Chris Saraceno is back on Keep the Change. As VP and Partner of Kelly Automotive Group (12 franchises, 7 locations, ~500 team members), Chris knows what it takes to build and sustain culture at scale.

In this conversation, Bart and Chris go deep on why culture is really about behaviors, how great leaders adapt their communication style to each individual, and why being questioned by your team is a sign of a healthy organization. Chris shares lessons from his mentor Eustace Wolfington — including "think like a customer" and "don't play God, present options" — and how those principles still shape his leadership 40+ years into the automotive industry.

They cover the Theory of 5 framework (spiritual, partner, family, business/finance, health/fitness), Chris's upcoming children's book The Magic Stone, the power of catching people doing something right, and why candor paired with compassion is what separates good leaders from great ones.

Find Chris at TheoryOf5 and on LinkedIn and Facebook.

CONNECT WITH CHRIS SARACENO:
 Website: TheoryOf5.com
 LinkedIn: Chris Saraceno
 Facebook: Chris Saraceno

Books mentioned: The Theory of 5 Book by Chris Saraceno | Winning by Jack Welch | The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher | The Self-Aware Leader by John Maxwell | Crucial Conversations | It's the Manager (Gallup)

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Ken Cook, owner of BZ Automotive in Indiana, sits down with Bart Nollenberger to share his journey from a short career in the Marine Corps to becoming a successful independent dealer in a market dominated by giants. 

Ken opens up about the power of core values in shaping culture, why he rewards employees based on those values (including sending a long-tenured couple to Hawaii), and the personal decisions — like giving up alcohol — that transformed his leadership. 

Bart and Ken also dive into the Johari Window, emotional intelligence, and why the best leaders take an honest look at themselves before asking anything of their team. Whether you're running a dealership, building a business, or leading a team of any size, this conversation will challenge you to raise your own standard.

Ken's contact: [email protected]

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Rob Ruth from Bob Ruth Ford joins Bart Nollenberger for a second time to pull back the curtain on the buying center model that transformed his dealership. Rob shares how he went from personally messaging sellers on Facebook Marketplace to building a six-person team that acquired a record 362 vehicles off the street last month. He walks through the staffing, the daily metrics, the hiring profile, and why your used car department is the single biggest lever you can control as a dealer.

 They also dig into leadership, the power of attitude, and why the best time to invest in new processes is when times are good — not when you're desperate.

Connect with Rob Ruth on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

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Sam Sweis went from washing cars at a California Dodge store to owning Sweis Infiniti in Indiana — with 27 acquisitions along the way. In this episode, Sam and Bart dig into what actually drives long-term success in the car business: building your bench from within, understanding that every customer walks in with an unidentified problem, and knowing that used cars are the one department the factory doesn't control. 

Sam talks COVID strategy, the exotic car market, why he'll never buy a high-performing store, and the advice he'd give any dealer getting started — including the question most people don't want to answer: what are you willing to give up?

Whether you're a green pea or a seasoned dealer, this conversation is packed with real talk on leadership, culture, and what you have to be willing to give up to own the building.

Connect with Sam:
 Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @sam_sweis

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Bart Nollenberger just got back from twelve days in Lusaka, Zambia — and he came home with a message he can't stop thinking about. Invited to speak to more than two dozen audiences, from children in the slums to recovering men in a treatment center to business leaders and church congregations, Bart realized he wasn't giving twenty different talks. He was giving one.

In this episode, Bart puts leadership, recovery, and faith on the same table and shows how they all connect. Drawing on 41 years of sobriety and 42 years in the automobile business, he walks through the first four steps of a changed life — admit, believe, decide, and take honest inventory — and makes the case that they don't just heal a person, they change a culture. Because culture never changes from the outside in. It changes from the inside out, one heart and one surrendered morning at a time.

Whether you lead a company, a church, or a family around the dinner table, this one's for you. You are not too young, not too important, and not too far gone.

📖 Get Bart's book Keep the Change and learn more at bartnollenberger.com
🔔 Subscribe to Keep the Change on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

David Long returns to Keep the Change to talk about his new book, Step Zero — and why winning isn't just about executing the process, but everything that happens before step one.

Bart and David break down the three things that separate top performers: attitude, energy, and approach. David also shares his personal journey — building four businesses, walking in faith, life as a grandfather, and his path of sobriety, with a message of hope for anyone struggling.

David Long is the COO of VAN (Vehicle Acquisition Network), President of David J. Long Consulting, VP of Schumacher Chevrolet, founder of All Things Used Cars, and creator of the "Pandemic of Positivity."

Get a free copy of his book and free resources at DavidJLongConsulting.com.
If this one resonated, share it with someone who needs it.

COVID didn't just inflate paychecks — it gutted a generation of car people. Old dogs cashed out, GSMs got promoted before they were ready, and salespeople learned to take orders instead of build value. Now the margins are gone and a leadership gap is staring the industry down.

Bart sits down with John Alcorn — Operating Partner of Dogwood Auto Group (Mazda, VW, Volvo) — for a raw conversation on:

→ The mistake quietly costing managers their best people → John Maxwell's 5 Levels of Leadership — and where most managers are stuck → Why he raises men, not boys ("leaders eat last") → Why "change in the mirror first" is his #1 advice → A first look at SEF Score — his new tool fixing the measurables problem

🎙️ Don't miss Bart's free webinar June 2, 8 PM ET → bartnollenberger.com

📩 [email protected] | [email protected]

Your team isn't underperforming. Your feedback loops are.

The best leaders I know aren't failing because they lack knowledge. They're failing because nobody around them is telling them the truth.

Their team nods. Their managers agree. Their numbers stay flat. And somewhere in the back of their mind, they already know something's off, they just can't name it yet.

That's exactly what this episode is about.

If this resonates and you want to go deeper, I work one on one with dealership leaders who are ready to close the gap between their current leadership and what they're actually capable of. Email me at [email protected] and let's start with a conversation. I'll also send you the full Goldsmith framework as my way of making sure you walk away with something valuable regardless.

Enjoying the show? Subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast players!

• Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keep-the-change/id1622521488
• Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xcQk7kNGNOnWuZ14aDkWC

Connect with Bart Nollenberger:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bart-nollenberger-4949405a/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BartNollenbergerCoaching

Most leaders are making this mistake daily, and their team already knows it.

Drew Tutton has built what most people in automotive only talk about at 20-group meetings and never actually create.

Multiple dealerships. Multiple partnerships. A reputation that precedes him across Georgia and Alabama.

But what's driven all of it isn't what you'd expect.

It started on an airplane. One book. One mirror moment that showed him exactly where he was winning and exactly where he was quietly failing the people around him.

He came back from that flight a different leader.

In this episode Drew goes deep on:

• The conversation most leaders avoid their entire career and what it's actually costing them
• Why your top performers might already be looking for the door without a single word of warning
• The hiring signal in the first few weeks that tells you everything you need to know
• What he draws a hard line on that most leaders are too comfortable to touch

And there's one moment in this episode where Drew says something about the person most leaders completely overlook in their building, and it reframes everything you thought you knew about what a winning culture actually looks like.

If something in your business feels slightly off but you can't name it yet —

This episode has a name for it.

Enjoying the show? Subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast players!

• Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keep-the-change/id1622521488
• Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xcQk7kNGNOnWuZ14aDkWC

Connect with Drew Tutton

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-tutton-2137577/

Connect with Bart Nollenberger:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bart-nollenberger-4949405a/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BartNollenbergerCoaching

What separates thriving dealerships from failing ones? It's not the tools. It's not the leads. It's the culture, and most dealers are building theirs on a cracked foundation.

In this episode of Keep the Change, Bart sits down with Wendy Reeves, founder of BDC Angels and EiQ Performance Solutions, and one of the most connected and results-driven operators in automotive for a raw, unscripted conversation about what's really broken in dealerships today and exactly how to fix it.

Wendy has spent decades walking into struggling stores, diagnosing the real problems, and driving measurable change. 

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why a shiny new tool inside a broken process will always fail
• The dangerous gap between fixed ops and variable ops, and how to bridge it
• How to actually change employee behavior 
• Why your 70,000-name database is a goldmine you're completely ignoring
• The "trifecta" strategy for driving traffic without spending more money
• How the best leaders activate thinking instead of forcing compliance
• Why continuous learning and development is the most overlooked ROI in any dealership

Whether you're a dealer principal, GM, fixed ops director, or BDC manager, this episode will challenge how you lead, how you coach, and how you build a team that actually performs.

Enjoying the show? Subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast players!

• Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keep-the-change/id1622521488
• Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xcQk7kNGNOnWuZ14aDkWC

Connect with Wendy Reeves

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-reeves/

Connect with Bart Nollenberger:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bart-nollenberger-4949405a/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BartNollenbergerCoaching