___________________________________________________________________________________________ Southern Tire Mart
than 6000 employees and a service fleet of over 3200 vehicles supporting customers across the country. As we’ ve grown, we’ ve remained focused on investing in the people, facilities and capabilities that allow us to deliver consistent service while maintaining the culture that has driven our success from the beginning.”
Despite its size and national reach, Southern Tire Mart has retained the culture and agility of a family-owned business, setting it apart from many of its competitors.
“ The most interesting thing about Southern Tire Mart is that, despite employing thousands of people across the country, it’ s probably the flattest organization I’ ve ever worked for,” Tom enthuses.“ The owners remain deeply involved in the business and are incredibly accessible. Anyone in the organization can reach out to them directly, and that creates a very down-to-earth culture with strong morale and a real sense of connection throughout the company.
“ Southern Tire Mart is part of a much larger portfolio of businesses owned by the Duff brothers, but it’ s unique in that it doesn’ t have a traditional president or CEO structure. The owners remain closely engaged in day-to-day operations, supported by a lean leadership team and empowered local management. That structure allows us to move quickly, make decisions efficiently and remain highly responsive to both customers and employees.
“ Many companies significantly smaller than ours have multiple layers of management between the leadership team and the people serving customers every day. We take a different approach. We believe in giving people ownership, responsibility and the authority to make decisions,” he shares.“ That eliminates unnecessary bureaucracy and enables us to react faster while
tlimagazine. com 57