During his conversation on the What the Fixed Ops?! podcast with Russell Hill and Charity Dunning, Long explained that the biggest obstacle facing dealership leaders today is rarely a lack of systems or operational knowledge. Instead, it is the internal work that many people avoid—the mindset, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and personal accountability required to lead others effectively. While dealerships often invest heavily in leadership training, sales processes, service operations, and performance metrics, Long believes lasting success begins much earlier. It begins with understanding the person behind the process.
Long’s perspective carries particular weight because of the path that brought him to this point. Today he is known throughout the automotive industry as the founder of All Things Used Cars Plus, creator of the Pandemic of Positivity movement, a performance coach to dealership leaders across North America, and author of Step Zero: How to Own Your Energy, Attitude and Approach Before You Sell, Serve or Lead Anyone Else. However, his journey was anything but conventional. His life included addiction, homelessness, treatment centers, and years of rebuilding himself long before he became one of the industry’s most respected leadership voices. Rather than allowing those experiences to define him, Long transformed them into the foundation of a leadership philosophy centered on personal responsibility, continuous growth, and helping others become the best version of themselves.
One of the defining moments behind Step Zero occurred years ago while Long was serving as an executive for AutoNation. At the time, he believed the remarkable performance of his dealerships was primarily the result of his own systems and leadership processes. His stores were consistently producing exceptional financial results, customer satisfaction scores, market share growth, and profitability. Confident that he had discovered the formula for success, he entered a meeting alongside nineteen of the highest-performing general managers in the company expecting to share his methods. Instead, the experience completely changed his thinking.
As each leader explained how they achieved outstanding results, Long realized that every dealership used different systems, different management styles, and different operational processes. There was no universal blueprint. What united the highest-performing leaders was not the specific process they followed but the person they became before implementing any process. That realization became the seed for what would eventually become Step Zero. Leadership, he concluded, starts before strategy. It starts with mindset, intention, and the internal habits leaders bring into every interaction.
This concept directly challenges how many dealership organizations approach leadership development. When performance declines, the instinct is often to implement another training program, revise operating procedures, purchase new software, or introduce additional accountability measures. While those initiatives certainly have value, Long argues they rarely address the deeper issue. If leaders bring insecurity, fear, frustration, or negative thinking into every meeting, no process can consistently overcome those internal obstacles. Lasting organizational improvement requires personal transformation before operational transformation.
One of the most powerful observations Long shared during the conversation involved the hidden insecurities that affect nearly every leader, regardless of experience or success. He believes many people quietly carry feelings of inadequacy, fear, anxiety, or what psychologists often describe as imposter syndrome. Those internal conversations influence leadership decisions far more than most people realize. Even highly successful executives can find themselves questioning their abilities based on a single interaction.
Long illustrated this with a personal example from his own career. While leading one of the highest-performing dealership groups in his organization, every measurable indicator pointed toward success. Customer satisfaction was strong, employee engagement was high, profitability exceeded expectations, and the dealership was outperforming its goals. Yet one day, the company’s owner walked through the dealership appearing distracted and somewhat distant. Although nothing negative was said, Long immediately began questioning whether he had done something wrong. His mind quickly created a story that his career might be in jeopardy. Within a short period, however, he recognized what had happened. The owner’s mood had nothing to do with him. The anxiety he experienced originated entirely from his own internal dialogue.
That moment reinforced one of the central lessons of Step Zero. Events themselves rarely determine our reactions. Instead, our reactions are shaped by the beliefs, assumptions, and emotional patterns we bring into those situations. Leaders who understand this can interrupt negative thinking before it affects their teams, while leaders who ignore it often unintentionally spread uncertainty throughout their organizations.
This emphasis on self-awareness also explains why Long believes personal development is not optional for effective leadership. Every day, he intentionally invests time in activities designed to strengthen his mindset. Reading, serving others, reaching out to encourage someone, prayer, meditation, physical exercise, stretching, cold plunges, and consistent morning routines are not simply productivity habits—they are methods of preparing himself to lead. He describes them as putting on his armor before entering the day.
For dealership leaders, this concept has significant implications. Leadership is not something that begins when the morning sales meeting starts or when the service department opens its doors. Leadership begins long before employees arrive. The quality of a leader’s decisions, communication, coaching, and emotional stability depends heavily on how well they have prepared themselves mentally and emotionally before the workday even begins.
Long frequently emphasizes that leadership is less about controlling others and more about managing yourself. A leader who consistently demonstrates emotional consistency, optimism, accountability, and authenticity naturally creates psychological safety for employees. Teams become more willing to communicate openly, solve problems collaboratively, and remain engaged during difficult situations. Conversely, leaders who operate from fear, insecurity, or emotional inconsistency often create environments where employees become defensive, disengaged, or resistant to change.
Perhaps one of Long’s most memorable statements during the interview summarizes this philosophy perfectly: your life does not change when your strategy changes; your life changes when your state changes. That distinction represents far more than positive thinking. It reflects decades of personal growth, recovery, leadership experience, and coaching thousands of automotive professionals. Strategy certainly matters, but strategy executed from fear produces very different results than strategy executed from confidence, clarity, and purpose.
The automotive industry often celebrates hustle, hard work, and long hours. While Long respects strong work ethics, he challenges another common misconception—that simply working harder automatically produces better outcomes. Instead, he encourages leaders to ask better questions. More work doing what? Hard work toward which objective? Without a clearly defined approach, additional effort often creates more activity without generating better results. High-performing leaders focus on intentional execution rather than constant motion.
One of the most emotional moments of the conversation centered on the experience that ultimately changed Long’s life forever. Before entering recovery, he describes living from crisis to crisis without moments of real clarity. Addiction had become his identity, and every day felt like survival rather than purposeful living. Then one day, while sitting alone after entering treatment, Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror began playing. For many people, it is simply an iconic song. For Long, it became what he describes as his “burning bush” moment. As the lyrics played, everything around him seemed to disappear except for one undeniable truth: if his life was ever going to change, he would have to change first. That realization became the foundation for everything that followed. Decades later, the mirror remains a central theme throughout Step Zero. Rather than blaming circumstances, other people, or external events, Long encourages leaders to look honestly at themselves first. Every challenge becomes an opportunity to ask a simple but uncomfortable question: “What role am I playing in this situation?” That level of ownership is difficult, but it is also incredibly freeing because it focuses energy on the one thing every leader can actually control.
That philosophy extends directly into how Long approaches leadership coaching today. Unlike traditional consulting, where recommendations are often delivered and left for the client to implement independently, Long describes himself as a performance coach. His role is not simply to provide ideas—it is to hold leaders accountable for executing them. Performance, he believes, requires consistent action rather than occasional inspiration. Throughout his coaching work with dozens of dealerships, he has found that sustainable improvement rarely comes from discovering new information. More often, it comes from consistently applying principles that leaders already know but fail to practice every day. Accountability, repetition, and discipline become far more valuable than constantly searching for the next breakthrough idea.
Another recurring theme throughout the discussion was congruency. Long argues that employees quickly recognize when leaders are pretending. A positive attitude that is forced rather than authentic eventually becomes exhausting both for the leader and for the people around them. Genuine leadership occurs when thoughts, emotions, words, and actions align. When leaders consistently demonstrate integrity between what they believe and how they behave, they naturally earn trust. That trust becomes the foundation of healthy dealership culture, stronger employee engagement, and higher organizational performance.
This focus on authenticity also explains why Long believes relationships remain the most valuable asset inside every dealership. Sales processes, service procedures, inventory management systems, and technology platforms all contribute to operational success, but people ultimately determine whether those systems work. Every customer interaction, technician conversation, sales meeting, coaching session, and hiring decision is influenced by the emotional state of the people involved. Leaders who invest in developing individuals rather than simply managing processes create organizations where accountability becomes a shared commitment instead of an enforced policy.
The same people-first philosophy inspired another initiative that has grown far beyond anything Long originally imagined. During the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, he found himself pacing in his backyard while facing the heartbreaking reality of potentially laying off hundreds of employees. Watching the constant stream of discouraging news, he asked himself a different question. If the world was experiencing a pandemic of fear, could it also experience a pandemic of positivity? That simple idea became the birth of Pandemic of Positivity, a movement centered on compassion, encouragement, kindness, and intentional optimism. What began as a personal response to uncertainty has since grown into an international community reaching tens of thousands of people. The message is remarkably simple: every individual has the ability to influence someone else’s day through encouragement, gratitude, and genuine human connection.
That same commitment to serving others is evident every Friday morning through All Things Used Cars Plus, a community that now includes thousands of automotive professionals from across the industry. Despite the name, the discussions extend far beyond inventory acquisition or used vehicle operations. Conversations regularly focus on leadership, personal growth, mindset, accountability, culture, family, and becoming better human beings. Long believes dealerships perform better when leaders become better people, and the community reflects that belief. Rather than simply exchanging industry tactics, members challenge one another to grow personally and professionally while lifting up the people around them.
One particularly practical lesson Long shared involved resetting throughout the day instead of waiting until tomorrow. Many leaders assume a difficult meeting or disappointing event ruins the remainder of the day. Long intentionally rejects that mindset. Whether it is two o’clock or four o’clock in the afternoon, he consciously chooses to restart. He jokes that he often greets people with “Good morning!” late in the day because, mentally, he has chosen to begin again. A bad moment, he explains, should never become permission for a bad day. That small mental habit demonstrates another application of Step Zero. Leaders always have the ability to choose their next response, regardless of what happened five minutes earlier.
For dealership executives, fixed operations leaders, service managers, general managers, dealer principals, and sales leaders, this perspective offers an important competitive advantage. Automotive retail is inherently demanding. Inventory challenges, technician shortages, customer expectations, economic uncertainty, and rapidly changing technology create constant pressure. While operational excellence remains essential, emotional resilience increasingly separates exceptional leaders from average ones. Leaders who consistently manage their own mindset are better equipped to coach employees, navigate change, solve problems, and build cultures that retain talented people.
Throughout the interview, Russell Hill repeatedly returned to one observation that summarizes Long’s impact. The greatest leaders he has encountered are not those with the most impressive resumes or the most sophisticated business strategies. They are the leaders who elevate other people. That ability begins with personal responsibility, humility, and an ongoing commitment to growth. Long’s story demonstrates that leadership is not reserved for those with perfect backgrounds or flawless careers. Instead, it belongs to individuals willing to confront their weaknesses, rewrite the stories they tell themselves, and intentionally become someone capable of serving others.
Perhaps the most inspiring takeaway came near the conclusion of the conversation when Long shared a lesson that had recently challenged his own thinking. A coaching client remarked that what once represented his ceiling had now become his floor. The statement immediately resonated with Long. Every milestone he once believed was the ultimate achievement—including writing a book, coaching dealerships nationwide, building thriving communities, and helping thousands of leaders—had simply become the starting point for making an even greater impact. Rather than viewing success as a destination, he now views it as the foundation for serving more people.
As dealerships continue investing in technology, artificial intelligence, fixed operations optimization, customer experience improvements, and operational efficiency, Long’s message provides a timely reminder. Sustainable success will never be created by systems alone. Great processes require great people to execute them. Great cultures require leaders who consistently model accountability, authenticity, empathy, and resilience. Before organizations transform, leaders must first transform themselves.
Read the Transcript
Hello, everybody out there. I’m Russell Hill, I’m your host at WTF and that is what the Fix podcast to all of you out there today. And I’m joined today by hello everyone. I’m Charity, your co-host today and we have David Long. He’s the president of David J. Long Consulting or coaching. He is the founder, all things used cars and pandemic of positivity. He’s the author of step zero How to Own Your Energy, Attitude and Approach before you sell, serve or lead anyone else. Now, I’m going to hand this over to you, Russell, I know you wanted to say a few things about David before we begin. Yeah. Thank you. I’m so pumped up. I just got finished in all things used cars with David Long and, you know, uh, Steve and Danny and Danielle and Michael and some of the many other people we heard from in the room. You know, you would think that when you’re in a room, like in clubhouse, all things use cars. That would be about used cars. Well, you would think that WTF, what the fuck stops is all about fixed stops, but it is not okay. It goes way beyond that. And I’m really honored and humbled both of us, Jerry and I, uh, David Long, um, I feel a kinship to him. Uh, and I’ve only known you about three years, I think, David, but we even though we’ve known each other for three years, he’s had such a tremendous impact in my life and my trajectory and where I’m going. And we have a mutual friend. His name is Bill W. Uh, I’ve known him for thirty one years. And I think David, you’ve known him thirty seven years. Thirty six, thirty seven. Which one is it? Something like that. It’s going to be eight here in a couple of months, thirty eight thirty eight in a couple of months, and you’ll hear more about that. But today, this isn’t about fixed operations. This is about step zero, a book that is fixing to be released, and I can’t wait to get it in my hot hands. We have a few things, but we’re going to we’re going to take you through a gamut of questions because we want everybody out there to know. And I wanted to say thank you to all of you out there, uh, for our fifth going on our sixth year with this podcast. For those of you who do podcasting, know that there’s a lot of time, effort, and energy that goes into sustaining a podcast that long. But we are so humbled, honored, excited with all of you out there, uh, that to promote this and to engage with David and to listen and like and love all the shorts and, or watch the whole thing or a combination of both and share it with all your friends, families, neighbors and relatives, because it’s going to be a great, great show. And he’s probably already done a few of these. Uh, and yet the book’s not out, but the anticipation is like off the charts charity. Ask David the first question. Well I will. David. Welcome again. Tell us a little bit about you and what you’ve been up to lately. Well, first of all, Charity, thank you for helping me put this together. You’re always so great at organizing and coordinating these two old guys that you see on the screen and helping us together. So without you, we probably wouldn’t be here. That’s right. Absolutely. Thank you. Kudos. Yeah. And Russell, it’s always great to be with you as well. So here’s what I’m up to. In about middle of last year I was talking about I have, you know, three hundred and well, five hundred and forty eight days till retirement and I’m going to retire and I’m going to retire. And then I thought, and this is kind of a personal story, but I heard my dad and I did. My dad passed away in his early fifties, and my dad would always tell us, I’m the youngest of eight. And he’d say, when I retire, we’re in northern Ohio. When I retire, I’m moving to Florida. That’s all we heard. Like he’d go to Florida and he just loved Florida. Well, he passed away before he retired. I’m talking about about a month before he retired. So as I was doing my countdown and my advent calendar of I’m retiring in five hundred and forty seven days, right? I heard my dad and I’m like, well, why would I wait to retire when I can just retire now? So a company that I loved and a group of people that I really hold in the highest regard, I accelerated my retirement and retired at the end of January, you know, gave four or five months to find my replacement. Tried to do everything I could for the transition. And I thought, you know what? It’s time now. So we’re almost done. We started at that point, building a home in Idaho and home big enough to kind of house all of our kids if they wanted to, and their kids. And that house will be done in September, October. And, um, and since, since my retirement, I have been doing podcasts or coaching calls. I have a coaching and performance business, as you mentioned, for just ten hours a day. So my retirement went from I’m done to only ten workdays plus prep time. So that’s what I’m doing these days. I finished the book doing coaching and performance with thirty five dealers and just having a freaking blast. That’s what I’m doing. Well, you’re an amazing connector. Well, thanks. Go ahead. Charity. Yeah, that sounds amazing. That sounds like, um, a very fun retirement so far. You’re doing what you want to do and. Yeah, and I do have to say I’ve been practicing my word tracks. I had four hundred, five hundred days to practice. It is paper, plastic or welcome to Walmart. I was ready for the transition. No. Yeah, yeah, I was ready. I had the blue smock and everything, and I was ready for retirement. And then I got pulled in. God had different plans for me, and I got pulled into making an impact on on dealers. And I’m just absolutely having a blast. Good, good. Well, tell us a little bit about step zero. Tell us about the book and what’s going on there. What’s it about and what do you plan on releasing it? All of those things. Sure. So step zero has been my life work. And I can remember thirty eight years ago, sitting in rooms of recovery, Russell, and having old timers tell me to take the cotton out of my ears and put it in my mouth and just listen. So these seeds were planted early, really early. And then what put it together was I was an executive with AutoNation, and this was really one of the defining moments in my professional career I have was in my thirties. I was excited to be leading a group of dealers in Florida, and we were doing great. We were Most Improved Dealer of the year two years in a row at each of the locations. I’m like, I’m getting it done. I’m so good. And I believe my own propaganda. I really believe that it had a lot to do with me and my process. You noticed the personal pronouns were just absolutely. So I’m in a room and my memory serves me correct. I know that Mike Maroney was in there. I know that Michael Jackson was just transitioning in and Wayne Huizenga and it was the twenty, what they called best general managers of all three hundred and fifty seven stores. And they wanted to know how we were doing what we were doing, make making such an impact with return and gross and net and units and market share. And I was just so full of myself. And Michael Maroney said, okay, we’re going to go around the room. There’s twenty of us, so nineteen others. And we’re going to ask, how exactly are you getting such phenomenal results? And much to my blessing, I was to the left of Maroney and he started to the right. So I got a chance to listen to nineteen other high performers. And the first few I. You know what I was thinking, Russell, was how. That doesn’t make any sense. They’re full of baloney. Then the second, third and fifth and tenth, I’m thinking, well, if they’re able to sell five, six hundred cars out of a tent and with no market, with no ad budget and get her like, maybe, maybe it doesn’t have a lot to do with the process. Maybe it’s not the process, but everything to do with what happens before the process. And then I thought step zero Before anything. There’s so much more to it than whatever process you develop. So that’s where step zero is actually developed, where the thought and the brainchild was sort of solidified. And then from there, I’ve been working on it, but never took the time to complete it. And that now I am happy to say is completed. It’s completely done. I will have a hard copy, the editor or the author copies I will have probably in the next week to ten days. And I’m so excited because I think it’s going to make a real impact on people. I know it’s going to make a real impact on people. And way back when we pulled the cotton out of your ears and I was told by the old timers, shut up and listen and just remember one thing I said, what’s that? Your very best thinking got you where you’re at right now. So quit that and listen to other people. So step zero formulate. This is your first book, yes or no? First book that’s going to be in a Barnes and Noble. Yeah, let’s say that. Yeah. Well, the anticipation is at a feverish level out there with all the people I’m talking to, and I’ve already pre-ordered it, and I’m waiting for it because I happen to think in my journey, which is I’m a lot of similarities that, uh, I didn’t, I didn’t really understand leadership and I didn’t really understand. I thought it was about this, this or that. And what I really found out, it’s all about people and relationships and elevating people to get the very best out of them. And, uh, I continue to learn today. So you say your life doesn’t change when your strategy changes, your life changes when your state changes, what does that actually mean? It means step zero. It’s more about faith than strategy, right? Think of it more about state than strategy, which is really the culmination of what most of the concepts are. How do you show up? What’s happening in your mind? How are you talking to the most important person in your life, which is yourself? What are some of the things that you’re bringing to a relationship? Are they helpful or hurtful? Do you have a positive intent or are you thinking everybody has a negative intent? I mean, there’s so much to it. That’s why I took the time to write all those chapters. But that’s really it. Michael is what is you what are you doing when you enter into any relationship? That’s it. Now I’m wondering, did did you write it yourself or did you get a little help from a ghostwriter or AI? I have a lot of people that help me. So I have about a seventh grade education and you might laugh at me, but no, I got an eighth grade education. So I love because Russell is the same way, right? He’s got the same story. So I needed I needed help, so I don’t know that I wouldn’t call it necessarily a ghost writer because I had it all laid out. I had somebody that could help me coordinate my thinking and make legible for the reader. Yeah. Yeah. It’s very important. And then my coach, David Meltzer, I don’t know if you’ve heard of him, but yeah, absolutely. Just a brilliant man and a great human. And he’s been coaching me for a couple of years now. And he had somebody that’s been helping him for years. You know, he’s written probably ten New York Times best sellers. And just an amazing story he has. And the person that’s been helping him also helped me to make sure that the way that it’s going to present is a way that my legacy, my children and grandchildren could be proud of their grandfather and how it was written. Well, that’s important. I know that I’m very ADHD type A, and I also am just like almost finished with my book. I think everybody should probably write a book, but it’s taken two and a half years now. I can tell a hell of a story, but I can’t put it into sentence where it’s where it makes sense. So I have a ghostwriter, and that happens to be charity because she’s amazing. So she knows way more about me than most people do. But it’s quite an undertaking to to write a book. And the things that I went through in my life, the personal things that you went through in your life, set the stage and the foundation for the book because had you not gone through what you’ve gone through, you probably wouldn’t be the person you are today. And the thinking that goes on and how and what it takes to actually keep that at bay and to step zero, write, check everything that’s going on before you. It’s all about the relationships. And it reminds me of a book called the Four Agreements, which I also know about. Be impeccable with your word. Don’t make assumptions. Always do your best and don’t take things personally. I mean, very, very, very important stuff. But it’s taken me a long time and I’m still learning. Is it the same way for you as well? And did those early years that we were talking about a minute ago, is that the the fundamental foundation for what you went through to where you’re at now and where that fire and passion came from. Yeah, that’s a great way to frame up that question. So because we’re older, me much older than you most likely. Right. Remember remember tapes. Remember how you could get a tape and then you could tape over the tape. So for years I needed to put new, uh, messaging over that tape. Right. The tape came to me with messages that just weren’t true and repeated, and they’re on repeat. You know, I remember the tape players, you could press repeat and it would just keep playing and playing and playing. Well, those thoughts, those conversations just played and played and played and played. So what I needed to do early on if I wanted to have a different life, which I clearly do is I needed to put something different on top of what the messaging that I received was. So part of the step zero was. I need to reprogram. I needed to take out what was put in and replace it, not just put on top of, but take out and then replace. And that’s where the congruency came from, right? That’s, that was one, right. That was a lot of work, wasn’t it? More than, more than you could probably imagine. Well, you could imagine. Oh my gosh. A lot, a lot, a lot of work. Yes. Yeah. That reinforcement. I uh well, I’ll tell you what, it still happens today. And I find that the best way to get them out of my own head when I seem to be overly judgmental about something or, uh, I have negative thoughts is to be of service and to call somebody and reach out to somebody, which I do every single day that hasn’t heard from me in a while. And I cannot tell you. and I know this. It’s this way for you. To the people I reach out to. I was just they called me right away. Not every time. I was just thinking about you. Or I hand off a book to somebody and I’ll make a little, you know, a scribble on page eighty three to call me when you finish that chapter. And I’d love to hear your thoughts, because I’d love to share mine with you. And very few people ever call me because they don’t read the book. And but I know you read books and I think all leaders are readers, but I don’t think all readers are leaders. Anyway, it’s very interesting. So what in the book you talk about owning your energy, attitude and approach, and which of the three do leaders struggle with the most? I don’t think it’s a one size fits all. Okay. Love it. I think everybody is, you know, built uniquely different. And some people possess the right attitude. Some some people it’s hard to have, by the way, in my experience, a terrible attitude and great energy. Yeah. So probably the approach is the one that is most commonly misunderstood. Right. Because a really great attitude, really great energy, but an idiotic approach is not going to produce great results. So the attitude and the energy, I think it’s a precursor. The approach, I don’t think many people have a written detailed executable strategy. They show up and they work hard. And I think the four letter words that we need to remove is more in hard. I need to do more. More of what? I need to work hard. What kind of hard? Where? What is the outcome? What are we doing every single day that’s producing the result that we’re trying to accomplish? So if I had to guess, nobody’s ever asked me the question that way, by the way, and I’ve done a lot of these around step zero. That’s a great question, I would say most leaders have pseudo attitude, you know, fake attitude. Like you can tell that they’re just showing up because they’re supposed to have that kind of attitude. So there’s not a lot of congruency between what they’re thinking, how they’re feeling and what they’re saying, which loses the confidence of their team. So the dealers or the people, human beings that don’t have congruency need to get that fixed. And that will lead to sustainable energy. Because I don’t obviously, you probably know this and charity, you probably know this, but if you are not congruent, you get very tired very fast. Like if you’re faking great energy and you’re faking a great attitude, there’s only so much faking that can go on before. But if it’s truly how you feel and who you are, it’s the law of accelerating acceleration. You’re so because you’re in alignment with how you feel. But if those things are going on, but you don’t have the right approach or the systems. I think it’s almost impossible. It’s like a stool with two of three legs. It doesn’t stand very well. No, my answer to that question. No, it’s a great answer. And one thing that I’ve learned about you over the years is you are high energy, high activity. But your actions match your words. When your actions don’t match your words, you can sense it from other people. And you’re constantly elevating people all the time. And I don’t know if that’s just to keep you in check or when I do that. Is it just to keep me in check to get my my thought process right? Because it is all about that initial thought process. What’s going on in my head? Do I really respect, love and admire that person? Or do I just love that person where they’re at, and I need to say something that encourages and lift them up, because the alternate is a death trap for me. That’s just my experience and it probably is for you as well, right? One hundred percent. Yeah, there’s no doubt. Well said. I could not agree more. Mhm. Charity. Well, well, why do so many leaders immediately look for a new process or tool before they look inward at themselves? It’s so much easier and less painful. The work that needs to be done to change the inside is so much harder than adding a new system or process. Which is why I truly believe, and Danelle said it about self-esteem. And I said this on CBT last week or the week before. I think most, if not all people are plagued with insecurities in inferiority complex, you could call it or fear, anxiety, what ifs. I think people walk around with this sort of impending doom. Not everybody, of course, but I believe when the inside matches the outside. We have a real fighting chance to be able to make a big impact as a leader. I like the inside being fixed, not being fake. Yeah, well, and there’s a lot to that. Uh, and I know we have some similar beliefs about secrets and resentments and carrying that stuff around. It serves absolutely no purpose. And I know you’re going to remember this. I met I met David Long back in nineteen ninety eight, nineteen ninety nine. He his name wasn’t David Long. His name was Roger. And you’ll remember this. It was one of those. When the student was ready, the teacher will appear. I already had a few years of of of being clean and sober under my belt, and I was on fire. And I was running a dealership at the time. And I met this guy that reminds me of you. And he mentored me for quite some time because he knew I was hungry, but I didn’t know how to go from where I was at to the next level, and I was vulnerable enough to let him know that. And he looked at me and he said, are you willing to do the things that other people are not willing to do. So you can have him become the things that most people will never have and never become. And of course, that that set me on fire. And he gave me a book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie, who’s the Grand Poobah of all the books I think that we read today. Anyway, those types of things impacted you because you’re you constantly get me fired up, just like the room we just left. It’s like, oh my gosh, I got I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it because that’s the kind of stuff that keeps me on track every day. Every day I have to read something. I have to reach out to someone. I have to be of service in some way, form or fashion. Those are some of the things that keep me grounded and moving forward. And yet, I still battle even after all these years. And I wonder if you do as well. And I think you probably do, but we’ll let you answer that. The self doubt or lack of self esteem. Sometimes it crops up, but I can tell you it doesn’t stay there too long because I. In my toolbox. I recognize it where I couldn’t recognize it before and I realized, wow, that is self-defeating bullshit. Quit thinking that way and start this. Do you have those check in moments with David Long and who you are? Well, let me give a real example. Yeah. Come on. So when I started at the Hansell, the company I just retired from, which just great people. I sat down with the owner because I wanted to know what a good job looked like to him. Right. So before I started, I wanted to know what was I up against? And he laid it out very clearly. Great communicator. Really. You don’t have to wonder where you stand. Here’s what a good job looks like. Here’s what a great job looks like. And here’s the job I was doing. So here I. I mean, the team. Here’s what a good job looks like. Here’s what a great job looks like. And here is the job that we were doing right. So it was even past great. Um, from a net profit standpoint, from a lot of the things that we were doing. So to give you a real example to answer your question, things are going great. Customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, net profit, market share, all the things. Henry walked by me. I didn’t even know he was coming by the store. He very seldom came by the stores that I was operating. And he and he walked by and he seemed put off. And guess what I thought the rest of the day? What? What did I do? What am I not doing? Oh my God, my days are numbered here. This is the beginning of the end, right? And I didn’t go down that rabbit hole for long or and I didn’t live with that thought. But I thought to myself, okay, so good job, great job, the job we’re doing. And I felt insecure because of the way I experienced him in that moment. Now, how he was had nothing to do with me, but every everything that I felt had everything to do with me. How did I show up? What was my step zero that day? Clearly there was a red flag that there wasn’t something right with me, right. I needed to take a look at how. What were the tapes playing? Did I need to go back to my affirmations? Did I need to do more mirror work? Did I? Right. There was something that wasn’t right because somebody that feels whole and healthy doesn’t have that experience in that moment. So that is one of the red flags. So my thinking after thirty eight years of recovery and really working hard on the inside, how does somebody with no tools experience a leader that comes in that doesn’t say hello to them, doesn’t encourage them, doesn’t lift up their spirit? They got to be feeling insecure, especially if they’re just doing a mediocre job. So I really, truly believe that everybody feels that way, including the high performer. So you never know what somebody is experiencing. And it’s our job to help lift the human spirit, no matter who they are. So that’s my answer to that question. Oh that’s great. You’re a great employee for even just asking, you know, what does a good job look like? How many times have we heard an employee ask that and really shoot for the highest measure? I did that more for me than for him. I was replacing his son in law and I thought, boy, Thanksgiving dinner might be very difficult around that family this year. So I thought, well, if the son in law wasn’t able to pull it off, I don’t want to be operating under the illusion that I’m doing a good job, only to find out I wasn’t meeting the expectation, which I think is a leadership’s responsibility. I wasn’t waiting for him to tell me what a good job looked like. I needed to clearly define it so I could operate through those parameters and either be able to step up and do and exceed the expectation, or say, I don’t have the skill set to get done what you’re asking to have done. And either way, I would have won, right? Because I wouldn’t show up wondering every day, which is what I think most people do. Yeah, I, I, I, I do too. I, uh, some people talk about it a lot. Don’t. I thought, um, it was really important for me. Uh, a lot of you out there are going to understand this, but the fourth and fifth step, uh, were critical for me, uh, at understanding, uh, some of the things that happened in my life and what I needed to do and forgiveness and what that actually meant, and coming to terms with stuff and digging through that damn trash can to find out where did this all originate from? For me, it was back in my earliest possible memories of late forties early 50s, and how I held my parents responsible. What an illusion that was. Uh. It’s not their fault. They did the very best they could, as we all do. It’s not like there’s an owner’s manual for how to be a good parent, right? Anyway, it was, it was, it was amazing. And I know a lot of that shaped your life as to who you are today. Let me ask you this. You founded Pandemic of Positivity and what inspired that movement? Because I am one of the followers. Compassion, kindness, love inspired the movement, but where it was birthed is fifteen feet away from me. I was pacing in my backyard and I, you know, we had five hundred employees and it was during the pandemic and we were shut down and we were going to have to release all five hundred people. So as I was walking around and I’m, I could see the TV and I see, you know, truckloads of just all the stuff that was happening. I thought, there’s got to be a way for us to find some kind of a silver lining in all of this terrible stuff that’s going on. And I thought, well, if there’s a pandemic going on, what if we could start putting some energy in the positivity area? And then I thought, huh, pandemic positivity. And that’s where all those yellow pucks and the bracelets and the hats and the shirts, that’s where that all came from. And now it’s all over the world. Tens of thousands, if not more of followers. It’s amazing. Thank you for sharing where that came from. Charity. David, how is it that you remain positive without ignoring reality? My reality is positive. So when when you come for me, growing up in a very dysfunctional, abusive, very dark place with very dark things that all people should never go through, and then being homeless and being in and out of jail and in and out of treatment centers, it’s really difficult. Charity, no matter what happens in my life, not to draw on that and feel pretty positive about everything. When when that’s not happening, it’s almost impossible not to feel grateful for the life that I’ve been gifted. So that’s how that’s amazing. Do you go into some of that background in your book a little bit, a little bit, a little bit, yes. Not too deep. Don’t want to torment anybody. Well, but my personal story is it’s not personal to the point. I wouldn’t share it, but I only want to make an impact. And if my story can’t impact anybody, at no point really sharing it. Right. I hear you. Yeah. No, I, I know that, um, people sometimes ask me, said Russell, do you ever think about drinking or using. I said, well, yeah. Uh, how could you not with all the commercials on TV and, and stuff like that. But I have over the years, I’ve trained myself to go to some of the darkest moments instead of the good times. There’s a lot of good times for the first ten years. And then it was, uh, it was a total commitment to destruction after that. But it was like, it gets me right back into humble and grateful and honored for the life I have today. Because like you, I should be dead or in an institution or in prison the rest of my life. It was some of the shenanigans. Yeah. So you do share some of that, you know, in a, in a, in a way, right? Oh yeah, Yeah I do. Sure of it for sure. Charity, how do you personally reset your mind after a really difficult day? Well, I don’t wait until the day ends. I reset, you’ll hear me at two o’clock in the afternoon. And people make fun of me all the time. Because I’d walk from dealership to dealership and on the balls of my feet and excited and upbeat and and it’d be two thirty and somebody would say, I’d walk in and always want to do the, you know, good morning. Like it’s two thirty in the afternoon. Why was I saying good morning at two thirty? Well, here’s why I was restarting my day. So I don’t I can have a bad moment. I can have a bad situation, but it doesn’t have to turn into a bad day. So there’s not a lot that needs to be done at the end of the day, because I’m recalibrating and resetting throughout the day. I love that. Yeah. At any moment you can choose to think or act differently. It’s like, which moment do you choose? How about the one right now? That was great. Dave. Thank you so much for that one. That was great. What does your own step zero routine look like in the morning? Well, it’s funny because my friend Lisa Baugus, we wanted to talk. Yeah. So we have this really cool thing we’re doing. So Patrick Abad, Danny Zaslavski, and Liza Borges and I are now meeting for just a connection. We just call it connection. And it’s an hour and it’s on Zoom and it’s like this. Well, she had texted me later in the day, wanted to connect. So I sent her a screenshot or a photo of my day. And I wasn’t even thinking because we’re that close of friends. But it starts out with prayer meditation. I read something positive I. I do my sauna and my cold plunge and my stretching and my like, it’s just part of my day. So I absolutely have a repeatable morning routine that includes the things that I would call are putting on my armor for the day. Like, I’m just ready to go. Let’s go. Sam, it starts at about four o’clock in the morning. Or earlier. I don’t know that I could see myself not ever doing that. I’ve been doing that for a long time, and it’s really proven to be a great benefit. And what two amazing people I just, uh, two weeks ago, uh, flew out and spent some time with Patrick, uh, an amazing guy. We’ve gotten close. He’s a client, which is for a little over two years from now. We were just, we mostly talk about personal things, uh, and how we’re really aligned and what he does and that that dealership and how he operates and how he loves on his people. Uh, man, it’s it’s amazing. So yeah. Thank you. What a great honor to be able to have teacher Russell. Yes. He’s an amazing guy. Charity. Yeah. Well, tell us, David, what do you think’s one chapter from your book that will impact readers the most and why? Wow, that is a great question. It’s probably the chapter about the mirror, right? The mirror. Just making sure that what we’re looking, what you’re looking at is, is a person that you want to be the thoughts, the decisions. Michael Summers this morning on the show, you probably heard him say phenomenal. Go back and look at your twelve month browser history. And are you gathering information to become a better human being, better leader, better father, better husband? Or are you on TikTok looking at crazy? Like what? What is it that you’re consuming? So I think the personal accountability and responsibility and having things, I’ll give you a another quick story. So I’m in a place called the Pike View Motel in Strongsville, Ohio. I had just been fired from another job and wrecked another demo. Okay. I hear voices outside because I’m, I’m at that time, my name was Chemical Dave. Boy, I bet there’s a story behind that. That was my little. That’s what people called me. Chemical. Oh, chemical. Dave’s here. Hey. Oh, hey, chemical Dave c d and I hear voices pull the dresser. Of course you hear voices. You pull the dresser in front of the door so nobody can get in. And you and the blinds, the song comes on, but it doesn’t everybody do that. Yeah, right. Go ahead. Yeah. A song comes on by Michael Jackson, man in the mirror. And I never really had any moments of clarity. It was always a stupor to stupor and issue, to issue and problem to problem. Well, the song came on and it was like everything went quiet except for the words in that song. That song changed my life. It was after I went to my second treatment, long term treatment center, and because of the mirror, the man in the mirror, everything shifted. You just never know. That was a defining moment, wasn’t it? Yeah, it was my burning bush. Wow. Thank you for sharing that one. Absolutely. Yeah. We’ve gone through Russell’s Burning Bush experience in his book, and it’s interesting to just see how different they are, even though they bring you kind of over that mountain into a new place, into a clean field with bright flowers, it kind of brings you out of it for the first time in years. Yeah, it was a profound spiritual experience for me. I mean, it was it was like all things aligned in that moment of how everything in my life was my fault and the only person and you can’t change it. The only person can change. It was me and you. You preached that almost every single day. And all the different rooms I see, I don’t see, I hear you every single day, almost six days a week, probably where you drop those nuggets and it’s it’s all about being responsible. And David Long, you are a one responsible person. I, I, I, I’m just, I, yeah, you inspire tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people because of how you live your life. So thank you for living your life the way you’re living it. Okay. Russell, thanks for saying that. I do want to say one other thing that this might be impact your listeners, because I know you have an amazing following and people hold you in the highest regard. I’ve never talked to anybody that hasn’t brought you up, that knows you and hasn’t, that you’ve made a big impact on a lot of people. People love you. Thank you. One of the things that I’d say is, yes, being in that listening to that song change my life. But today and I had a client say this to me, one of my better of the one hundred and eight by centers is called Lakeway. And this young guy, he didn’t know how much he impacted me. This was only a week to ten days ago. Uh, his name’s Reagan. Reagan’s been doing it about a year or so, and he said that his ceiling had became his floor. Wow. And I thought to myself, every day it’s coming up for me. Is it? Does this need to be my ceiling? Does building a new home in Idaho and all the things that are going on in my life, does that need to be my ceiling or could that be my floor? And I think it’s going to be my floor. I think step zero is going to be able to make an impact on enough people, where we can really do some good work through, through my foundations and the things that I’m trying to accomplish. So my ceiling that I never thought possible is now becoming my floor. Wow. Well said, well said. I know we’re out of time. Yeah, yeah, we’re out of time. So we’ll just ask you one more thing. David, is there anything else that you wanted to say or you wanted us to ask you today that we didn’t get a chance to, you know, probably just the things that I’m doing right now, if I could please. We could use that. Maybe a little sound bite. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. So the. So as David J. Long coaching and performance, I don’t look at myself as a consultant, which means I don’t always fit in right. Consultants are consultive right. I am not I’m a performance coach, and a performance coach is going to require not ask, but require you to do certain things and perform. The clients that I’ve been working with for years, three, four, five years, they show up to perform like they don’t show up to get a couple smart notes and then go back to what they were doing. They show up to perform, and I push people probably to the point of being really uncomfortable in my performance and coaching business. I’ve also taken that to van. I’m heavily engaged with van, which is Vehicle Acquisition Network. Not sure if you’ve ever heard of that. Hell yeah. They’ve been part. I’ve been partnered with them since the first Bicenter I opened over a decade ago, and since then I’m in, I don’t know, probably a thousand dealers and currently have helped open one hundred and eight BI centers. So I’m really excited about helping dealers source cars. And last but not least, I’m aligned with with a lot of other companies like the all things used cars. Plus you said it really well, Russell. You have fixed ops. What the fixed ops and we very we didn’t even talk about fixed ops. Well all things used cars plus really doesn’t talk about used cars very often. We talk about how to like this morning help people become better versions of themselves. So between step zero, the performance and coaching culture side, performance and coaching side and all things used cars plus and working with van, I just feel like that we’re in a position to make some big differences and impact. So as we wrap here, I just want to say thanks for letting me talk about David J. Long performance and coaching. I love the fact that I can help dealers and businesses impact through performance and through accountability. So that’s one. The second thing this all things used car plus movement with over eight thousand members and twelve hundred people attending live every Friday morning at six a m Pacific Standard Time for free, I might add, is doing great work to help people understand how to be the best dealer and individual for their business. And it’s not about used cars. I also want to give a shout out to the company that I lead called van. It’s Vehicle Acquisition Network. It has been a part of my one hundred and eight buy centers that I’ve helped open throughout the country. And Russell and what the fixed ops team charity. Thank you so much for giving me the time to be here with you. Thank you. David. David long. Step zero. It’s going to be coming out like any day now if you haven’t pre-ordered it. Where do they go to pre-order this book? David. They go to David J. Long consulting dot com and there’s a pre-order slip in there like you filled. I saw you filled one out. Thank you. And just register. It will be out in the next week to ten days. And I am so excited to hopefully help some people. Yeah, well you will. And I encourage all of you. I, a lot of you out there know David, uh, a lot of you out there know me. If you haven’t pre-ordered, you’re missing the boat. Uh, there’s no way you can’t not buy this book and read it. There’s just no way if you’re not following him, if you’re not loving him, if you’re not liking him, if you’re not in the clubhouse rooms. The one this morning was off the charts. How many people were in there, David? Twelve hundred people in this room. Probably one thousand to fifteen hundred people. Yeah. It’s amazing. And it’s like, it’s it’s today. It was like a culmination of what makes everything work. And that’s people, products and processes, the most important of which are the people. And it was a lot about people today. And yeah, that Michael, the guy that was talking about the last twelve months of search history, he’s talking about the your bank account, talking about what your calendar looks like. What are you doing out there? If you’re wondering why you’re not getting here, let’s take a look at where you’re at right now and what you need. Yeah. The accountability. David, you’ve made such an impact on my life. I learned from you every single day. And I’m thankful to have met you in person as well. And I’m really honored. Charity, thank you for all that you do and bringing this to life. Because I’m telling you, David, without her, we wouldn’t be doing this right now. She is the she is the, the driving force behind that. That makes it all possible. And for all of you out there listening, thank you for your continued support, subscriptions, liking, loving. Can’t wait for this one to come out. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you David.
