President, Chief Executive Officer & Director, LEAR CORP
'N Fuego 37: Raymond Scott - 1 in 9
I was 29 years old, 10 feet tall and bullet proof.”
About Raymond Scott
Ray Scott, president and CEO of Lear Corporation, discussed the company’s performance and strategy in a February 2026 interview following its year-end earnings report, which he described as a strong year that provided momentum heading into 2026. He addressed the impact of tariffs on the industry and expressed support for keeping USMCA intact, stating that maintaining competitive North American trade rules allows for bringing jobs back while remaining able to export globally. Scott also emphasized the importance of a "survival mindset" and continuous improvement, noting that Lear benchmarks against competitors both inside and outside the automotive industry. In a November 2025 discussion, Scott highlighted Lear’s growth in China, where the company serves a mix of domestic Chinese brands such as BYD, Xiaomi, and Geely, as well as legacy OEMs. He described the Chinese market as moving with "incredible speed" and a focus on rapid innovation and high-quality manufacturing, driven by a "fierce survival instinct" among over 100 OEMs. Scott said Lear has learned from this environment to "blow up traditional paradigms" and adopt modular concepts and parallel processes to stay competitive. He also noted that the story of China’s development and excess capacity is still unfolding.
Transcript (39 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Host0:01
Welcome to the remix. Welcome to another edition of Entrepreneurs in Fuego. This is actually a very special edition because with me I have a guest who has an amazing story to tell, and we're going to share that story that surely will inspire a lot of people to take action in a disease that really is just one of the worst things that can happen, and that plagues a lot of people here in the United States and throughout the world. With me is my main man Raymond Scott. How you doing, Ray?
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Raymond Scott0:41
All right, how are you?
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Host0:43
All right, man, I'm doing just fine, man. Looking good, you're feeling good?
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Raymond Scott0:46
Feeling good.
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Host0:48
There you go. Feeling good. All right, man, tell us a little bit about your story because it's really compelling, and I want people that... this is normally a show for entrepreneurs and whatnot, but it is also a show about inspiration. It's about telling people how to overcome obstacles and never giving up, and always setting your goals in such a way that you can achieve them, that you can look for those goals. Of all the interviews that we've done, I can tell you that that's the recurring theme: never give up, go achieve your goals. Tell us a little bit about your story.
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Raymond Scott1:23
I'm actually a home hemodialysis patient. I have been on some type of modality for dialysis for the past 17 years. When I initially found out that my kidneys had failed, I went into the doctor's office, urgent care, and the nurse took my blood pressure like three times: manually once and two times with the machine. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
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Host1:53
So you didn't know that you had this thing? You were just feeling a little bit ill and stuff, going in for bronchitis?
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Raymond Scott1:58
At that age I was 29, 10 feet tall and bulletproof, right? There's no way I could be that sick. So she ran into the back and came out with a doctor, and the doctor was like, 'Sir, your blood pressure is 270 over 190.' I was like, 'Okay, what does that mean?' And I was immediately taken by ambulance to the hospital.
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Host2:30
Wait a minute, so they didn't let you leave? You went to the hospital?
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Raymond Scott2:33
I went straight to the hospital by ambulance. When I got to the hospital, I was like, 'Okay, what's the big deal? I just have bronchitis.' And they were like, 'Mr. Scott, your kidneys have failed.' They had already failed.
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Host2:50
They had already failed?
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Raymond Scott2:51
Yes, they had already failed, and I was walking around like many other Americans who had no clue that their kidneys had failed. It didn't strike me that I was in for a long haul. At the time, my wife, who was my girlfriend for like three months, she came and got me when I got out of the hospital, and I told her, 'Hey, you know what, I'm in for a long road, so you can walk away if you want to.' And true to her character, she said, 'No, I'm going to stay with you.' Being a person with kidney disease, it's very hard to be by yourself and have this disease, but she lifted me up, and through my faith and family also, we were able to overcome some of the obstacles that were in front of us.
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Host3:52
So you were 29 years old before you found out that your kidneys had failed. What were you able to do that you can't do now, or that you couldn't do right after that?
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Raymond Scott4:04
Right after that, being on hemodialysis can be very taxing to the body. I exercised back then off and on because I just got out of the Army two years before, so I was used to running in the morning and all of that. But all of that ended because to remove such a large amount of fluid from the body, which is what the kidneys do naturally, but I had to do with the machine. Being on dialysis kind of limited my athleticism, and I was in store for a lot more than I thought.
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Host4:46
These are ignorant questions, I mean, like me, maybe a lot of people do not know. Was this something that you inherited? Is there a cause for the disease?
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Raymond Scott5:01
It's not an ignorant question because we're actually working on a documentary called One in Nine. One in nine adult Americans have some type of kidney disease. This documentary is being produced here in Phoenix. It was the brainchild of your camera woman, Taylor, and my wife, and we are strong advocates for kidney disease. This documentary will help to enlighten people as far as what kidney patients go through, dialysis patients go through, and what the types of dialysis are, and even investing in types of research and development that would help dialysis patients.
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Host5:48
So what caused this? Did you ever find out why?
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Raymond Scott5:52
It was actually high blood pressure. High blood pressure and diabetes are two of the highest things that cause kidney failure.
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Host6:04
What caused the high blood pressure? Was it the eating, the stress, lack of exercise?
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Raymond Scott6:13
When I was in the military, I was in a bad car accident where I was told my kidneys shut down and they came back online. Actually, to protect my kidneys, my body shut down the kidneys so it wouldn't receive any more toxins from my body because of all the injuries I had. Ever since that accident, my blood pressure has always been high. But my entire time in the military, I was never told that you better control this blood pressure, or that it could lead to kidney disease, or that I actually started in decline as far as my kidneys go in the military.
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Host6:52
How many people here in the United States are affected by kidney disease? Do you have an idea of the statistic?
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Raymond Scott7:03
It's like 26 million people. 26 million people, some of which don't even know that they have kidney disease.
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Host7:11
And it's predominantly in the Hispanic as well as the Latin population, isn't it?
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Raymond Scott7:15
Hispanic, Native Americans, Black and African-Americans. When you go into a dialysis clinic, the numbers speak for themselves, and you can see each of those groups in there in large numbers.
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Host7:33
Let me brighten up your day. You're a good dancer, right?
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Raymond Scott7:37
Yes, I am. I'm actually the first person on dialysis to do Dancing with the Stars with the National Kidney Foundation in Arizona. They've had people who've had kidney transplants participate, but never a person who was actually on dialysis like myself.
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Host8:01
Are you practicing your cha-cha-cha, man?
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Raymond Scott8:04
Yesterday was my first lesson, and I always thought that I could dance, but this is a little more difficult than I thought. So we're looking forward to that, and my kids are too.
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Host8:16
That is part of a fundraising event happening here in Phoenix?
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Raymond Scott8:19
It's actually the fundraising for the National Kidney Foundation of Arizona, and it's a tribute they do every year. This year it's going to be in February.
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Host8:33
What have you found out about yourself that you didn't know you had prior to this disease? What did you find out about your character, about anything?
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Raymond Scott8:46
I've always known that I was very disciplined, and that came from the military. I've always known that I would do what I had to do. But for a kidney dialysis patient, you have to reach a little deeper sometimes, and it's at times when you feel like an anchor to your family. There were times when my son or my daughter came to me, 'Hey Dad, let's go outside, let's go play, can you come play with us?' And I actually couldn't because I was recuperating from the dialysis I was on at the time. I'm actually on next-stage dialysis right now, which is a home hemodialysis, and I feel a lot better on this brand. I do dialysis more frequently, but it helps my body more because it's taking off less fluid.
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Host9:39
How long does the treatment last during the day? Is it several times during the day, or is it just one time?
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Raymond Scott9:47
It's just one time, and I'm on the machine for about three hours, but that's five days a week. Whereas normal dialysis patients go in center where it's three times a week, and I was on for like four hours. So because I'm doing more frequent dialysis, I get to remove that fluid more frequently, and it's not as taxing to my body. So I am very active.
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Host10:21
What would you tell someone that has his or her health, and they drown in little problems in their lives? This is a huge problem to overcome, and you're doing it. What message can you send people?
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Raymond Scott10:37
The biggest thing is not to feel as though there's a limitation on what you can do. You can do anything you set your mind to. Dialysis machines are all over the world. I've done dialysis in Jamaica, in Italy, we went to Canada. I had to drive to New York to get my dialysis, but they do have dialysis machines in Canada. Don't put up any barriers, don't put up any limitations on your life. I always go by a saying by Abraham Lincoln: 'In the end, it's not the number of years in your life but the life in your years.' I live by that. Having children and a wife, I have to stay motivated. It's something that I do. I don't hide how sick I am or how sick I may be, but I've been blessed that I've been really well here lately, so I've been able to do those things with them that I wouldn't have been able to in center.
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Host11:55
You're my new hero, man. You going to come back and visit us? We want to know how you did on Dancing with the Stars. I want to see you dancing the cha-cha-cha. For our guest, we give this beautiful t-shirt. Wear it proud. You can wear it proud. You dance. I will come back again, man.
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Raymond Scott12:14
All right, thank you.
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Host12:18
We're out. Welcome to the remix.