Presented by the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UMKC and Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus PC

Gail Worth Channels the Power

Gail Worth starts her weekends with a pep rally. Every Saturday, the owner and president of Gail’s Harley Davidson in Grandview, Missouri, gathers her 72 employees into the showroom of her 50,000 square foot dealership and revs up the Harley power.

“How are you feeling today?” she bellows.

“Super fantastic!”

Then they talk about “the state of the industry, where we are and where we want to be. We discuss how we did last week and where we want to be today.

“We just want to get everyone excited,” Worth says.

Worth shared her infectious laugh, pep, and entrepreneurial power with a crowd of nearly 60 emerging and established entrepreneurs at May's Entrepreneur Speakers Program..

For Worth, these ritual Saturdays are just the kind of excitement and enthusiasm she signed up for when she started working with at her dad’s dealership, Worth Harley-Davidson in Belton, when she was just 16 years old.

Worth started running errands and mopping up. She was studying business at Rockhurst University when her dad offered her a full-time job as secretary.

“I never graduated from college,” she says, with the slightest tinge of regret that quickly dissolves in a laugh, “but, well, I ended up here. So I’m okay.”

Never content to just sit still, Worth always aimed higher. She wanted to sell financing to customers, and promptly devoured books, trying to learn everything she could. In the mid-1980s, she became the No. 1 finance salesperson in Harley-Davidson.

But even that wasn’t good enough. Worth wanted run a dealership. So again, she hit the books, learning everything she could about how to manage people.

“My dad originally bought the dealerships for my two brothers. I was supposed to be a secretary for one of them,” she says, “—and you know I wasn’t going for that.”

But her dad gave her a shot and promoted Worth to general manager.

“My dad thought a woman’s job was as a secretary. He’s since changed his mind.”

Eight years ago, Worth and her brother bought her dad’s dealerships in Belton and Gladstone. After a year, they dissolved their partnership—“it’s hard working with your brother”—and Worth decided she wanted to move, and grow, the “little, tiny 10,000 square foot dealership.”

She wanted to build a destination, a place where people could hang out, play pool, watch their motorcylces being repaired. She built the Grandview location, 50,000 square feet of Harley power and culture.

Harley’s are powerful machines, she says. “When you’re on one, you become a part of it. But our slogan, ‘Feel the Power,’ means more than the power of the bike. When you walk into our store, you feel the power of the people inside it, the power of enthusiasm, and the power of your heart,” she says.

“You can’t give that unless you’ve it. We’ve created that enthusiasm at Gail’s Harley-Davidson. And that’s what sets us apart.”

About ESP

The Entrepreneur Speakers Program, held monthly throughout the year, brings the region’s most innovative business leaders to UMKC to discuss ideas and opportunities. The series highlights experiences, lessons learned and unique issues and challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the creation of a new enterprise. 

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