Why Great Leaders Still Need a Coach with Chris Hunsicker

What if the reason you’re not growing isn’t your business, your team, or your market — it’s you?

In this episode, Tim sits down with world-renowned executive coach Chris Hunsicker, a former therapist turned leadership mentor whose honest, no-nonsense approach has reshaped how leaders think about growth. Chris shares the truth behind resilience, why “grinding harder” isn’t the answer, and how the best leaders are the ones humble enough to be coached.

This is a conversation about leadership, self-awareness, and the quiet discipline of getting better every day. You’ll walk away with tools to lead yourself first, reshape your culture, and finally understand what it means to build something that lasts.

0:00 — The importance of leadership and the power of coaching

1:30 — How Chris Hunsicker became David Long’s leadership coach

2:50 — Why even top performers need coaching

3:20 — The myth of toughness and what resilience really means

5:00 — From therapist to coach: how Chris found his purpose

7:00 — The Mrs. Fields story — and a career-defining confrontation

8:40 — Falling in love with the car business

10:00 — What separates good dealerships from great ones

11:10 — “You’re not broken” — how leaders can face the truth

13:05 — The danger of blaming others instead of growing yourself

15:45 — Why leadership starts when it stops being about you

17:10 — “You’re either breaking or being broken” — the power of standards

20:45 — How leadership principles apply to every part of life

24:40 — The 3-question game film exercise to review your day

26:00 — Why small daily progress beats big quarterly plans

31:00 — Lessons from teaching leadership in Paris

33:00 — Maxwell’s wisdom: success is found in daily routines

34:45 — The true separator of good and great leaders

35:50 — Chris’s book Unstoppable Culture and final reflections

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hunsicker/

Read Unstoppable Culture: https://bit.ly/4oSPEl5

Listen to the Dealership War Room: https://info.chrishunsicker.com/private-podcst

Connect with Tim Cox on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-cox-29065a7/

Listen to more episodes of Tim Talks at: https://www.carnow.com/timtalks/

Transcript

00:00:00:25 - 00:00:41:22
Unknown
In over three decades, I have learned that truly great car dealerships are only great because of one thing leadership. So I'm sitting down with the great men and women inspiring automotive on Tim Talks automotive leadership and beyond. Welcome everyone to yet another episode. Boy, this one's going to be good. Another episode of Tim talks leadership and beyond. A lot of you just saw our last episode with David Long, and as I was having conversation with David, he said, listen, Tim, there is one person that has just made a huge impact in my life, and you have to get him on the show.

00:00:41:22 - 00:01:04:28
Unknown
And I said, really? And, that person, so graciously, with their crazy schedule, agreed to a few minutes on with us this morning. One of the leading, executive coaches, leadership coaches, guys in the world. It doesn't just, we're going to talk about that. Actually teaches an executive training course in Paris. Yes.

00:01:04:28 - 00:01:31:11
Unknown
Not. You know, I'm from Kentucky, not Paris, Kentucky. I have Paris, Kentucky. I love Paris, Kentucky. The most beautiful horse farms in the world are in Paris, Kentucky. But Paris, France, where they talk a little different. Chris Hunsicker is with us today. And I am so honored and blessed to have you, my friend, on, that you would just take a few minutes out of your busy schedule and out, you know, sipping, sipping cappuccinos and tea and, and Paris, France to be with us.

00:01:31:11 - 00:01:47:14
Unknown
So, so welcome to Tim Talks, brother. Thank you sir. It's great to be here and it's good to have you and I. I'm glad that David even made that suggestion because, I've been David's, leadership coach for almost 20 years now. We we met a long time ago back in Florida when he was running Coastal Cadillac.

00:01:47:14 - 00:02:07:05
Unknown
And, just an amazing guy and an amazing business, I am. I never cease to be amazed at the Venn diagrams of people and how we all intersect with each other. It's amazing. And and you said something that I just want, which is which is the genesis of, of this show and why we want we put the time.

00:02:07:05 - 00:02:29:02
Unknown
Everybody's flying all over the country and we put the time in the show. But you said something, you know, a lot of people in this space that listen to podcasts that are in wso2 or or or any, any quite frankly, any major event, listens to David. And I would argue with his success, maybe, you know, or maybe you don't know.

00:02:29:02 - 00:02:55:09
Unknown
David needs a coach and ladies and gentlemen, my era, we're not going to have the LeBron and Michael because there is no comparison. MJ's the Goat, but Michael Jordan had a coach. So I think that unpacking that understanding and being humble enough to understand that we haven't got it all figured out and that we need a coach. Chris, I'm going to you know, I want to get into your story, but that just made me think of a question.

00:02:55:09 - 00:03:20:15
Unknown
Why do you think, that's so hard sometimes for people to understand that they really need help? Or maybe. Maybe you don't see that. You know, I see that all the time. And I would suggest this is it. There are leadership myths or blind spots that I've come over 30 years of coaching people that are common. And one common blind spot is this idea that resilience is equated with toughness.

00:03:20:18 - 00:03:40:09
Unknown
So in other words, to be resilient, it's tough. You just grind harder, press harder, work harder, show up, don't admit weakness, don't show. Whereas great people and I even did a whole thing on the DNA of an A player. One of the things of every a player you notice is they want to be coached, and generally they want to be coached hard.

00:03:40:16 - 00:04:04:00
Unknown
Resilience isn't about being tough. Resilience is about being able to deal with reality as it is, and then take the pain of the truth and convert it, or alchemy. It into fuel for performance. And that's what a coach does. A coach is able to sit down and say, hey, here's what you do in your best. Now how do we help you do it more often and in different categories.

00:04:04:03 - 00:04:22:11
Unknown
And that's what coaching does. It isn't so much I'm going to correct mistakes in your life, as I'm going to take what you do well and show you how to do it more often in more areas. That's what great coaching does. Wow. I mean, what, ladies and gentlemen, listening. Some of you probably just turn up the volume.

00:04:22:11 - 00:04:48:26
Unknown
I was writing, copious notes, and then I'm like, wait a minute, we're recording this so I can, I can listen to it again and I can take some notes. So, just. Wow. I mean, what a way to start out. Very encouraging. Let's go back a little bit and tell us your story. I think a lot of people see, even myself in my own career, a lot of people see on stage talking and hopefully making people laugh and pouring into people.

00:04:48:26 - 00:05:14:06
Unknown
But you know what it took to get there. So. So tell us your story. Obviously you've been coaching 30 years, but, you know, not like I was born in in a cornfield in Iowa. But like before that, like your professor, what led you to hear two things? I began as a therapist, a marriage family therapist. I work with adolescent drug addicts, which, by the way, is great training for automotive retail because adolescent drug addicts are just dealer principals when they're young.

00:05:14:08 - 00:05:38:28
Unknown
At that, for five years, I ran an adolescent adolescent drug rehab program, and it was exciting until my program got bought by a large hospital and they closed it, and I suddenly found myself without a job. And one of the vice presidents at Mrs. Field's cookies. Her son was my client. And when she found out, they closed the program, she approached me and said, is there any way you could do for my business what you did for my family?

00:05:38:28 - 00:05:57:00
Unknown
Because my business is more screwed up than my family. My first response was, well, not really, because I'm a therapist, not a coach. She said, I'll pay you. I'm like, I'll do it now. I didn't understand that. In a lot of the coaching consulting world, you basically meet with the CEO, lie to them, tell them how great they are, and then they keep paying you right.

00:05:57:01 - 00:06:17:07
Unknown
I came from a therapy world where you look at the reality, you confront people about what's going wrong and you make a plan to go forward. So I meet with the CEO of Mrs. Fields Cookies, and we're talking, and he spends 45 minutes telling me how great his businesses. And finally I got all done. I said, sir, I don't mean to be rude, but why the hell are you going to pay me $1,000 a day to come in and work with your company when everything's perfect?

00:06:17:10 - 00:06:29:26
Unknown
And he says, well, people don't usually talk to me that way. I said, I know you're good news. The top kind of organization. You have no idea what's happening in your company because everybody's so afraid you're going to yell at them that you they lie to you. And you started screaming at me, literally like f bombs and everything.

00:06:29:26 - 00:06:48:18
Unknown
I said, wow, so you have problems with emotional self-regulation too. And then he really went off. I thought he was going to physically harm me. And when he got all done, I said, wow, you probably have problems with your wife and kids at home too. Doesn't show up there. And then he went off again and finally he ran out of steam and I said, are you done with your temper tantrum?

00:06:48:20 - 00:07:10:20
Unknown
And he goes, I can't believe you're talking to me that way. I said, I can't believe no one else has him. And for whatever moment he just had this clarity and goes, I need you, don't I? I said, only if you want to stay in business. And I walked out of that and he hired me. I walked out of that interview and I said, this is what I'm supposed to do.

00:07:10:23 - 00:07:40:27
Unknown
And I had a like this epiphany. I'm way better at helping good people become great than sick people become healthy. And that's when I made the pivot into coaching, which led to automotive retail, where again, I get called. You remember when Saturn launched Saturn, the car company. So this is 1994, and I had been doing some work and, they ran the Chevy Focus Academy when they found out about me and they said, hey, send us your stuff.

00:07:41:03 - 00:08:02:10
Unknown
So I sent them some videotapes and some training. Some manuals are written. And they flew me back to Spring Hill and invited me to come work for them. I did a 9:00 interview. They hired me by noon, and by 1:00 I was going out to work with the dealership, having never been in the car business. I did about four weeks of their training program that they did with some Pontiac dealers.

00:08:02:10 - 00:08:22:12
Unknown
And I'm in Rhode Island and I'm starting to find my legs. And I have a what I think is a great day. Afterwards, this old car dog comes up to me and goes, hey, Chris, you might be the best trainer I've ever been. You are absolutely amazing and you are an ass. Like what says, tell you what, you buy me dinner, I'll help you out.

00:08:22:19 - 00:08:40:16
Unknown
He's a car, right, Mike? Okay, so we go down, I buy him dinner and he goes, you're great, but here's your problem. You think you're better than us. I said, I could hear it all day. You don't like car people, and I didn't. I was the guy that went to buy a car and said no. And they threw my keys out in the lot, like they really did that.

00:08:40:16 - 00:09:02:08
Unknown
That actually happened to me. And he said, let me tell you about changing pay plans. Let me talk to you about Pax. And he spent three hours and invited me in to the world. And I always I Rhode Island, Providence Rhode Island is where I became a car guy. And so I decided, okay, there's something here. And I had to go from Rhode Island to Boston.

00:09:02:08 - 00:09:16:13
Unknown
So instead of flying home the next week, I was training in Boston. I called up a couple of the people that were in my class, and I said, can I come to your dealership? And I went in and I wrote service all Saturday morning just so I could see what that was like. I spent Sunday on the sales floor.

00:09:16:14 - 00:09:38:15
Unknown
I even took a couple of ops just for fun and I started to understand, oh my gosh, he was right. And that weekend I fell in love with the car business and I've worked pretty much with automotive retail for the last 30 years. So I do a lot in health care, I do a lot with government, but I'm a mainstay is automotive, retail.

00:09:38:17 - 00:10:06:11
Unknown
Wow. That is that is an incredible story. And thank you for that. What what is in your travels? Okay. What is the is there a common denominator? I love I love the statement I'm better at making good people, become great than sick people becoming healthy. And I think that's a mindset. I think that and maybe that's the answer to my I just answer my own question, but I want to hear it from you.

00:10:06:13 - 00:10:35:08
Unknown
You know, what is it? Is there a common denominator? In a lot of dealerships, and a lot of I know you you obviously coach other businesses, but is there a common denominator that that is hindering the leadership to break? I have my ideas, to break through to truly from, you know, becoming good to great is there you know, something is a recurring theme, that you see, when you take on a project, you take on a dealer group.

00:10:35:11 - 00:10:56:09
Unknown
Is there something that that happens over and maybe there's not, but just want to hear that from you. Yeah. I was yes, there are there and they're there probably several of them. But let's focus in on a couple I think could be really useful for your audience. And this number one is brokenness. There's this almost inability or lack of desire to admit I'm struggling.

00:10:56:09 - 00:11:12:22
Unknown
This is hard. I'm having a difficulty with this. And it comes back to think about every great GM. You know, at some point he was in over his head. She was in over her head. And instead of solving the problems, I just got to sell more cars. If I just sell more cars, get more gross, everything will take care of itself.

00:11:12:22 - 00:11:31:17
Unknown
And it doesn't. Selling cars does not overcome being a bad business person. Selling enough cars doesn't overcome the fact that you have a crappy culture, because what happens is you grind rice, burn and crash, and you do that over and over and over and over again. And so the first thing is people and I tell us to every client I work with, you are not broken.

00:11:31:17 - 00:11:54:07
Unknown
Your inner child doesn't need to be healed. You don't need to go to therapy. What you need is to stop and look and say, this isn't working. How do I get better at it? In other words, what's the specific skill gap that you need to bridge to get better and everybody, if you want to move from this level of performance to this level of performance, it is 100% a leadership issue.

00:11:54:09 - 00:12:10:06
Unknown
People will all the time say, if I had I do this right, I'm a family therapist and I tell my wife all the time, if she wasn't so crazy, we could have a better marriage. And I'm family therapist and I tell my kids, if you guys didn't suck so much, I could be a good dad. And as a leader, if I just had better people, I could be a good leader.

00:12:10:06 - 00:12:29:08
Unknown
And that's the problem that. Can you hear that? That if everybody else sucked less, I could be better. And that's why people don't level up. It's coming in to say, I don't need better people. I need to become better at influence. I don't need a better wife. I need to become better at patient and loving. I don't need better kids.

00:12:29:08 - 00:12:49:18
Unknown
I need to become more flexible and diverse in how I connect with and motivate them. And so the big number one pattern is you're looking for the answer outside. And that's why so many dealers fall prey to vendors. I've got this great app, I've got this great program I got, and they pray like that's what you do in selling, right?

00:12:49:18 - 00:13:05:24
Unknown
You identify a pain and you associate your problem with healing the pain. And so the pain is you're afraid. You don't know how to get better. You know that you need better people in order to do that. So I get to come in and sell you my app, my process, my training, my thing. And nothing ever gets better.

00:13:05:25 - 00:13:31:20
Unknown
You just get temporary relief from the pain that the one that needs to change is you, and you're the only one that doesn't know it. That is so good. Similar. You said it better than I've ever said it, quite frankly, but. But sometimes, in my travels, I tell people, you know, the great philosopher of our time, Michael Jackson, once said, yes, once said that you need to start with the man or the woman in the mirror.

00:13:31:20 - 00:13:51:09
Unknown
And and I think that that that it is amazing what happens. And and there's so and I know that obviously you're new to Tim talks, but I think that, you know, there is a common thread. It was the genesis, the reason that we wanted this podcast, because we have the privilege of partnering with thousands and thousands of dealers through through our company.

00:13:51:09 - 00:14:16:00
Unknown
And, Carnell and I, I see it and I wanted to give back. Like Maxwell said, I want to make a difference with people that want to make a difference, doing something that makes a difference, and understanding that there is a common denominator in the stores that are completely wrecked. I there's a store down the street. It was elect, believe it or not, a Lexus store, and it was broke and the customer service was so bad before Kevin Doyle showed up.

00:14:16:03 - 00:14:39:21
Unknown
Like it. You know, people didn't. I mean, at golf, you know, playing golf at church. I remember hearing stories, don't, don't don't take your car there, blah, blah. But at the end of the day, it took that one person, you know, the store got sold that one person to come in and and be that person that to have change, you know, to be that person that that is humble enough to understand in funny.

00:14:39:23 - 00:14:57:11
Unknown
I'm going to go on a tangent on Kevin, but, you know, he, he brought in his managers and obviously they let some go. And then new people came in and said, everybody give me your business card. Nobody has any more titles anymore. We're just going to take care and put his put his cell phone on an on an email distribution to everybody in their database.

00:14:57:11 - 00:15:17:24
Unknown
I know you've had problems. Call me right now. That got a little issue. You know, he said he had a few drunk dials at 2 or 3:00 in the morning, but it was a process to change the perception. But he worked on. He worked on the way people thought about the dealership. Well, I mean, most importantly, him and everybody else that didn't know him.

00:15:17:24 - 00:15:42:08
Unknown
And then they started building that and now he's got people driving and you couldn't hire good salespeople. Now he's got people driving an hour and a half to be part of that. And I just don't, you know, that's why it's so encouraging to hear somebody of your you know, of your pedigree per se, to say the same things, but say them better, with, with, with the way you, say them that I just want to get people to understand that it's not about.

00:15:42:12 - 00:16:08:01
Unknown
And I would even argue, no matter what, whether it's my business or the dealership or automotive. I think the first lesson and I'd love your thoughts on this, is understanding. Like, we really didn't start growing until I figured out it's not about me. Like it's it's not about me. It's like everybody else. In fact, when you're a venture backed, you know, company like us, you know, it doesn't matter if you're the founder.

00:16:08:01 - 00:16:26:18
Unknown
Everybody's your boss. You know what I mean? Like everybody you work for, you know, the board is your boss. The investors are your boss, quite frankly, like, everybody is your boss. And it very clearly comes. It's not about us. So let me pour into, our team. Let me pour into as many people as I can and get them, again, back to Maxwell, the law of attraction.

00:16:26:18 - 00:16:47:10
Unknown
Something's going on here. And then the law of duplication being humble enough, and I had to go through that. Yes. Nobody. Nobody could demo like I demoed nobody. I was a sales manager at dealerships. Nobody could. Nobody could come. Yeah. And letting go and letting people just do what they do. Inspired by that I think is is huge.

00:16:47:12 - 00:17:08:05
Unknown
You know, I speak on that a little bit. I mean maybe you met that better than what I know you can better than I do. About that thought. Yeah. Let me put it in in usable frames that your, your listeners can use to make a difference in their store starting this afternoon. And I'd begin with this. Everything all truth comes from proving contraries.

00:17:08:07 - 00:17:28:17
Unknown
In other words, truth lies in the contrary from a religious sense. That's the difference between justice and mercy. In talk, they'll look before you leap. But he who hesitates is lost. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Out of sight, out of mind. The truth is always found in the contrary. And so what you're saying is, as you grew your business, it had to.

00:17:28:24 - 00:17:48:16
Unknown
You had to understand it's not about you, and it's all about you. I start with this phrase all the time in the book that I wrote, Unstoppable Culture, chapter one, verse one, page one says, in order for things to get better, you need to get better. And to your point, you can't be focused on you. So what do you need to get better at?

00:17:48:23 - 00:18:09:04
Unknown
The skills necessary to serve the people you love. And if your employees and your customers aren't people you love, you should not be in business. You should work for the government, just hands down. So you look and say, I love my customers. What skills do I need to develop as a leader to serve them better? I love my team.

00:18:09:04 - 00:18:25:17
Unknown
What skills do I need to develop as a leader to serve them better? So it's not about you, it's about serving them and it is about you. Because in order for things to get better, you need to get better. Now, if you take Mr. Deutsch, who you're talking about, I love this because everybody has someone like that in their life.

00:18:25:19 - 00:18:51:04
Unknown
Here's what he did that anyone can duplicate because you can't give everyone your cell phone number. You can't. There's not like a recipe that he did. You can repeat. But there's principles he used that you can use yourself. And this is it. Every day when you go into your dealership, you're either breaking or being broken. In other words, I as an employee am going to break you of your commitment to excellence.

00:18:51:04 - 00:19:14:08
Unknown
So you accept my mediocrity, or you as a leader are going to break me of my laziness and my mediocrity and get me to commit to a higher standard. Just the way you break a horse, you unleash its power in every transaction, right? And you know this as a salesperson, a customer walks in the store. There is always a close a salesperson.

00:19:14:08 - 00:19:46:04
Unknown
I close you on buying a car or you as a customer close me on an excuse, but there is always a close and somebody close better than the other person. Every single day in your dealership, when you walk in, what you choose to address or not to address, your ability to address it, or your in elegance or your elegance, either you are breaking the mediocrity of your team to follow your excellence, your uncompromising sense of excellence, or they are breaking you out of your system, your values, and your approach until you will accept their mediocrity.

00:19:46:06 - 00:20:10:29
Unknown
Does that kind of make sense? Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I again, I was writing until I keep forgetting that I and it's just it's just you're either breaking or being broken. I mean, I just, I think it's and it's just, it's life, you know, it's like, you know, some of these, you know, these business simple pebbles, these business principles that you're sharing and you're just dropping bombs one after the other.

00:20:10:29 - 00:20:43:03
Unknown
I keep getting punched in the face. I think it's just at the end of the day, it's life. It's how we choose to live all of these things in our, you know, the same principles that you just shared are in your marriage, in your family, in your like, it's it's just life. And I think that when we I, I, you know, I have a few acronyms, that I've put to the Friday night lights, that we've mentioned several in here.

00:20:43:03 - 00:20:59:17
Unknown
I love that, that love the movie, but I also love theories even more. But it's clear eyes, full, hearts can't lose and clear eyes. Are we truly, you know, if we have humbled ourselves. And I won't go into them all. But Clear Eyes is very simple. Are we truly casting a vision on where are we going to be?

00:20:59:17 - 00:21:23:20
Unknown
But in order to do that and see clearly, we must review the game film. And that's the game film of our how did I, I shouldn't have said that to my employee or even or I said it to my wife, okay, I should you know what, here's the game film I'm looking at, you know, just like they, they're doing today and so many campuses and so many, you know, NFL rooms are looking at tape.

00:21:23:20 - 00:21:43:10
Unknown
I missed that tackle. You know I miss that. And when we're we have clear eyes and we're casting a vision and writing down goals. It is the day to day that makes the difference. You can't just is like going to the gym. You can't just go to the gym and and spend 30 or 40 minutes and walk out and say, well, I didn't see any result.

00:21:43:10 - 00:22:07:04
Unknown
It is a commitment to day after day, after day. And oh, by the way, don't start at the gym. I can't eat that. I can't eat that anymore, I can't, I need to get rep like it's a process. And I think the people that are serious like you, like the David Longs of the world that are investing in coaching, they're understanding that becoming better humans is that is the number one thing.

00:22:07:04 - 00:22:24:04
Unknown
Back to our Michael Jackson, philosopher analogy. And because you're a better human, therefore it makes you a better leader. Not that everything takes care of itself, but it's a process. You either you either want to do it or you don't. It literally is that simple. And when it gets tough, a lot of people say, yeah, you know what I mean?

00:22:24:07 - 00:22:44:15
Unknown
So yeah, I like, you know, let's let's start there as we start to land the plane. What what is the biggest roadblock that you see? Maybe it's mental again. Maybe it's I think everything bad in life from people all stems. And it's a whole other podcast from pride and insecurity. And I think they might be the same thing, but,

00:22:44:18 - 00:23:09:27
Unknown
What what do you see? Is there a common roadblock that you see from people getting at least their mindset, like the David longs like the others, that you're like, I need coaching, man. I, you know, is there something that that that keeps them from that? Yeah, I would say, a couple of different things. I'll start with where you're talking about how these principles apply to family, marriage and others.

00:23:09:27 - 00:23:34:06
Unknown
I was with Justin Hansel, who owns Hansel Automotive Group, and this is during our first few months of working together. We'd been working together. I was coaching him and his, key leadership team for about six months and finally said, Chris, I just need to ask you, every other consultant coach I've ever worked with is fighting to get out of here at 3:00 so they can make the 5:00 plane and get home, and you're here till 6 or 7 in the evening.

00:23:34:06 - 00:23:53:29
Unknown
You'll talk to my, you know, technician that's going through a divorce. You're you're working with my, service manager who? Kids struggling with drugs. Like what? I don't you're you're different. Like what is? And he said, Will you tell me? I said, do you really want to know? And he goes, yeah. And I said, I believe that God put me on earth to heal families.

00:23:54:01 - 00:24:17:18
Unknown
And 90% of the people that work in a dealership are never going to go to a therapist. But if I can help a dad learn emotional self-regulation at the store, that's going to save his son at 15, when he's trying to go through the drugs route or the sports route. And that's why I do what I do, because you can't be one person at home and one person at work.

00:24:17:21 - 00:24:40:16
Unknown
If I can help you solve a skill set issue at work, you're going to carry it home. And if I can help you solve a skill set issue at home, you're going to carry it to work. And so understanding that process, I think is critical. And if I could give your listeners a tool, a game tape tool that I use all the time with people, it's so simple, but it's offensively simple but so effective.

00:24:40:18 - 00:24:57:18
Unknown
Take five minutes, three minutes at the end of your day and before you go home. Or if you need to do it while you're sitting in the car, that's great. Pencil on a piece of paper. Don't care. Don't be eloquent. Answer three questions every day for five minutes and it will change your directory. Number one, what went well today?

00:24:57:23 - 00:25:20:13
Unknown
Because you've got to repeat what works. Number two, what needs work not what did you fail at. Not what's terrible but what needs work. This needs attention. This needs work. And then number three, what's one thing I'm going to take action on tomorrow to start working on it? See, most people massively overestimate what they can accomplish in a week and underestimate what they can accomplish in a year.

00:25:20:15 - 00:25:45:03
Unknown
And my my biggest challenge to answer your question, that leaders keep them from moving to the next level is they don't have a daily practice of getting better. What they have is monthly goals, monthly targets, monthly numbers hero two zero, and they tend to repeat the same mistakes month after month, year after year, decade after decade. There's areas they're good at and there's areas they're not and they don't tend to change.

00:25:45:06 - 00:26:04:05
Unknown
That's why the I love podcasts like this, and I'm a little bit of a podcast junkie. And so when I was looking at what do my clients need, the vast majority of my clients would lose momentum and steam between the two weeks between I coached them or the once a month stores that I visit when I was working with them.

00:26:04:07 - 00:26:24:18
Unknown
And so I created a a daily tool. I call it a podcast. It's not. It's a daily five minute podcast. We call the dealership War Room. And all it is is one skill, one tool, one framework. Once a day, that day that you can listen to in the morning with your coffee while you're driving to work and boom, it resets your focus for that day.

00:26:24:23 - 00:26:47:25
Unknown
And that's the biggest challenges we tend to try to solve our business problems the way people solve your marriage problems. So your marriage is kind of off. Things are struggling are difficult. So you buy a $5,000 European vacation to Paris to fall in love again. What you really need to do is look her in the eyes every single day and talk about your love, your care, and your affection.

00:26:47:25 - 00:27:10:29
Unknown
It's the daily little stuff. And you don't solve a business problem with a strategic meeting, you know, once a year with a quarterly review, with, you know, financial review at the end of the month. You solve it by daily measurable progress on small and simple things that repeated over time compound excellence just the way that money compounds interest.

00:27:11:02 - 00:27:30:25
Unknown
I'm just I'm just blown away. You. You said something, number one. I will, I will. I'm going to use your name when I give because this falls right in line to when when I try to teach clear eyes, full hearts. Can't lose. What a way to break down. I want to, I, I really believe exactly what you just said.

00:27:30:25 - 00:27:49:05
Unknown
And a lot of a lot of. Well, not just car people, but a lot of car people have, you know, this thing called A.D.D., and we're 900 miles an hour in the in in. We confuse being busy for being effective. Right. And when you smoke it, no matter. No. And the funny thing, and full disclosure, and I'll say this publicly working.

00:27:49:05 - 00:28:06:27
Unknown
I work with dealers that sell a thousand cars a month, and I work with dealers that sell 30 cars a month and the ones that sell 30. And I'm not being ugly, I'm just saying the ones that sell 30 a month are always so busy and never have time for training, they never have time for. I mean, I'm just telling you, yes, in the more efficient ones, they're wanting to learn more, they're wanting to get better.

00:28:07:01 - 00:28:24:15
Unknown
But it's the you know, there's the ones that sell 30 a month. But but one thing that that I have learned that also came from Maxwell. I've mentioned to many, many times in here, he was in a conference in 2006 that I went to, and it changed, but it truly changed my life. And it was three words.

00:28:24:15 - 00:28:44:27
Unknown
It was three words. And he put it this way. Well, he said, and I thought it was just like me talking, like I'm all over the place. And, you know, he had at the time who I do know, Dick Peterson, which was his original partner at enjoy when he was pastoring in San Diego. Right. And, he said, look.

00:28:45:00 - 00:29:09:00
Unknown
Yesterday's gone. I can learn from yesterday. I'm going to look at yesterday and see what I can do better. And I'm not promised tomorrow, but I have today. So those three words were just for today. So at least for me, and hopefully if you've listened to us for any length of time, you've heard me say that hundreds of times.

00:29:09:02 - 00:29:32:19
Unknown
I can't get a look I have today, I have everything, ladies and gentlemen, in front of me today, and usually at least with Tim Cocks, because I know with my struggle that I struggle. And sometimes you read your own press clippings and all the stuff that you deal with. My just for today is, number one, waking up with gratitude, being thankful for the little things to set my mind right.

00:29:32:19 - 00:30:08:12
Unknown
But understanding just for today, allow me to be, allow me to treat people as though they're more important than me. And that sets the tone. And what happens is those to your point and to the point of journey and leadership and growing as a human that just for today, turns into a week and that if you're doing just for today, that week, then it turns into a month, and then it turns into a year, and then you look back at everything God has done in and through your life, and you're looking back at the blessings and you're like, oh my, I never wow, wow.

00:30:08:15 - 00:30:31:00
Unknown
I mean, it's amazing. And I want to get people to understand that literally, it doesn't have to be charts and graphs and and analytics and yes, that's part of it, but it literally what would happen if we just worked on us daily? That I have today. And today I'm going to be the best fill in the blank. Today I'm going to do the best at boom.

00:30:31:00 - 00:30:50:12
Unknown
I'm not going to do this yesterday, I it's amazing what happens. And I'm just encouraged to see you're somebody of your caliber talking about that. I do want to spend some time what an incredible like like we're going to have to really make sure this gets out to as many people as possible, because this has been an incredible conversation.

00:30:50:17 - 00:31:09:24
Unknown
Let's talk a little bit about, the time that you spend in Paris in pouring into people. So I opened up the show and we talked about you are an executive coach at a university. I believe it's a university in Paris. Yes, yes. Sergio trois. Yeah. You say that better than I'm from Kentucky, so I can't pronounce that.

00:31:09:27 - 00:31:26:22
Unknown
So unpack that. And so people are coming all over the world and you get them for, for a short period of time. But but for all over the world. And you're pouring into it. Let's talk about that just for a little bit as we land the plane. Yeah. And let me and let me use that to tie it to the dealership work because this is critical.

00:31:26:28 - 00:31:55:28
Unknown
So most of these people are, professionals working in multinational companies in their 40s, in their 50s, and they're looking to be an internal or external coach. And they go through an MBA program, a master's program in executive coaching. I'm their last guest lecturer before they graduate. So basically my workshop and I did a I ran a global coaching program for Ford Motor Company for about five years, where we had about, 300 coaches and about 5800 dealerships in 42 countries.

00:31:55:28 - 00:32:19:22
Unknown
This cool project absolutely love traveling the world. And I talk to these people. We do a case study. So the morning is a Harvard Business Review style case study of the Ford coaching program in the afternoon is where I go through skills, tools and frameworks on how to effectively coach. And you mentioned, Maxwell and I always use a quote from, John Maxwell when I start the afternoon session.

00:32:19:28 - 00:32:39:03
Unknown
And, I pulled it up so I could get it right. He says, you will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routines. And that's the whole thing. When I'm teaching them about how to coach, you're not trying to get people to learn new series and ideas.

00:32:39:03 - 00:33:01:22
Unknown
Most people listen to podcasts, go to training classes, get coaching, and all they do is become more educated, blameless. They have better words, language and frameworks to tell other people why they suck. What they don't do is often what you were talking about, the Michael Jordan effect. How do I get better? The Kobe Bryant thing. Where do I need to practice fundamentals more?

00:33:01:24 - 00:33:22:22
Unknown
And so you need to look and say, I want to get to this level in my life. I want this quality of relationship with my teenage son. I want this level of intimacy and connection with my wife. What daily habits do I need to establish? Because you cannot change anything in your life until you change what you do every day.

00:33:22:24 - 00:33:45:02
Unknown
Now marry that with this idea and this is what we spend the whole afternoon on. Once you have a protocol. This comes from Phil Stutz in his brilliant book on lessons for life. And Brian Johnson in his heroic, community, talks about this, that the less you feel like doing your protocol, the more you need to do it.

00:33:45:04 - 00:34:13:23
Unknown
Now, that presupposes you have a protocol. And so the first thing. So when do you need to have a gratitude practice the most? When you don't feel like it? When do you need to pray? The most? When you don't feel like it? When do you need to exercise? When you don't feel like it? That the the the absolute separator of great and good in every environment and every situation is your ability to get yourself to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done, especially when you don't feel like it.

00:34:13:25 - 00:34:34:15
Unknown
And it all starts with. In order for things to get better, I need to get better. What daily habits do I need to add? If I add those daily habits, what's the protocol now? The rest of your life is learning how to run into discomfort, how to get yourself to do your protocol when you don't feel like doing it.

00:34:34:16 - 00:34:58:12
Unknown
The most important time to exercise a protocol is when you don't feel like it. And when you build that muscle, that the commitment of your character determines your action and not the mood of your feeling. Your life changes forever. Wow. I mean, I am, pretty fired up. I wish we could go another hour. I think we could go a pretty another hour.

00:34:58:15 - 00:35:28:09
Unknown
I'm assuming, Chris, that unstoppable culture is available anywhere. Yes, it is, it is. Is there an audiobook by chance? Get it? Well, yes and no. No, it's recorded and it's in the process of being distributed, but it won't be out for another 3 or 4 weeks. Unbelievable. So. So, ladies and gentlemen, you have just heard, look, I, I'm, I, I've, I've written two pages, 2 to 2 notebooks, and then I keep, I keep writing things down.

00:35:28:09 - 00:35:54:08
Unknown
I know I'm going to hear it again, but, I mean, I'm just blown away and and I listen. Everyone needs a coach. There has been so many knowledge bombs dropped today. So, we will put a link, to Chris's book, Unstoppable Culture, in the description of this podcast. And, I am just so I, I think Tim talks went up a level today.

00:35:54:08 - 00:36:18:12
Unknown
I'm just blown away. I'm humbled. Thank you. You know, to quote, another great, philosopher of our time, and that would be anchorman. And, as, as he said, you're kind of a big deal. Not sure if your apartment smells of mahogany and old leather bound books, but, the fact that that you would spend some time with us is is extremely encouraging.

00:36:18:12 - 00:36:39:13
Unknown
And thank you, for giving back. And thank you to pouring in to the people that that click on that button. This has been, phenomenal. Chris thank you, brother. I truly, truly, truly appreciate it. We're going to and quite frankly, me behind the scenes. I can't wait to get to know you better. I'm going to I've got I've got your cell phone and I'm going to text you a lot.

00:36:39:13 - 00:37:02:01
Unknown
You think you're going to you're going to be able to coach me very, very, very soon because I absolutely need it. Ladies and gentlemen, you have been listening to what an incredible session of Tim Talks. We are so grateful, so humbled that Chris Hunsicker has joined us today. Again, the link to his book, Unstoppable Culture will be, in the description.

00:37:02:01 - 00:37:28:14
Unknown
And if you need anything, to to contact Chris if your dealership or your company wants to, communicate or reach out to Chris, we will put that in the comments as well. Ladies and gentlemen, as we always say, we're just going to do our part, like Chris was saying every day to make ourselves better and hopefully pour into you, our listeners, as we always say, no one smarter than everyone.

00:37:28:14 - 00:37:41:01
Unknown
Let's just continue to get better together, y'all. We'll see you next time. See you soon.

00:37:41:03 - 00:37:41:17
Unknown
You.