Welcome back to Networking Unleashed, Building
Profitable Connections. I'm your host, Michael
Foreman, and today we're talking about the intersection
of behavior, leadership, and profitability. My
guest is a trusted voice when it comes to helping
business leaders make a powerful shift from managing
people to motivating performance. She dives into
how we show up, our tone, our energy. and our
consistency. This directly impacts the relationships
we build and results we drive. So whether you're
leading a team, running a business, or just trying
to navigate leadership without burning out, this
conversation will show you how powerful your
presence truly is. We're unpacking why the most
profitable leaders aren't always the loudest.
They're the ones who connect with purpose, lead
with clarity, and build trust that lasts. So
if you're ready to lead in a way to energize
your team, strengthen your network, and boost
your bottom line, let's dive in. I'd like to
welcome to the podcast today, Debbie Longo, which
I just found out she's a New York native. But
I would like you to introduce yourself, Debbie,
and tell us a little bit about your background.
Yeah, so thank you very much for having me on
the show. I appreciate it. And my name is Debbie
Longo. I'm an executive behavioral coach. I've
been in this business for over 25 years. I had
a spiritual teacher mentor until 2021, and she
passed away of cancer. So I decided to continue
her work and start a business. and really get
into what is my gift that I was born with. And
that is how I was very successful in this business.
So I worked with her. She helped me get clients.
Then I got them on my own. I also have a graduate
degree in criminology, criminal justice. some
psychology background. So I decided, and it's
a little bit of a story with the pandemic, COVID,
the companies were going out of business and
they were going bankrupt. And they said, oh,
it was because of COVID and the economy. And
to tell you the truth, the way that I teach it,
that's not. Why? That's not the reason. And if
I teach something or I work with a client and
let's say I complete the process, I complete
their goal and they get to their goal. I complete
everything that they want to do. All their needs
are met. Then for them, outside forces doesn't
matter. So they could be hit. With anything,
with a recession, anything. And they will still
be successful. And the other companies will say,
what happened? We're not doing good. How are
you doing so good? And then they will know when
that happens. So it's a little bit of a different
way than most coaches do it. The way that they
perform and they make their plan and everything.
So I take a very different take on it. And there's
a lot of back end stuff that I do also that really
helps the client. It really depends on what the
client is and what their needs are. But that's
very brief of my background. Wow, that's great.
It sounds very intuitive, but it sounds like
every business needs what you have, what you're
offering. So I can't wait to get into my questions.
You focus on how behavior impacts profitability.
How does that show up in the way leaders connect
and build relationships internally and externally?
what the relationship is and how it's formed,
there is a line between a boss and an employee.
But a boss, a lot of times, is very ego -oriented
and they give orders and they need to follow
what the... job duties are, what their role is,
what the employee's role is. So they need to
be a little bit more of an authority figure,
right? It could be even like a mentor or something.
But the thing with that is if they build too
much of something, either too much ego, too much
negativity, too much of giving orders, right?
Dominance. OK, then that relationship will almost
always fail. So I want to do it as a business
owner, as a boss. I want to be able to do all
of those things in a positive way because that's
my job, right, is to enforce what their job duties
are, to make sure everybody is doing the right
thing, to make sure that they're doing everything
that the company asks for, because. That is the
way that the company operates, right? There's
no other, you can't just, an employee can't just
make their own job duties or what they want to
say and do every day that they go to work. So
that's really a boss's job. So that, so if I
take it as a positive way, okay, if I approach
what the employee needs to do, just as an example.
OK, they go to work every day. I need to tell
them maybe their job duties are different every
day. They might not be the same. Something might
come up and they might need to do something different.
Right. So I need to tell them, but I need to
talk. and express these things in a positive
way, not in an authority way where it's very
negative, kind of like a military -ish kind of
thing, right? That's not being a positive influence.
Now, it could be if I'm not doing it over, over,
overreacting, something like that. That's the
thing, because when a boss does too much of it,
right, or they say, This has to be the way, right?
Where there's like a demands kind of thing. Then
that's not going to turn into a positive way.
Then the employee is going to get upset and the
employee is probably not going to say anything.
And then they're going to start to get resentments.
And then you have a whole ball of wax now is
starting to build, right? That snowball is small
and then it gets bigger and bigger. What I'm
hearing, you're really. taking the boss management
style and creating a leadership role with that
boss. Because I, one of my talks, I tell the
difference between boss and leader and what's
the difference. And really you don't, as a business
owner, I really don't want any bosses under me.
I only want leaders because a leader. will show
others how to lead, not just boss them around.
So it's very good information that you just shared
with us. Leadership burnout is real. How can
building a strong, trusted network serve as both
prevention and support during those seasons?
Here's my question. How many leaders, if there
is a CEO, or an owner of a company, how many
leaders do you have under you? Are you just saying,
oh, I just want to hire one assistant manager
just to save money, right? Because I just want
to save money. That's just the way that it is.
The company doesn't need to. Let's say the company
is doing good, right? They're going to hire one
assistant manager and the boss is not going to
care. And then it's going to start to get busy
because there's seasons. It probably in every
single job, there are times that might not be
seasons as far as what we consider, but in every
job, every company, there's highs and lows, there's
peak times, right? So the manager, the CEO might
not care. And he's going to work and work, right?
And then what's going to happen? It's going to
get busier. And then he's going to work more
hours. And then there's going to be a big problem
when that happens because he's really going to
pound on his employees. He's going to take it
out. He's going to be working a lot of extra
hours. I'm not talking five extra hours a week.
I'm talking a lot, okay? And he's really going
to be pounding his employees even to the point
where he's abusing them. Okay. And I've seen
this happen. Okay. It might not be that he's
really what we think as abuse, but maybe being
yelling or raising his voice, right? Different
things like that. So how many people, if you're
listening to this and you're a CEO or a manager,
how many people do you have under you? Are you
sure? That you have enough people where you,
even if it gets busy, you don't have to work
60 or 70 hours a week. All the time. So instead
of having one assistant manager when it's not
busy, you don't do this when it's busy, right?
You don't do this during the peak time. You do
it non -peak time. You have one assistant manager,
non -peak time, hire another one. See if you're
working 40 hours. If you're working more than
hire another one, because I'm going to say this,
the more people you hire, the more inviting it
is for a customer to come in. Okay. If there's
two people working and I've been to stores over
here where I didn't want to go in because I knew
that I had to wait because I know there's two
people working all the time. It's ridiculous.
So if you have, even if it's not busy, if you
have three people working. Even if they'll know,
the employees will know if they're managers or
assistant managers or whatever. That's inviting
more customers to come in, right? Or you're going
to get more clients calling. It doesn't matter
what business it is. Okay, we're not talking
about the type of business, all right? We're
talking about how to run a company. So then it's
going to be inviting and then you're going to
get a lot of business. So that's really a different
take on it. You know, you're talking about the
downtime and wouldn't that be a great time for
training, for extra training for the assistant
managers and for the people, whether it's a salesperson
or not, the customer service level. has to be
that much higher than everybody else. So, because
I've learned, I've had multiple businesses and
I've learned that if my employees are not happy,
they can't show their happiness to my customers.
So you always have to make sure you're, everybody
says the customer's always right. That's hogwash,
okay? Because the employee, if they're happy,
they will get to the bottom of whatever problem
my customer has and fix it. And the customer
will always be happy. The employee will be happier.
Then my managers will be happier. And it goes
on that way. So that's very good. What's one
behavioral pattern in leaders that unintentionally
blocks profitable connection with their teams
or peers? I think that the podcast before you,
I spoke about a lot of different things. I spoke
about negativity, respect in the workplace. And
I think that there are several things. So if
I combine all these specific things, I am creating
all these specific things of negativity that
I do, right? We just spoke about ego, authority,
over, over authority, right? Different things.
When I create those things, no matter what it
is, I am creating a recipe for disaster. Literally.
So it's not going to happen immediately. Okay.
It's going to happen gradually. And then people
say, oh, I don't know what happened. Happened
right away. It just happened. The CEO says 20
people quit like overnight, but just happened
just like that. No, that's not the way it happens.
It happens gradually. It's just that the CEO,
the boss doesn't see those warning signs. Okay.
And there are a lot, there are a lot of warning
signs. Okay. Not just a few. And they're most
of the time staring me right in the face. So
I want to get down to what is specifically going
on in that business, in that company. And I want
to make sure that I could find ways, solutions
to get rid of all of this. whatever's going on,
right? All of this negativity or whatever they're
doing. This is all natural stuff that bosses
do. This is not their fault. This is not something
that they say, I'm going to go and abuse my employees
today. They don't do that. It's just the way
that a lot of times it's just human behavior,
just natural human behavior, but people don't
know how to control it. That's true. The managers
have to set a few things in place first, whether
it is how the employees can talk to you, have
an open door, whatever. But you need to have
a survey or something. More importantly than
what's going well, what's not going well? What
would you see as a change? And what would you
suggest for those changes? So all of that gives
the employees that much more. feeling of something.
I like this job. And oh, he took my idea and
he ran with it. So it gives them a little sense
of purpose as well. So you're right. There are
a lot of warning signs, but there's a lot of
ways that you can combat that and have them take
care of it. You talk about shifting from managing
people to motivating performance. How does that
shift affect the way we network inside of our
organizations? So, again, there are a lot of
things here. And not only do we invite the customer,
okay, because of the way that we set up. our
company, our corporation, but we always want
to be fair to the employees because the client
or the customer knows how they treat their employees.
They can see it and they probably can see it
immediately. So there are things that we can
do. We can do all different things that are positive.
We can make goals. We can get rid of that extreme
authority figure, okay, that negativity. The
attitude where I'm the boss, you have to listen
to me, and that's all there is to it. And when
we get rid of these attitudes and behaviors,
Then everything falls into place. Everybody's
happy. The employees are happy. The clients are
happy and people want to do business with companies
like that. Okay. Now there are companies that
say that have a therapist, like a number you
could call, right? And then you could call the
therapist and the therapist says, Oh, we won't.
Tell the company anything. It's just between
you and me. And that may be true. And that's
fine. But why can't the boss act that way? Why
do they have to get a therapist involved? Does
the boss know what they're really doing? Do they
know that they could possibly be contributing
to the fact that this employee needs to call
this phone number? This employee needs to call
this person that's an outside force, and there's
nothing wrong with that. There really isn't.
But does it come from the manager? Is it because
of the CEO that this employee has to reach out
to this therapist or counselor or whoever it
is? It might be, the answer might be yes, the
answer might be no, but this is something that
a business owner should really think about because
we don't want to throw it on somebody else or
we don't know if the employee is happy or not,
okay? And all of these things are going to help
to build a very successful company. They will
get so many, you want to talk about increasing
sales and profits? It'll be over the top. The
CEO will not believe it. It's going to the moon.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Again, that goes back
to my, I have a happy employee that can talk
to your supervisor, whomever, can just walk in
and say, look, I've got a problem. What do you
think about this? I always, whenever, whatever
business I had that open door policy with my
employees, I said, look, I don't mind you bringing
me things that are wrong, but don't come to me
with something that's wrong without an idea of
how to fix it. So put a little onus on them as
well. Okay. So in your experience, what's the
difference between a leader who builds a loyal
teams. A leader who builds loyal teams and one
who just gets compliance. How does communication
style factor in? Kind of what I just spoke about.
My question is this. I think the business owner
or the CEO should really think about, are they
just going to work for the money? Are they only
concerned with the fact that they want to increase
their profits? I'm not talking about for the
company. I'm talking about for them, right? For
their board. For them to keep the company afloat.
For them, let's say if they're on the stock market,
right? So they could keep raising the stock market,
okay? Are they only concerned with money? However
you want to phrase it. There's a million ways
to phrase that. Or... are they more apt to think
about if the employees are happy? So when they
go to work every day, do they think immediately,
as soon as they get to work, do they think, how
am I going to make my money today for myself?
How am I going to increase my paycheck? How am
I going to make the board members happy? Or do
they think, Which employee do I need to help
today? Which employee was a little upset last
yesterday when I left and maybe something happened
or maybe I was unsure, right? So I didn't want
to say anything. I had to go home and think about
it, okay? What can I do today to make my employees
happier than they were the day before? All right.
Now, which way do I want to go? Which one does
the CEO think, okay, that they are going to be
more successful? Which direction? Do they want
to live on greed and power? It's one kind of
works with the other. If you want to see why
your employee is unhappy and you can make them
happy, wouldn't that in turn make them a better
employee, better with your customers and give
you a boost in your paycheck? So you're handling
both by handling the one thing. So instead of
just looking at. The whole picture is saying,
how can I make more money? You can just see how
your employees are doing, help them through their
problems. That in itself will build your profits.
That's right. What role does emotional intelligence
play in building profitable building relationships,
especially at the leadership level? So let's
think about what emotional intelligence would
be. Would that be like, I have a high, I got
a high GPA when I graduated? Okay. I don't think
that's what it is. You can look it up. If you're
watching this podcast, you can look up the definition
online. There's a lot of definitions will come
up and you could look up. which one appeals to
you or refers to you the best. But my definition
is two things that we just spoke about, over
-exaggeration, where I am overly enforcing things.
I'm overly... almost like authoritarian, okay?
And the negativity, the employees don't appreciate
me. And when these things happen, and rewind
this podcast, if you're a CEO or business owner,
rewind it, just to some parts. You don't have
to listen to the whole thing again, just to going
back and forth with some of these parts. When
that happens, my emotions get to be extreme.
So they'll go up a little and a little, right?
Gradually. And then they get to be over the top
where it's too much. And not only do I become
more negative, I might start to say the employees.
I might put what I, the way that I am, my attitudes
and behaviors on the employee. And because I'm
a certain way, I would say the employee is this
way to me. If I'm loud, the employee is being
loud to me. The reason why the employee is loud
to you is because you're loud first to the employee.
And this is why we look at ourselves because
what I do triggers the other person to do. the
same thing absolutely okay absolutely you you
could watch any show you could watch the news
you it's everywhere okay you could watch it you
if you look for it it's everywhere absolutely
absolutely and you really only get what you give
right so if you're giving that calm and consensual,
and it's an overall feeling of calmness, and
let's talk about this respectfully. Yes, you
have to watch out what you say, because it might
stoke something in that other person. But if
you remain calm, if you remain above the whole
conversation, then they will respond exactly
the same way, and you'll get more out of it.
You'll get much more out of it. For leaders navigating
constant change, how can they maintain trust
and credibility in their relationships while
still pushing for results? One of the big things
that I talk about, and I made two podcasts on
this already, is respect. They can respect their
employees. They could treat their employees like
a human being, okay? People are not robots. People
do not come to work and expect that they are
going to do the same thing over and over again.
And they're not going to say anything. And the
manager or the CEO is going to do whatever they
want. They're going to treat the employee however
they want. And the employee is going to be fine.
That's not going to happen. That's not realistic.
And I'm going to explain to you a trick. Okay.
Tons of companies do this. Retail and big companies
also do this. What they do is they rotate the
job duties. So every time, almost every time,
the employee comes to work, the manager will
say, I have this job for you today. Okay? So
they're trained on a few different things. So
then they say every day they'll have a different
job for them or they'll have different forms
to work on. OK, it's not the same exact thing.
It's not like a robotic way. Right. It's not
the same exact job over and over. And when they
do that, that not only helps the employee, but
the employee, because the employee is doing something
different every day. Right. Then they think.
that it's a different job or they could be happier
because they're not doing the same thing every
day. So this just creates all of a positive.
feedback, right? And positive attitude will give
the employee a positive attitude. And this is
very easy to train an employee. It's not that
difficult, okay? You could even train on something
and then you could say, let's show you this and
let's show you this and just add a few things
on to the training. Because if it's a big company,
each job duty might take a lot of training. OK,
even if they there's a lot of rules, there's
a lot of regulations, there's like tons that
they have to follow, like on every position.
But they could just add that to the training.
There are things they could do rather than just
saying, no, I can't do that. But won't it also
allow the employee to see what the other employees
do and maybe have a little more. respect for
that position because let's just use a retail
position the front person against the warehouse
person and the front person will say oh the warehouse
people they don't know what they're doing they're
always screwing this up but if you take them
out of it and put them into the warehouse say
oh okay so this is why this happens or this happens
so maybe I have a better idea of what goes on
and maybe it could be done this way. And that
person can go up to their supervisor and say,
look, I was in the warehouse and they did things
this way. Would it be better if we did it this
way? So it was she's bringing or he's bringing
the idea forward. They may say, no, we tried
that, but it didn't work or something else like
that. But it gives them a feeling of. They listen
to what I have to say. Okay, so before I ask
you the last question, I always ask this of all
the podcast guests. You are successful. You've
been doing this for 20 years. What major mistake
did you make? And how did you come out of it?
I started a little too late when I used my spiritual
teacher. As a mentor, obviously, but a person
that is just going to give me the business. And
if I started this business a lot sooner, right,
I wouldn't have been faced with a decision, should
I start the business or not, right after she
passed away. Because I didn't know that she was
going to die. We don't know that somebody's going
to die. And she was not. There wasn't anything
wrong with her up until the last year, you know,
that last maybe two years that she was living
because she got the cancer pretty fast and then
she just wanted to die. So I didn't predict that
that was going to happen, but I was able, more
than able, for me to start my own business while
she was alive. OK, and I would have been this
would have already been established, way established,
OK, more than what it is now. But it's OK. And
I don't look into the past. And I know that this
just happens in the right way. It happened in
this time for a reason. OK, and I don't I don't
dwell on the fact that. I'm not successful now.
It's difficult for me to get successful now because
I didn't do it when I thought that I should do
it. As my mother would always say, everything
happens for a reason. Everything does. And it
works out in your time. So what you say is exactly
along the lines of what I've always believed.
Now, bring in this podcast full circle. If someone
wants to become more connected, a more profitable
leader, what's the one behavior shift that they
can start practicing today? They can take a piece
of paper, go to work, and write down everything
that they see that's negative during their workday.
Go about your normal day. Don't do anything different.
Write down things that you see maybe if the employee
is unhappy or if a board member is a little upset
because they didn't make profits. They didn't
make their goal last week or last month. Just
write down everything that you see that you don't
like or you think it's an issue. or something
that you think you should work on. And I'm going
to say, be honest. Don't say there's a problem
here, but it's not a big deal. Okay. Listen to
what your first thought is and listen to what
you are thinking. Right. Immediately. Okay. And
don't make any excuses. Go home. Take that piece
of paper, or you could do it at the end of the
day. I would do it while the work. You could
do it on your phone. You could do it anywhere.
It's very easy. You don't have to. I say paper
and pen because that's what we used to do. Go
home, read that paper, and say to myself, do
I need a coach? I see there's a few things wrong
here. Do I need somebody to help me to get rid
of these things, these issues, these problems?
The employees are unhappy. My peers, the board
members, they telling me they're coming to me
with all these issues. Don't point the finger
and say that person is a problem. No, look at
everything and think about, do I need a coach?
Can I help to do something to improve my company?
And that's really the bottom line. And that's
a simple thing that anybody, the janitor could
do it. An employee could even do it, right? And
they could give it to their boss, okay? Different
things like that. Everybody watches everybody.
Everybody watches everybody. And Debbie, I'll
tell you, that's a perfect segue for me to ask
you if somebody wanted to get hold of you, either
to be coached or just to find out. Anything that
we spoke about, what's the best way that they
get hold of you? Lifeinbloomny .net. That is
my website. And they can get all of the information
off of there. I have a podcast page on there.
They can also go to YouTube. and look up, I have
two podcasts. They can Google my name. You know
what? In the search on YouTube, they could put
in my name. Okay. And I have behavioral profit
and six figure shift show. Okay. So I have two
podcasts so they can look that up. They could
reach me through YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
And like I said, they could just put my name
in the search. It'll come up right away. So they
could, there's a lot of ways to get in touch
with me and we could start off slow. Doesn't
have to be a big thing, a big problem. I can't
solve this. It's over the top. I don't know what
to do. It doesn't have to get to that. It can
be just a little thing. I need help with this
and that's it. And that's perfectly fine because
the client. tells me what to do. I don't tell
the client what to do. I give the client solutions
as they tell me what their issue is or what they
need help with. I give the client solutions,
but it's up to them ultimately to carry out everything
that I explain to them, everything that I teach
them the way that I do it. I have to tell you.
This was a great podcast. Thank you for all of
your insights into business itself. And if anybody's
listening, wants to get hold of Debbie, please
just contact her through the website, through
anything, and have her help you. So Debbie, thank
you very much for coming on. Thank you for having
me on the show. I appreciate it. Well, hold on,
folks. Don't go anywhere. Let's hear from our
sponsors. David Neal, co -founder, Revved Up
Kids. Revved Up Kids is on a mission to protect
children and teens from sexual abuse, exploitation,
and trafficking. They provide prevention training
programs for children, teens, and adults. To
learn more, go to revvedupkids .org. Henry Kaplan,
Century 21. When it comes to making the biggest
financial decision of your life, leave it in
the hands of a proven professional, Henry Kaplan.
Henry is a global real estate agent with Century
21, celebrating his 41st year in business. No
matter where you're moving, Henry has the right
connections for you. You can contact Henry at
561 -427 -4888. A huge thank you to our guests
for sharing such insights today. And of course,
a big shout out to you, our amazing listeners,
for tuning in and spending your time with us.
If you're interested in my digital courses, being
coached or having me come and talk to your company,
just go to Michael and fill out the request form.
Remember, networking isn't about being perfect.
It's about being present. So take what you've
learned today, get out there and make some meaningful
connections. If you've enjoyed this episode,
please don't forget to subscribe. Leave us a
review and share it with someone who could use
a little networking inspiration. Let's keep the
conversation going. You can find me on Apple,
Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, or my website, foreman
.com slash podcasts.