the ARA Board of Directors and Executive Committee (EC) and served as President for 2000-2001. He served on the State of California Auto Dismantlers Association (SCADA) Board of Directors and Executive Committee and was active in other local and national organizations. His most memorable career moments were when he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from ARA, and Automotive Recycler of the Year two times from SCADA. He also expressed his “excitement and

Automotive Recycling

pleasure of my son Barry Lieberman becoming a 4th gen- eration auto recycler,” says Herb. “I am especially proud that my son Barry joined the business.” But Lieberman always understood that his success was a shared experience. His secret to success was the employees. “When I went to ARA meetings or state asso- ciation meetings, I never came back with a plan. I pre- sented the ideas I learned to my team, and they came up with the plan to put those ideas into reality. They were the team’s ideas, not mine. They took ownership of those ideas,” says Herb.

“One of the most unique things we did was changing to a five-day Monday-Friday workweek. Most others were open 6 to 6 ½ days. In order to attract and retain employees, I made this decision. While I know that Sat- urday is big business cash day, and people thought I was crazy, my goal of keeping good employees was always more important. In fact, the average length of employ- ment for our team was 18 years or more,” notes Herb. “I would have people seek out employment with us because of our reputation for great benefits.”

Career Move

The team at Lakenor worked efficiently and often set trends for others to follow during its time of independent operation. “In the beginning, we were very, very small,”

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