Name: Jonathan Gibson
Position: Penske Racing VP/Marketing & Communications
Age: 40
Where I’m from: Fairfax County, Va.
Where I call home: Mooresville, N.C.
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Gibson and his family frequently vacation at Bald
Head Island, where he and his wife were married
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Focusing on right now: Solidifying partners for our new Australian V8 Supercar team, preparing for the start of NASCAR and IndyCar seasons.
Best advice: You live up or down to your expectations. I can't remember who said it to me, but it's all about what you expect. If you wake up expecting greatness and good things to happen, a lot of times it affects your attitude. It all ties back to your approach.
A must for a new hire: Attitude, cultural fit and work ethic. All of them are all equally important. I get concerned sometimes when I hear someone say they don't get paid enough to work that many hours. That says you don't have a passion for what you're doing.
Exec I admire the most: Team owner ROGER PENSKE. Even after working with the company for the last seven years, I still learn something every time I'm with him. We're a big company with 44,000 employees, but he's involved in every detail of the business. He tells us that you can't manage the business from 30,000 feet.
Best book I've read this year: "Drive" by DANIEL PINK. It's about what motivates people. It's not always what you would think; it's not always financials.
First thing in the morning: Because of our new V8 Supercar business in Australia, the first thing I do is respond to all of our communications from overnight. If I'm lucky, I get a workout in. Then I get a supersized cup of coffee and head into the office.
Talking tech: I take my tablet everywhere, whether it's at home on the couch or watching "HOUSE OF CARDS" or reading USA Today, I don't know that I could live without my tablet. Twitter is probably my most-used app personally, that and Instagram. Instagram is how I share pictures with my family. Twitter is how I get my news for the most part. I tweet every now and then, but I use it really to find out what's going on in our business and in the world.
Must have music: The older I get, I've become a country music fan. If you had said that to me 20 years ago, growing up in the DC area, I wasn't one at all. But living here near Charlotte for the last seven or eight years, I've become a fan of all sorts of country music.
Food for thought: My wife and I love checking out new spots in Charlotte. Our favorite spot is actually where we went on our first date; The Fig Tree near uptown Charlotte. We try to go there as often as we can.
How I unwind: We like to vacation at Bald Head Island (in N.C.). We got married there. We go a couple times a year; we try to spend a week with the whole family and then we'll do a couple long weekends.
Day in the life: NASCAR's new title-sponsorship deal is one of the most important decisions that NASCAR is going to make. It's a brand that's going to be out there actively marketing the sport to our current fans and also to our new fans. Whether that's a technology brand or a retail brand, I don't think that's been decided yet. I think it's more important how the brand is going to utilize the property to bring it to a whole different level and hopefully grow the fan base. There are a lot of different methods to do it now with the TV package and the Chase and everything else.
