Jason Clarke’s 24-year Enterprise journey started in San Francisco, where he held three Branch Manager positions. Since then, his career path has taken him to several regions of the country.
It’s been eight years since Jason became a Vice President/General Manager. In May, the Boston native was promoted to VP/GM in Dallas, where he’ll continue on his path to train and develop future leaders within the organization, with an emphasis on “learning by doing.”
Jason has done, and learned, a lot over the past 24 years. Keep reading to find out what advice he would give to himself when he was just getting started in his career.
On being open to opportunities across industries
I wish people knew that at Enterprise, we do so much more than rent cars. As you grow with the company your primary objective is train and develop our future leaders within the company. When we get together with our Branch Managers, we talk about their personal development, their teams’ development, how to inspire people and how to run a great business. We spend very little time talking about renting cars!
On career development
Learn by doing. At Enterprise, we share our vision with our employees because they are a vital piece of making it come to fruition. We all contribute to the growth that results in unlimited opportunities for our team. Growing the business goes hand-in-hand with achieving personal and professional goals.
On building a career
The importance of working for a family-owned company that so heavily subscribes to a promote-from-within philosophy will mean more to you than you realize. It always had a nice “ring” to it, but experiencing it firsthand gives added confidence. Your performance and hard work really will get rewarded as you progress through your career and stick with it through the great times and challenging times.
On being a leader
Being a leader is an evolution. I looked at some of our dynamic senior leaders early in my career and wasn’t sure I had the ability to lead like they did. But I tried to remember they weren’t necessarily always like that and had to start somewhere. They continuously worked at it and when the opportunities to lead were presented, they jumped at them. I also learned as a leader we will thrive if I make decisions that are in the best interest of our team, even if it hurts me in the short term. Put the needs of the team in front of yours!