For Robert Clamon, vehicles have never just been part of the job. They’ve shaped both his career and the many lessons he brings to leadership.
From working as a mechanic at San Jose BMW to managing fleet operations, Clamon has built his career around practical problem-solving, preparation, and accountability. His interest in motorcycle racing has reinforced many of the same ideas, especially the value of focus, judgement, and knowing when to push forward and when to slow down. After recovering from a serious motorcycle accident, those lessons took on even more meaning.
Today, Robert Clamon works as an Area Fleet Operations Supervisor with PG&E in San Jose. We spoke with him about the path from the workshop to management, what racing has taught him about risk, and why he believes strong leadership often starts with understanding the work firsthand.
You started your career as a mechanic. What did that teach you?
Working at San Jose BMW gave me a strong technical foundation, but the biggest lesson was probably accountability. When you’re working directly on a vehicle, the quality of the work matters immediately, and you learn quickly that small details can have bigger consequences.
That stayed with me when I moved into management. I understand what it feels like to be the person doing the hands-on work because I’ve been there. It makes you think differently about the decisions you make as a manager and how those decisions affect the people carrying them out.
Was moving from the workshop into management a difficult transition?
It was definitely an adjustment. As a mechanic, you’re mainly responsible for your own work. In management, you suddenly have to think about people, priorities, workflow, and how one decision can affect several other parts of an operation.
When I became General Manager at Weston’s Auto Body, I had to start looking at the whole picture rather than the single job in front of me. That taught me that technical ability and leadership are very different skills. You need to know when to step in, when to listen, and when to let somebody work through a problem themselves.
How did your experience at Monterey-Salinas Transit change your view of fleet operations?
That role showed me how connected everything is. If one part of a fleet isn’t available when it should be, the effect can spread well beyond the maintenance side of the operation.
It made me think more about reliability, planning, communication, and staying ahead of problems rather than waiting for them to appear. It also reinforced something I’ve always believed, which is that simple processes often work better than complicated systems that nobody wants to follow.
Motorcycle racing seems very different from fleet management. Do the two overlap at all?
More than people might think. Racing involves risk, but good racing isn’t about being reckless. You prepare the bike, understand what it can do, pay attention to the conditions, and make decisions quickly.
There’s a similar mindset in operations. You can’t remove every risk, but you can prepare well enough that you’re not making decisions blindly. Motorcycles also teach you to respect small details because one small mechanical issue or one poor decision can have a much bigger consequence than expected.
You were also involved in a serious motorcycle accident. Did that change your outlook?
Absolutely. Recovery taught me patience in a way that work probably never could.
There were times when improvement felt very slow. You want to get back to where you were straight away, but recovery doesn’t work like that. You have to focus on the next step rather than the finish line.
I still use that thinking now. When there’s a difficult situation at work, I try not to solve ten things in my head at once. I take a breath, work out what needs attention first, and move from there.
What does good leadership look like to you today?
Integrity, honesty, and dependability are the big three for me. I don’t think leadership means walking into a room and having all the answers.
Some of the best ideas I’ve seen have come from the people closest to the work. If somebody points out a problem or suggests a better way to do something, my first question is whether it solves something real. If it does, then it’s worth discussing.
You’ve said you try to learn something new every day. What does that look like in practice?
I think it’s realistic if you don’t make the definition too narrow. Learning something new doesn’t have to mean taking a course every day.
It might mean asking someone why they do a task a certain way, learning something technical, noticing why a process failed, or listening to a different point of view. I try to learn from my own mistakes, but I also pay attention to what other people have learned. You don’t have to experience every mistake firsthand to understand the lesson.
Outside work and motorcycles, you foster miniature pigs. What do you enjoy about that?
It’s very different from fleet operations, which is part of what I like about it.
Animals require patience and consistency. You can’t rush them just because you’ve got somewhere else to be. Miniature pigs also have more personality than people expect, so you learn quickly that each one responds differently.
I’m also a big dog lover. Being around animals gives me a chance to switch off from work and focus on something completely different.
After moving through several different roles, how do you personally judge success?
One thing I’ve always believed is that what people say about you when you’re not in the room tells you a lot.
Titles change, jobs change, and companies change. If people remember that you were dependable, that you helped them, or that you made the team stronger, that means something to me. I’d rather be remembered for going above and beyond and helping somebody improve than simply for the position I held.
What would you tell someone hoping to move from a technical role into leadership?
Don’t rush past the stage you’re in.
When I was a mechanic, I didn’t know how valuable that experience would become later. Now I can look back and see that it gave me a perspective I still use every day.
Learn the job you have, pay attention to the people around you, and take responsibility when you make a mistake. A promotion doesn’t mean you suddenly know more than everyone else. The strongest leaders I’ve seen never stop being students of the work.
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