Keep The Change
You can transform your dealership from the inside out, and Bart Nollenberger will show you how. “Keep The Change” is your go-to podcast for leadership growth in the automotive world—and there’s a reason leaders across the country swear by Bart’s coaching. His hands-on, proven approach has helped managers and owners just like you create lasting, meaningful change in their dealerships, and in every episode, he’s sharing his personal breakthroughs, field-tested strategies, and inspiring success stories, so you can do the same.
If you’re new here, you’re exactly where you need to be. Each episode of “Keep The Change” will empower you to develop stronger leadership skills, build a winning culture, and stay ahead in a fiercely competitive market. Ready to go beyond sales training and actually transform how your dealership operates? Join Bart and keep the change you’ve worked so hard to create.
Keep The Change
The Skill That Got You Promoted Won't Keep You There
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Every month, in thousands of businesses, the same thing happens: the top producer gets promoted to run the department. Ninety days later she's exhausted, working more hours than anyone, and the department is no better than it was before she got there — because everything that made her great at the old job is the wrong instinct for the new one. And nobody told her.
In this episode, Bart Nollenberger pulls two books together that don't look like they belong on the same shelf — Jack Welch's Winning and Gallup's It's the Manager — and shows how they answer the same question from opposite ends: what actually makes a team perform.
In this episode:
- Why "I'm not in it for the numbers, I'm in it for the people" is a false choice — and what a struggling business always protects last
- The leadership transition nobody warns you about: before you're a leader it's all about me; after, it's all about we
- Welch's leadership rules, including "always be coaching" and why leaders celebrate far too little
- Why candor is the biggest dirty little secret in business — and the three things it costs you when it's missing: ideas, speed, and money
- The meeting after the meeting: why the parking lot conversation isn't a communication issue, it's a you issue
- The three tickets to entry you can't coach — integrity, intelligence, maturity — plus Welch's Four E's and a P (energy, energize, edge, execute, passion), run against a real top producer
- Gallup's numbers: only ~15% of workers are engaged, and roughly 70% of that variation traces back to one person — the manager
- Moving from boss to coach: weekly 15-minute sessions, the "advice monster," and the coaching questions that actually work — What's on your mind? And what else? What's the real challenge for you?
- Why Bart calls it "activating" instead of coaching — your people aren't confused, they're stuck, and information doesn't fix stuck
The question to take with you: when was the last time somebody who works for you told you that you were wrong? If you can't remember, that's your starting point.
Mentioned in this episode: The Culture Scorecard — an anonymous, ten-attribute assessment of your team's culture that shows the gap between what leadership believes and what the floor actually experiences, and returns the top three fixes for the next six months ranked by impact. Link in the show notes.
Bonus for listeners: The first ten people to email Bart get an emotional intelligence assessment plus a half-hour coaching session on the results — automotive-centric, or customized to your industry. Reach out at bart@bartnollenberger.com.
Take care of your people. Let's go win.
